Trust in government lost: We need a new hospital and that’s the bottom line
The new hospital build has raised the ire and frustration of many, with the cuts and downsizing of the inpatient building announced by the National-led government. What the final plan will be is still to be announced.
Regardless of this, a huge protest march was held with thousands taking part, demanding that the project was reinstated to what had been promised by the National Party prior to last year's general election.
It is ironic that it was the National government in August 2017 that announced that a $1 billion-plus new hospital would be built in Dunedin, possibly as a public/private investment.
The delays that followed were not really acceptable in the choice of site and instead of one building there would be two of them, to be built in two stages. This was announced by the Labour-led government in December 2018.
In March 2021 Cabinet and budgetary servicing was secured.
It was not until December 2022 that actual work started. Is five years to get a project under way far too long?
I would suggest that it is and was.
We do not have the outpatient block completed before 2026 and the inpatient block extended to 2029.
There should have been a lot of protest about the delays in getting things off the ground, prior to the big protest we had on Saturday.
Whether the protest march will influence the government to change its mind is doubtful, but a compromise of sorts would be welcome.
I suggest that the name Dunedin Hospital be changed to Southern Regional Hospital to best describe its catchment area. This hospital supports other health facilities throughout the lower South Island and a change of name would make it clear it is not Dunedin-centric.
Dunedin Hospital is dear to my heart. For better or for worse.
I do not understand the current government's decision at all.
To delay, to obfuscate is to add to the final cost massively
Which is what they are stridently claiming they (and only they) are capable of avoiding. Yeah, right!
Are we to end up with a situation where every general election's promises might achieve another completed level in the inpatient building but never a proper, fit-for-purpose finalised structure?
Because to draw back on this build is to create a hollowness, an emptiness of lies and falsehoods. And is a statement that the people of this large geographical portion of New Zealand don't matter much to Wellington, to National, Act and New Zealand First. To state that they will struggle to fund Dunedin because other centres will miss out is an admission of incompetence in thinking, planning and fulfilment of their stated role, leading New Zealand.
I am one of many Dunedin residents appalled by the coalition government. National campaigned saying they would build Dunedin’s new hospital.
A year in power and they have back-tracked so far they are back over the strait. They gave $3 billion, yes $3 billion to the landlords, they plan a $10 billion tunnel in Wellington.
A new hospital for Hamilton, at what cost? They will close down another government department to pay for it.
The lower South Island is primarily served by the Dunedin Hospital, a large geographical area. What happens now? The population are living longer and will require medical help, from who, a caravan in the Octagon?
The current government needs to take a look at themselves and ask the question: are we doing things for the country or just the north of the country? People matter and people are the backbone of this country.
Soon there will not be a viable ferry service from south to north, why? They cancelled the order. They perhaps plan to rent canoes to get across. We need a new hospital and that’s the bottom line. Let the politicians come and be sick in Dunedin. Will we need to fly them home because our hospital is not filling the gap?
"Trust us" said Christopher Luxon in Gore on January 27, 2023, "Dunedin’s new hospital will be future-proofed".
As we have seen this week Mr Luxon and the National Party cannot, in fact, be trusted. The last of the baby-boomers are retiring about now. We should expect a need for larger hospitals all over the country over the next 30 years. Any government that isn’t starting that process now is derelict in its duty.
We have a party in government that aspires to represent those older citizens, however at Saturday’s march Winston Peters and New Zealand First were conspicuous by their absence. They seem to have moved from supporting the aged to supporting tobacco companies instead. I suggest that if the hospital is not built as promised then at the next election voters avoid these parties and look elsewhere.
If ministers are actively considering a staged redevelopment of the existing hospital, why are they not also considering a staged completion of the planned inpatient building?
Stage 1 would require the installation of the earthquake-proof steel framework, placed on top of the existing foundation piles. Stage 2 could involve the construction of the roof and placement of the external cladding.
Stage 3 could involve the fit-out and completion of the lower floors.
