Abstract
For Maori 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 Maori would have double the infection and mortality rates of non-Maori. However, as at June 2020, Maori have a disproportionately lower infection rate than non-Maori. This is perhaps the only example in our contemporary history of the Maori community having better social outcomes than non-Maori. 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 Putahitanga o Te Waipounamu, the South Island Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency to illustrate our analysis.