"If bird 'flu killed one in 10 of New Zealand's population a national emergency would be declared," party co-leader Tariana Turia said tonight.
"There would be crisis plans put in place, trained personnel and resources redeployed and public spending redirected until the emergency was over."
Mrs Turia said the latest life expectancy figures showed Maori had 10 percent shorter lifetimes than non-Maori.
"In other words, each Maori person on average loses 10 percent of their life," she said.
"It is utterly appalling and a national disgrace that this country does not expect that tangata whenua should live as long, or as well, as others.
"We have come to regard this situation as normal and it barely rates a mention in the news."
Statistics New Zealand reported today that life expectancy of New Zealanders was continuing to rise.
The figures for 2005-2007 show a newborn girl can expect to live 82.2 years and a boy 78.0 years -- an increase of 1.0 years for females and 1.7 years for males since 2000-2002.
The life expectancy for males has increased more than for females over the past 30 years.
Females can still expect to outlive males, by 4.1 years based on deaths in 2005-2007, down from 6.4 years in 1975-1977.
Maori death rates remain higher than non-Maori death rates at all ages.
Life expectancy for Maori females was 75.1 years, and 70.4 years for Maori males in 2005-2007.
The gap between Maori and non-Maori has narrowed slightly, to 8.2 years in 2005-2007 compared with 8.5 years in 2000-2002.
Maori are 1.6 times more likely to die in the first year of life than non-Maori.
Statistics NZ said the difference between Maori and non-Maori life expectancy is due partly to rates of smoking and diabetes, as well as socio-economic background.
New Zealanders' life expectancy rates are slightly below the OECD median of 82.3 years for females and 77.2 years for males.
