Mr Radich trumpeted his view the government had no plans to cut the project after meeting Health Minister Shane Reti in Wellington on Tuesday, only to later retract his comments.
Cr Jim O’Malley questioned Mr Radich’s leadership skills, and other councillors were frustrated not to be told about the meeting with the minister ahead of time.
‘‘It is a disappointment to yet again find that the mayor has apparently decided that he has the best answers, and he doesn’t feel the need to communicate to his council his clever plan,’’ Cr O’Malley said.
‘‘However, his approach does not have the support of a large number of councillors. Many of us want to challenge the government’s failure to live up to its election promise and challenge it forcefully.
‘‘I feel the mayor charges [in] with a white flag. The political environment that this fight exists in eats appeasement for breakfast. We need to focus on what was promised and that a promise was broken.’’
Cr O’Malley’s comments follow a series of conflicting statements from Mr Radich about his meeting in Wellington.
About 5pm on Tuesday, the ODT received a statement from the mayor’s office that he had met Dr Reti and ‘‘the minister has said there will be no clinical cuts to this hospital project, and our campaign puts him on notice that we expect nothing less’’.
Mr Radich later asked for the line to be removed from the ODT’s online article, saying he ‘‘did not say that. Neither did [Dr Reti]’’.
He then clarified his statement to say ‘‘Dr Reti had reversed the previous clinical cuts to the hospital’’.
He instead issued a statement saying: ‘‘This is obviously a fast-moving issue.
‘‘I have met with councillors this morning and we’re united in our commitment to focusing on the issue at hand - ensuring our community and the people across the lower South Island get the hospital they need and deserve.’’
In a press release, Mr Radich said councillors had endorsed a campaign plan to fight the cuts, which would include a public protest.
The details of the protest march, including the date, time and location, would be announced today.
‘‘I encourage everyone to get behind this campaign and support the march. Let’s show the government just how important this is ... this message needs to be loud and clear.’’
Cr Sophie Barker said she was frustrated councillors knew nothing about the mayor going to Wellington until they heard his apology for missing a meeting.
‘‘In my opinion we need to work united as a team to run a campaign, and make sure we have a strong, combined, credible message. I’m disappointed at not being kept in the loop about it and reading of it via a media release.
‘‘While I totally support the nurses’ [organisation’s] petition, the power is in all of us speaking together.’’
Asked whether he had any faith in Dr Reti’s assurances, Cr Steve Walker said ‘‘absolutely not’’.
‘‘The government has adopted a brutal ‘slash and burn’ policy across all facets of government, so I can’t see how or why our precious new hospital will be immune to this savage new direction.’’
Cr Walker was also frustrated about Mr Radich ‘‘making a public announcement independent of us councillors’’.
The revival of the council’s campaign comes after the ODT revealed Health New Zealand is considering making cuts to the new hospital’s inpatient building.