Finally, stage 4, would see the completion of the upper floors if, as expected, the necessity still exists.
Each stage would involve a separate contract and thus the costs would be spread over the coming years.
A staged approach is a compromise: it doesn’t provide an inpatient building "now" as demanded by 35,000 people on Saturday.
However, it does provide ministers with a viable alternative, allowing further progress and the eventual completion of the inpatient building without cuts to the original design and concept.
Shane Reti washed his hands of responsibility for Dunedin health and stood helpless, ashen-faced while Chris Bishop bleated excuses that other hospitals deserved priority.
Mr Reti, devoid of any gumption to stand up for local health against a coalition hierarchy for landlords and charter schools, will be embarrassed by Dunedin's throngs, demanding their basic rights — a hospital fit for purpose. Touche? What now? Promised cancer drugs won a rapid reprieve, so 35,000 protesting broken promises sends a hard, cold, steely message to MPs — cough up as promised.
Dunedin hospital serves a vast area, not just suburban Dunedin.
This earthquake will trigger discontent as far as Invercargill and Alexandra as surrounding blue-leaning rural locals realise they've been taken for a ride and dumped like dumb yokels.
In the media release about the proposed hospital cuts, the government stated that our hospital would come at the cost of other regional centres’ healthcare infrastructure.
This is divisive. It pits region against region.
In reality, if government is reneging on one hospital, how likely is it that the other regional upgrades will happen to the required standard?
We must remember that we are stronger united than we are divided.
I propose multi-centre protests in Palmerston North, Nelson, Hawke’s Bay, Tauranga, Whangarei and beyond.
Let’s send a clear message that regional health is a priority to all Kiwis. The hospital cuts have started in the South, but where will they stop?
The problems of asbestos and the huge cost and disruption to demolish the current hospital at any point have been noted. Had there not been so much deferred maintenance on basics, i.e. the roof (due to interest and depreciation payable to governments since the Clark era), then the condition of the current structure would be much better.
That said, the ducting is at capacity for in-house cabling etc, so the plan to include the current structure in any future plans is for many reasons, impracticable. Otago provided the gold that helped develop this country; we deserve a decent new hospital and political chicanery is unacceptable, especially since it's based on failed orthodox economic conclusions, i.e. infrastructure is an asset. Internal deficits are acceptable to create future-proof cost-effective assets.
So just do it.
Mike Houlahan's most recent column (ODT, 28.9.24) prompted me to write regarding the auditor-general's report "Health Sector: Results of the 2014-15 audits". In it the auditor-general notes on page 45 the introduction of the capital charge regime in the early 1990s "as part of a wider policy to emulate market forces in government’'. On page 43 she notes the requirement of fixed costs that district health boards must pay to the government based on equity at 8% per annum. The debt level imposed on the health sector was always perverse as it is not a profit-making entity.
No wonder district health boards delayed upgrades and new builds as they struggled with artificial financial impositions required of a flawed ideology. To read the entire report is to weep bitter salt tears.
To redress the present crisis the government must forgive the artificial debt, find the funding for Dunedin and other hospitals from the same source as for potholes, reintroduce voluntary bonding for medical students, restore funding cuts in other health sectors and work towards a bi-partisan approach to this crucial sector. It will not be a cost — it will be an investment in a health system of national importance.
At the 2023 election, 117,508 people south of the Waitaki voted for the three parties in the current government coalition. Hands up from any of those who think they will be voting the same way in 2026.
It is of great concern that we, the people of the intake area of the Dunedin hospital, are facing constant obstructions in regards to the build of the hospital which covers the southern region. The Rust report is written with factual information which minister’s Reti and Bishop are ignoring. The North Island has five hospitals which are facing upgrades but at what cost to our southern regional hospital which is a teaching hospital and covers a wide area. The population of people in the southern catchment of the hospital in Otago is larger than any of the five hospitals which are awaiting upgrades so should be considered to be more urgently looked upon.
