BACKGROUND: Driven by the commercial tobacco industry, tobacco-related disease and death are linked to colonisation and violations of health rights. In response, advocacy, activism, and a Māori-led parliamentary inquiry into the tobacco industry influenced groundbreaking legislation aimed at ending tobacco use. Following the repeal of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act (SERPA), ongoing Indigenous leadership and initiatives are essential to decolonising approaches and improving health and well-being outcomes for Māori. Our goal was to better understand and document the contributions of Māori perspectives, expectations, and values in shaping the tobacco control landscape in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
METHODS: We conducted nine in-depth interviews with Māori health leaders from diverse sectors including public health, community services, research, and advocacy. Interviews were conducted using a semi-structured, open-ended interview guide. Embedded within Kaupapa Māori principles, a reflexive thematic analysis was conducted.
RESULTS: Participants responses were framed within a Māori worldview and grounded in the obligations guaranteed in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Māori wellbeing aspirations were shaped by cultural values, accountabilities back to Māori communities, and driven by relationships, whakapapa (genealogy, kinship ties) and intergenerational responsibilities. Protecting Indigenous values, confronting indifference to Māori conceptions of health and wellbeing, and using narratives to provoke and support shifts in thinking, reinforced resolve that achieving a tobacco-free future is a matter of sovereignty, health equity, and Te Tiriti rights. Participants highlighted challenges posed by competing power dynamics, worldviews and narratives around what is acceptable and achievable, particularly addressing threats to sovereignty such as industry interference and nicotine addiction.
CONCLUSIONS: This Indigenous sovereignty response highlights the necessity of Indigenous voices in defining tobacco control outcomes and policy, in a way that is consistent with aspirations and worldviews that will ensure flourishing Indigenous futures. These findings can help hold the commercial Tobacco Industry and governments to account while protecting Māori rights to health.