Kirikiriroa Leg of Nationwide ‘Hīkoi for Our Health’ Kicks Off Today
Under the morning skies of Kirikiriroa, crowds are expected to gather as part of the Hīkoi for Our Health nationwide movement calling for urgent government action to fix Aotearoa’s broken health system.
Led by Lady Tureiti Moxon, Managing Director of Te Kōhao Health, today’s hīkoi will travel at 10.00am from Hamilton Lake Playground to Waikato Hospital, carrying the Buller Declaration on the State of the New Zealand Health System, now signed by more than 100,000 New Zealanders.
The Declaration, which began in Buller on the West Coast in 2024, calls for decisive government action to address the health crisis affecting rural, Māori, and low-income whānau.
It urges immediate investment in training, recruiting, and retaining nurses, doctors, midwives, and allied health workers, and calls on the Crown to meet its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
“Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a blueprint for partnership and accountability,” said Lady Tureiti Moxon.
“When the Crown makes decisions about Māori health without Māori, that is not partnership. We need structural change. This hīkoi is about calling the Government to honour Te Tiriti and build a system designed with, by, and for our people.”
Malcolm Mulholland, Chair of Patient Voice Aotearoa and national hīkoi organiser, said the message is being echoed in every community along the route.
“New Zealanders are united in saying our health system is in crisis,” he said.
“We’re walking for the people behind the statistics — those waiting in corridors, those turned away, and the health workers holding the system together. This hīkoi is our call to those in power: fix it now, before more lives are lost.”
The Hīkoi for Our Health began in Westport on 1 November, retracing the path of the original Buller march that sparked this national movement. It has now been through the South Island and up the North Island, and will reach Parliament in Pōneke Wellington at 12.00pm on Monday 18 November, where thousands are expected to gather in solidarity.
Today in Kirikiriroa, the message was one of unity, mana motuhake, and hope for a system that values people over bureaucracy, and equity over excuses.
“We walk not just for ourselves, but for our tamariki and mokopuna,” said Lady Tureiti. “For our hauora. For our future.”
Event Details
Friday 14 November 2025
10.00am – From Hamilton Lake Playground to Waikato Hospital