A good question

The Taxpayers’ Union asks:

Why are taxpayers funding astrology-based health services?

A good question.

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is alarmed to learn that taxpayers are funding astrology-based health services, in the name of “traditional Māori healing”.

In a comment to Stuff, the Ministry of Health says it is encouraging its Healthy Families providers to incorporate ‘maramataka’ into their services. Maramataka is the traditional study of lunar cycles.

The Ministry explains: “The work of Healthy Families NZ is part of the growing movement to place indigenous knowledge and practices on an equal level with western epistemologies.”

An example of this put into practice can be found on the Healthy Families website for Whanganui:

Healthy Families WRR are working with others in the community to bring back some of those practices that kept us connected and healthy.

One easy way that we can do this is by adjusting our activity levels according to the energy levels and pull of the moon. Everything has an ebb and a flow, including us, so by allowing ourselves to rest during the low energy phases and amping it up on the high energy phases we are placing ourselves in a position for optimum benefits.

Astrology is quackery and just because it is Maori astrology doesn’t make it any less quackery. Taxpayers should not be funding it.