Indigenous leadership in healthcare is one way for Indigenous peoples to exercise sovereignty over their health. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the establishment of the Māori Health Authority (MHA) was grounded in a decades-long imperative to address Māori health inequities and operationalise te Tiriti o Waitangi within the health system. However, the populist National-led coalition government formed in November 2023 included the abolishment of the MHA in their first 100-day plan and eventually disestablished it in February 2024.