This despite mounting evidence that even a pared down build such the government looks likely to fund — and a likely inadequate and not future-proof hospital at that, should that come to pass — would probably cost well in excess of the government’s self-imposed limit.
Although the ODT has been a vigorous and vociferous supporter of the campaign to build a proper southern hospital (something which, lest we forget, National promised to do during the election campaign), there is much in Mr Luxon’s comments with which we can agree.
Firstly, we agree that the government, absolutely, should live within its means. The prospect of a cost blowout approaching $3billion, something which the government has said is a genuine risk, is entirely unpalatable.
But such overruns are the reality of almost every major construction project, especially one started at a time of high inflation when the cost of construction materials was skyrocketing.
Something else which must be remembered is that the budget is blowing out because the government — both this one and its predecessor — have squandered thousands upon thousands on redesigns, rejiggings and second thoughts.
Labour’s contemplated cuts wasted many months at considerable cost, and the present government’s re-examination of a potential refurbishment of the old building — something rejected by experts many years ago as unfeasible and rejected by clinicians today as unworkable — is sending more good money after bad.
Secondly, we agree with Mr Luxon that the problem should have been dealt with long ago.
The new hospital is a generational resource for the people of Otago and Southland: we have waited a shamefully long time for this rebuild, but the further delays which the government have foisted upon the project are deeply regrettable.
Yes, this project manifestly needs more rigour applied to its costs, but not at the price of tumbleweeds piling up on the Cumberland St inpatients site while accountants pore through facts and figures that seem unlikely to balance up the required need with the desired cost.
Swallowing a dead rat is a common political idiom for having to progress a policy that a party does not like: the cost overruns on the new Dunedin hospital will not look good on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ next set of accounts, but the value of the hospital to the South specifically but to the South Island as a whole are incalculable.
Quite apart from the undoubted health benefits, which will be enjoyed by generations of Otago and Southland residents, the new hospital is expected to play a critical role in caring for those injured in a major disaster.
Much planning is going into preparing for, as an example, major seismic events in the South Island, and the as yet unbuilt hospital is envisaged as playing a pivotal role.
Finally, we also agree with Mr Luxon that fiscal discipline is needed on this, and indeed all, taxpayer-funded projects.
Valuable lessons will have been learned from the Dunedin hospital story and they should be applied to the many more hospital builds which this and successive governments will need to fund.
But, as a former chief executive, Mr Luxon should be well familiar with the business axiom that the biggest and best investment that a company can make is in its people.
A new Dunedin hospital is the ultimate investment in the people of Otago and Southland, people who, like the rest of NZ Inc, pay taxes which also fund highways in Auckland, tunnels in Wellington and the reinvigoration of Christchurch.
We deserve the new hospital as was promised, built the once and built right.