We have had smoke and mirrors sent our way from the start of the hospital build being mooted as well as broken promises and ill-treatment in favour of other hospitals. The rough numbers from 2023 of population for the southern regional hospital are 358,500. In comparison, the five hospitals being spoken of by government for upgrades have a population of 532,400, which gives the southern region the largest intake of 67%. It is disgraceful that the people of the South are being cast aside in preference to those north of Wellington.
Our southern regional hospital should be build in the manner it was promised and keep our teaching hospital in the South instead of throwing money at yet another teaching hospital in the meantime.
Dunedin Area Citizens Association
What seems to be eluding commentators is that the government appears hell-bent on giving a general message that expensively out-of-control activities and projects are not going to be tolerated under any circumstances.
The Dunedin hospital changes, like the ferry cancellation, like the public service job losses, are collateral damage in the drive to deliver that message, and we have the great misfortune to be in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time, and it can't help that Dunedin is a Labour stronghold. Unusually, government appear to be unafraid of the sunk costs, reputational damage and scuffed egos that usually keeps money being pumped into activities that exceed their budgets: likely because they can point the finger at the previous government.
However, is there the competence and will, across the country, to deliver the value for money government is so ruthlessly pursuing?
Fortunately I am not prone to apoplexy. Should I be, it would be as a result of this coalition’s actions and the dismissive smug arrogance shown by some MPs who are unconvincing and seem way out of their comfort and skillset zones. Funding the tobacco companies and landlords’ not needed tax cuts, promises made and broken, millions allocated for potholes that would have completed our hospital. The folly of charter schools, funded by monies taken out of the education coffers, winding up the goal of all government departments becoming carbon neutral, lip service being applied to environmental issues, accepted cultural norms and the welfare needs of our most vulnerable etc. My blood pressure is rising. I shudder to think what wholesale damage is to come from this government. I guess bad news is what it is. My guess is they give it now, hoping in two years we will have forgotten. I for one won't have.
The government don’t support anything south of Christchurch. It all seems to be north.
They are funding a stadium in Christchurch; we had to pay for the Dunedin stadium through rates.
They are building roads and tunnels up north, instead of building a more efficient rail system throughout New Zealand, not just the North Island for passengers and freight. And they want to introduce a medical training centre at Waikato University. Why when we can take more trainees down here. But I hear that the government have a cap on how many we can take. National just don’t like funding things that work for the lower South Island, they just don’t support us.
Russell Lund (Letters, 1.10.24) is right on track. Someone needs to showcase the refurbished ICU in the ward block; it is fantastic. Up-to-date latest equipment and excellent staff and care. Maybe have a look at the refurbished dental school also. Go local, plenty of expertise here. Probably where things went wrong: no local experienced input, years of talk fest. Now good chance for sensible local input. Out-of-towners get not good results.
A capital gains tax has multiple benefits for NZ
Christopher Luxon’s criticism of ANZ chief executive Antonia Watson’s comment on a capital gains tax was unbecoming of a prime minister and does not make sense.
He rightly criticised the big Australian banks for making a lot of money off the New Zealand public but then equated CGT as another Aussie money grab.
No. It would go into a fairer NZ tax revenue take to be paid by the coalition government’s wealthier constituents offsetting taxes paid by those less well-off, despite giving them sufficient tax relief to buy a cup of coffee.
You don’t tax your way out of a recession, you grow your way out, he said, making it easier to build houses to offset rising house prices caused by a shortage. A shortage that National and Act were and remain responsible for through decimating Kāinga Ora.
Requiring such drastic savings from all branches of the public service is itself effectively a tax grab and at the expense of about 4000 jobs. That doesn’t augur well for a growth economy but rather wider economic inequality that a CGT could help flatten.
The New Zealand public deserve a genuine cross-party conversation on the subject of tax and the value of an efficient public service.
Nicola Willis shows her lack of knowledge of finance thinking a capital gains tax (CGT) would stop people investing (ODT, 28.9.24). If we had a CGT hopefully there would be investment in business and science. Our young entrepreneurs need private backing. Maybe money would be better invested in our future instead of just buying houses for CGT. The way she is handling the country’s finances at the moment couldn’t be more disastrous.
