There are pleas for the Government to stop sitting on its hands and lower the entry age for the national bowel screening programme.

Bowel Cancer New Zealand wants all people in their fifties to be screened by 2025, and for Maori in the age group to be screened immediately.

Twelve percent of New Zealanders are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year between age 50 and 59.

Bowel Cancer executive professor Sarah Derrett told Mike Hosking it's not good enough.

"We like to think of our health system as being fair and treating everyone equally, but it's not - and it's particularly unfair for Maori at the moment."

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