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Jo Baxter (L) and Suzanne Pitama (R) (Images: Supplied)
Jo Baxter (L) and Suzanne Pitama (R) (Images: Supplied)

PartnersMay 30, 2022

The wāhine Māori transforming a medical institution

Jo Baxter (L) and Suzanne Pitama (R) (Images: Supplied)
Jo Baxter (L) and Suzanne Pitama (R) (Images: Supplied)

In December the University of Otago appointed its first wahine Māori dean, then just months later appointed its second. We asked professors Suzanne Pitama and Joanne Baxter what this means for them, the university and Aotearoa.

When it was published in 2019, the study Why Isn’t My Professor Māori? revealed Māori made up just 5% of New Zealand’s total academic workforce between 2012 and 2017. And that number was not increasing. The research criticised the universities’ diversity policies for having little impact on representation, and questioned their desire to build “sustainable Māori academic workforce” and their level of commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. And the lack of Māori academic staff has meant mātauranga Māori has struggled to find its way into course syllabus.

Perhaps that’s why, when two dean roles became vacant last year, Professors Jo Baxter and Suzanne Pitama weren’t initially going to apply – despite their qualifications. Between them, the pair has over 40 years of academic experience in many roles within Māori health academia, and both are well-known figures in medical circles for their staunch advocacy for Māori equity in health, public health and patient outcomes. 

When Pitama was appointed to the role of dean and head of campus for the University of Otago’s Christchurch campus in December 2021, she became the first wahine Māori dean of any Otago medical school. She says she was encouraged to apply by colleagues who had seen her leadership skills develop since she started as a lecturer at Otago in 2001.

“I had not actually seen myself in that position. I didn’t visualise that that was my future,” she says. “It was peers saying, ‘you should go for it, this is something you should do’. In a big institution where there’s not a lot of Māori it’s quite overwhelming to have so much non-Māori support.”

The historic Scott Building, part of the University of Otago, Dunedin Medical School (Photo: Getty Images)

Another landmark came months later when Baxter, a public health medicine specialist, was announced as dean of the Dunedin School of Medicine in February. Baxter says it was also that peer support that encouraged her to apply for the job.

“I was approached by a range of staff from the medical school telling me that they would strongly support my application and it felt like I was heading into safe territory. And that the people who I would be leading were keen for me in the role,” she says. 

They’ve both previously held roles as associate dean Māori at their respective schools, and Baxter and Pitama are experienced in Māori leadership in Māori-specific spaces. Now they want to see that leadership and mātauranga Māori translate into roles with wider scopes.

“This is the first time in some time, my role has not been a Māori specific one,” says Baxter. “I think the timing is really good for having wide leadership expertise, including skills in how to implement pro-equity, pro-Treaty, anti-racist strategies, goals and objectives.”

She says those strategies that were ingrained into her work as associate dean Māori – upholding tikanga, manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga, equity – are just as important in her new role. She believes those qualities are essential to any person involved in remedying inequity in Aotearoa. 

“It’s about figuring out what leadership looks like in this space. I happen to be Māori and have this expertise, but I think all leaders now ought to be able to lead equity, Treaty, anti-racism, and cultural safety.”

Pitama agrees – that kaupapa hasn’t changed between her role as associate dean Māori and her new role as dean of the Christchurch campus. Now, the experience she has working to improve Māori health outcomes is being applied across the whole medical school.

“What I’m hoping is the equity and social justice approach that Jo and I have used consistently our whole academic careers will help transform and make the medical school more inclusive, more diverse and more supportive of equitable opportunities for all our staff and students, as well as patient outcomes,” says Pitama.

Their appointments signal a gradual shift in the leadership styles that are valued in our universities, and wider society. They believe their appointments are a commitment from the University of Otago that tikanga and mātauranga Māori are recognised and respected. 

“It’s one of the oldest universities in the country, but it wants to be at the forefront of creating change. Otherwise, I just don’t think it would have employed us, we’re way too sparky,” says Pitama. “If you wanted to keep the status-quo, you wouldn’t have put us in these positions.”

After years of being a very vocal figure at the university, Pitama had come to believe she wouldn’t be appointed to a prestigious role, especially one where she had more of a platform than ever. She thinks her promotion signposts the direction of change for the university towards a more equitable agenda, grounded in social justice.

“They knew what they were getting when they appointed us. We have not been quiet on the sides over the last 20 years that we’ve worked at the universities,” she says. 

That shift has been gaining momentum across the country. In 2021, Khylee Quince was made dean of law at AUT, becoming New Zealand’s first Māori dean of law. But these appointments are about more than just opportunities for these individual women, says Baxter. She wants other young Māori and women to see them leading from the top.

“It’s super important for our communities and our young people to see us in these roles. And, to me, it’s a bit of a shocker that there’s been so few Māori in these leadership roles, but it’s also a bit of a shocker that there’s so few women.”

Pitama and Baxter want to use their positions to build a culturally competent health workforce, for Māori, for women, and for anyone who has been less represented in medicine in New Zealand. Baxter says leading the school is an opportunity to create a safe environment for students, colleagues, and patient outcomes to thrive.

