For Māori in New Zealand, COVID-19 is remarkable in two particular ways. First, we bet the odds for the first time in contemporary history. Forecasts predicted that Māori would have double the infection and mortality rates of non-Māori. However, as at June 2020, Māori have a disproportionately lower infection rate than non-Māori. This is perhaps the only example in our contemporary history of the Māori community having better social outcomes than non-Māori. Second is that attribution is due, perhaps not exclusively, but materially to a self-determination social movement within our Indigenous communities that the pandemic response unveiled and accelerated. This article comments on this self-determination social movement, with a particular focus on how that movement has manifested within the South Island of New Zealand. We specifically draw on the work of Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu, the South Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to illustrate our analysis.

对于新西兰的毛利人而言，COVID-19在两个方面非常出色。首先，我们在当代历史上首次打出赔率。预测表明，毛利人的感染率和死亡率是非毛利人的两倍。但是，截至2020年6月，毛利人的感染率比非毛利人低得多。这也许是我们当代历史上毛利人社区比非毛利人具有更好社会结果的唯一例子。第二个原因是，归因可能不是唯一的，而是物质上的，这主要是由于我们的土著社区内部的自决社会运动引起了大流行病的反应并加快了这种反应。本文对这种自决的社会运动进行了评论，特别关注该运动在新西兰南岛的表现。