The flap was occasioned by an ill-thought-through comment Dr Reti made to the health select committee on Tuesday morning, which he appeared before as part of Parliament’s first scrutiny week.
When asked by Taieri Labour MP Ingrid Leary’s to give an assurance that the government intended to keep National’s election campaign promise to reverse proposed cuts to the new Dunedin hospital project, Dr Reti’s answer was hardly a ringing endorsement.
Almost everyone listening immediately spotted that for what it was — a direct question not being answered with the definite "yes" that Dunedin and the wider southern regions wanted to hear — and alarm bells understandably started ringing. Compounding the problem was that Dr Reti’s six to 10 year time frame could mean the already delayed inpatient building’s opening day being pushed out still further.
And coming hard on the heels of infrastructure minister Chris Bishop telling the ODT a fortnight ago "we need to make sure that the project delivers value for money" and finance minister Nicola Willis telling the newspaper a month ago that more "fiscal discipline" was needed in managing projects like the hospital build, the nerves of close observers of the project were well and truly jangling.
Some damage repair was in order and, coincidentally, Dr Reti just happened to be scheduled to be visiting Dunedin on Thursday to see what $2 billion and climbing buys you in the way of new hospitals.
"And climbing" are the two key words here. The ODT has it on good authority that the budget for the project has sailed past $2b, although officially the number still stands at $1.9b.
The government also well and truly knows that the budget is blown (again) too, but it is still negotiating to let the main construction contract on the inpatient building and will not let on how much money it is having to spend due to "commercial sensitivity."
It was that insatiable budget which caused the former government to look at cost savings, sparking widespread fury, the "They Save, We Pay" protest campaign, and National’s election pledge.
Dr Reti was happy to play politics with the hospital build then — although having not packed a warm jacket he was not so happy to be in a frigid Dunedin to do so.
When he arrived on Thursday Dr Reti was armed with a thick jumper and plenty of reassuring words.
"The coalition government is committed to building the new Dunedin hospital," he said.
Which sounds nice but it was followed up with a reiteration that the government had expectations that value for money would be delivered.
When again directly asked to re-affirm his pre-election pledge, Dr Reti said "it continues to be what we are anticipating on delivering."
But, again, "anticipating"is not actually "yes." It is not a lot of wiggle room, but Dr Reti has still left himself an out should the cost of 23 inpatient beds, two operating theatres and a PET scanner prove too onerous for the tax payer. The government is not off the hook on this one yet.
Dunedin Hospital is not Dr Reti’s only concern. Many other New Zealand hospitals are at, or nearing, a similar state of dilapidation as Dunedin.
Upgrading of Whāngarei and Nelson hospitals are in various stages of being under way, and hospitals in Hawke’s Bay, Timaru, Palmerston North and Tauranga will also need upgrades in the short to medium term.
Dunedin is the template for the process, and to Dr Reti’s mind that template is badly flawed. Expect more designs in common and modular, standardised construction of rooms to be a feature of future builds.
Whether that can constrain the budget beast is uncertain, but the blank cheque waiting to be filled in to finish off the new Dunedin hospital is hardly a desirable approach either.
Another problem Dr Reti has is how to maintain political oversight of the project: Southland MP Joseph Mooney has the delegation to look after Dunedin but he is 282km away and he has plenty of issues closer to home that he also needs to keep an eye on.
If National is really serious about establishing a presence in Dunedin, as Mr Bishop alluded to in Southern Say a fortnight ago, the party might want to consider identifying 2026 candidates for the city’s two seats sooner rather than later, so that they can keep a closer eye on the hospital in particular and other local issues in general.
Short memory
Ingrid Leary’s pot shot at Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich for leaving the city before Dr Reti’s visit — for a long-planned trip overseas for a family event — was not her finest moment.
Apart from sounding petty, Ms Leary had clearly forgotten the faux outrage when her former colleague David Clark jetted off with his family on a long-planned trip but had to return without them later that day due to the political furore occasioned by his trip coinciding with a nurse’s strike.
Labour thought criticism in that case was unfair: it was in this case too.