“One of the things I think we bring is an optimism that things can be different, and that we need to persist, we need to draw on strengths. Then, how do we create space, so that the strengths of the young people that come through can be drawn out, so they can work to solve some of the equity challenges that we face?”

Eru Pomare, who became the first Māori dean of a medical school when he was appointed head of Wellington Medical School in 1993, has inspired both women and helped them understand what they could achieve. But they want to ensure that it doesn’t take 20 years before the next Māori deans are appointed.

“I’m hoping the legacy that Jo and I leave behind is that it becomes usual to have Māori in leadership within our medical school,” says Pitama.

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Photo: supplied; treatment: The Spinoff
Photo: supplied; treatment: The Spinoff

PartnersMay 27, 2022

How The Free Store is using sustainability to uplift its community

Photo: supplied; treatment: The Spinoff
Photo: supplied; treatment: The Spinoff

In this story from the Electric Highway, Don Rowe learns about a Wellington initiative making life a little easier for those in need.

Around half-past-two most afternoons, the trolleys head out. They comb Wellington’s CBD – past the suits on Lambton Quay, through the students on the Terrace, up and down Cuba Street. The converted shopping carts with new wheels and reinforced frames, pushed by an army of volunteers, are filled with food which will be transported back to a converted shipping container outside St Peter’s church, then handed out free of charge to anyone who wants it.

After a few weeks exploring the outer edges of Aotearoa in the BMW iX, my travels have brought me back to my adopted hometown. And just down the road from my house is The Free Store, a community food rescue initiative which redistributes surplus food from the capital’s cafes and restaurants five days a week. General manager Breahn Stubbs says that on most days at least two trolleys are packed full of high quality, cafe-grade food. “If someone wouldn’t eat it, we don’t want to hand it out. Everyone should have access to quality food.”

“Then we have a van – which was kindly donated a few years ago – totally full. There will be more than 10 boxes of bread, a few boxes of Wishbone pre-prepared food, and between two and 10 boxes of food from the soup kitchen. Everything will go, every single night. If we ever have leftovers they’re passed on to council housing and other community groups that we know will be able to use it that evening or the next day.”

This story from the Electric Highway is brought to you by BMW i, pioneering the new era of electric vehicles. Keep an eye out for new chapters in Don’s journey each week, and to learn more about the style, power and sustainability of the all-electric BMW i model range, visit bmw.co.nz or click here.

The Free Store saw a reduction in patronage due to Covid-19 in 2021, but still had around 270 people volunteer over 3,800 volunteer shifts, investing 8,000 hours into day-to-day operations. Their collection volunteers walked a total of 10,500km just picking up the food. Anyone can help out, says Stubbs, with the odd shift pulled by someone initially there to receive kai. 

“Having a space to go and to just get stuck in and also meet some new people is really purposeful. What people in our community tell me is that it’s a space that they really look forward to and they find a lot of joy in turning up. They really receive a lot from it. And it wouldn’t happen without them. We run on those volunteers.”

Initially inspired by a 2010 art project on Ghuznee Street, the store briefly operated out of unused retail space in the Left Bank, before being left without a location when their landlord moved the organisation on. And so, says Stubbs, a two year project began, with volunteers donating thousands of dollars of resources and time to renovate the shipping container the Store calls home. 

Patrons line up at The Free Store (Photo: supplied)

“Our founder Ben and his friends had started this thing, people had started participating in what was happening, people were coming to receive kai and they had built relationships with cafes, then all of a sudden they had nowhere to go. And so they got a rusty old container and made it happen.”

The Free Store is open to anyone, says Stubbs. The average afternoon might see backpackers, students, whānau in transitional housing and even working professionals curious about the project stop by for fresh bread, pastas, pastries and more. 

“It’s important that anyone feels like they can turn up and their need doesn’t have to be proven and they don’t have to be seen to the world as a particular type of person. Anyone can come as they are and receive kai and get involved. It’s another reason I was really drawn to The Free Store. I realised I had heaps to learn from all sorts of people who are different from me.”

As I’ve travelled the country in the iX, I’ve seen first-hand the very different shapes that sustainability initiatives can take. And while the ways it’s reflected in our more isolated or rural areas will naturally look different to our cities, kaitiakitanga is certainly a guiding principle for many in Wellington. Many local businesses are looking for ways to be more sustainable, says Stubbs, and diverting food from landfill is a way to reduce waste and the eventual greenhouse gas emissions it emits, and also to save money on disposal while giving back to the community. For other establishments, like Neo Cafe, their involvement extends further, to hosting events like Kai and Games, an initiative created by a former patron and now volunteer at The Free Store. 

“The chefs make a big meal and we spread the word through the week to come down on a Thursday night to Neo Cafe, and there is a meal for anyone who wants to turn up and play board games together. We had our first one for the year this year a few weeks ago and it was so cool. Some of the people who hadn’t been to The Free Store since we last had one were absolutely buzzing. It was like a massive birthday party, just really special.”

“There’s a lot of deep care for others. Someone just told me last night that they met their first friend in Wellington through The Free Store. That’s a lot of the purpose of our mahi together.” 

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