Reserch from Victoria University (ODT, 20.9.24) found that well-heeled Kiwis pay less tax than better-off people in nine other OECD nations. There are no wealth taxes in New Zealand. How can we expect to properly fund public services like health and education if those who are able to pay are not doing so? The recent tax cuts which the coalition introduced benefit richer people more than poorer folk. They are not a logical solution to the country's financial problems and are widening inequalities in society. Mr Luxon has ruled out introducing a capital gains tax because he believes that you don't tax your way out of a recession (ODT 25.9.24). I wonder how many parliamentarians own several properties and have benefitted from their untaxed financial gains? And how many of these politicians are also landlords who claim tax deductions from their investment properties?
Keep speed limit
I wish to correct the false interpretation created by the headline over my letter (ODT, 26.9.24). It says: Speed limits hike fine but not on bends. My point, however, was that the 40kmh speed limit from Glenfalloch to Company Bay should in general be kept, owing to the bendy nature of the road and its effect on various places where pedestrians need to cross it. I certainly did not endorse a general hike of the present limit to 50kmh.
Pay the doctors to stay
Why on earth would we train more doctors when our health system is so dysfunctional that we can't retain them?
Save the money on the new medical school and put it into creating a work environment that doesn’t crush the doctors we do have and drive them overseas.
Willfully ignorant of consequences of law change
The Crown Minerals Amendment Bill seeks to remove the current ban on oil and gas exploration and open up mining on some conservation land. Serious stuff. So you would expect a rigorous examination of the consequences, both the upside and downside. The MBIE Departmental Disclosure Document on the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill asks two relevant questions. For the policy to be given effect by this Bill, is there analysis available on: a) the size of the potential costs and benefits and b) the potential for any group of persons to suffer a substantial unavoidable loss of income or wealth.
MBIE answered both questions with a resounding ‘No’. No analysis. No proof. No research. No reflection. No science. No regard to climate change. No regard even to an evaluation of the financial upside. One is forced to conclude that we are being governed by those who wish to remain willfully ignorant and have not sought to identify the consequences of the law they wish to pass.
Let's have some respect
Gerrard Eckhoff's long article about the Treaty of Waitangi (ODT, 26.9.24) adds nothing new to this endless debate. Let's remember that when Europeans first settled in this country, they swiftly observed that "These New Zealanders are nobody's fools". Yet to have handed over their country without substantial safeguards would have made them extremely foolish. So, let's respect the goodwill and integrity of those who wrote the Treaty and those who signed it.
Might be time for Mr Key to move to Florida
John Key said he thinks Trump "should win the US election". Does Key also think Trump should have added record US national debt and wasted a trillion dollars on tax cuts for the wealthy, while breaking the economy with a senseless trade war with China? Does he think he should have committed the sex crimes he was found culpable for, alongside 34 other felonies? Does he think Trump should have incited a murderous insurrection at the Capitol?
Does he think he should be behaving like Putin’s sycophantic puppet by attacking Nato and repeating Russian propaganda on Ukraine? Does he think it’s fine for Trump to say he will be a dictator "for a day", jail political opponents and set up concentration camps for millions of immigrants? And does Key think it’s acceptable for a candidate to blatantly lie and spout racist garbage like "Haitians are eating pets" in Springfield? In my view it is time John Key left for Mar-a-Lago and joined that weird right-wing freakshow.
Back to the future
With all the problems that teachers have to deal with now and in addition dealing with students not attending school, isn’t it time we had truancy officers again. They were independent of schools, checking up with individual students who clearly weren’t at school, then sorting out issues with them and their parents and thus taking the pressure off teachers.
Some ATMs don’t charge
Palmerston has one 24-hour money machine and they have to pay an extra $2.80 to withdraw money (ODT, 27.9.24). In Dunedin we also have the same situation but because of where I bank they do not add that fee when making a withdraw from the machine in the wall.
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