Govt will be hoping new health initiatives give it an electoral lift – but it is shying from the Mongrel Mob’s endorsement
The government is gloating about its latest initiatives on the health front but is coy about the electoral impetus it might get from the support of the Mongrel Mob.
The Minister of Health has announced a change in policy to make eye cataract surgery available to more people.
More significantly, New Zealand’s Health Workforce Plan has been announced and the Minister of Immigration – thanks to a belated change to the visa system – claims to have added more than 6300 nurses to the health-services workforce.
The news abut the Health Workforce Plan was so good, it was announced twice – a press statement to explain what is being done for the nation generally and another to explain what is being done for Maori citizens.
There’s news of another governmental success, too, in the form of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins advising he will be travelling to Brussels on Friday for the signing of the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement before heading to Stockholm and the NATO Leaders’ Summit in Lithuania.
“I said trade would be a key focus for me this year and securing this deal will be a major boost for our economy,” Chris Hipkins said.
Holding his cabinet together has become key focus, too, and when Hipkins gets back home he will try to sort out the matter of Kiri Allan’s dealings with her staff.
His answers to journalists’ questions about this can be found in the transcript of a press conference yesterday.
The same transcript gives us an idea of the PM’s reaction to the news that the Mongrel Mob has endorsed Labour and the Greens.
Media: Are you concerned about the sort of idea that the Mongrel Mob endorses Labour, doesn’t want National to get into Government? Do you accept the Mongrel Mob’s endorsement?
PM: Certainly not—40,000-odd charges have been laid against gang members as part of the police’s crackdown on gangs; 400 firearms have been seized. This Government has changed the law to give police more powers to crack down on gangs. I don’t think that gangs play a useful role within our society. I certainly don’t endorse any of their activities, and they can expect the full weight of the law to be applied against them when they break it.
Media: Do you want their votes?
PM: Not particularly, no.
The government’s statements, announcements and proclamations can be found here –
There’s news of another governmental success, too, in the form of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins advising he will be travelling to Brussels on Friday for the signing of the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement before heading to Stockholm and the NATO Leaders’ Summit in Lithuania.
“I said trade would be a key focus for me this year and securing this deal will be a major boost for our economy,” Chris Hipkins said.
Holding his cabinet together has become key focus, too, and when Hipkins gets back home he will try to sort out the matter of Kiri Allan’s dealings with her staff.
His answers to journalists’ questions about this can be found in the transcript of a press conference yesterday.
The same transcript gives us an idea of the PM’s reaction to the news that the Mongrel Mob has endorsed Labour and the Greens.
Media: Are you concerned about the sort of idea that the Mongrel Mob endorses Labour, doesn’t want National to get into Government? Do you accept the Mongrel Mob’s endorsement?
PM: Certainly not—40,000-odd charges have been laid against gang members as part of the police’s crackdown on gangs; 400 firearms have been seized. This Government has changed the law to give police more powers to crack down on gangs. I don’t think that gangs play a useful role within our society. I certainly don’t endorse any of their activities, and they can expect the full weight of the law to be applied against them when they break it.
Media: Do you want their votes?
PM: Not particularly, no.
The government’s statements, announcements and proclamations can be found here –
Latest from the Beehive
The release of a national Health Workforce Plan today is an exciting step towards mobilising growth within our Māori workforce and ensuring Māori have a clear pathway i
Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall says the Government is backing a sustained improvement plan for New Zealand’s health workforce.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Brussels to witness New Zealand signing the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement before heading to Stockholm and the NATO Leaders’ Summit in Lithuania.
New Zealand’s health system now has thousands more health workers thanks to new visa pathways put in place by this Government, Immigration Minister Andrew Little says.
Approximately 3500 more cataract surgeries will be delivered as a result of a new nationally consistent threshold that removes the postcode lottery that has denied some New Zealanders access to this life-changing procedure.
The announcement about eligibility for cataract surgery had one fascinating consequence.
RNZ reports that eye surgeons are warning they may not be able to cope with an increased demand for operations now that more patients will qualify.
The Health Minister promised there would be 3500 more operations over the next 18 months as a result of the changes.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists said making access to surgery fairer had been a long time coming.
But spokesperson Dr Jesse Gale was nervous about whether public hospitals would be able to cope with increased demand.
He thought there would have be trade-offs.
“Hospitals will probably need to allocate some resources just to cataracts, which in a stretched service might reduce access to other types of eye surgery”.
Improving the country’s economic wellbeing is the aim of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins journey to Brussels to witness New Zealand signing the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement before he heads to Stockholm and the NATO Leaders’ Summit in Lithuania.
The long-awaited deal would unlock access to the world’s third biggest market and deliver immediate tariff savings on New Zealand exports to the EU of around $100 million a year when it enters into force – more than any past New Zealand FTA, Hipkins said.
But the longer-term benefits are not so easy to predict.
Hipkins referred to modelling which “suggests” exports to the European Union will increase by up to $1.8 billion a year and add up to $1.4 billion to New Zealand’s GDP per year once fully implemented.
The Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Damien O’Connor, will join the Prime Minister in Brussels to sign the agreement.
New Zealand will also sign the Horizon Europe Association Agreement, which is the European Union’s main research and innovation framework and funding platform. It is the largest multilateral research programme in the world.
“Associating to Horizon Europe will provide new opportunities for New Zealand scientists to collaborate with European partners on research to address major global challenges such as climate change, energy and health,” Chris Hipkins said.
The Prime Minister will meet with his Swedish counterpart Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Johan Forssell in Stockholm, before travelling to Lithuania for the NATO Leaders’ Summit.
Participating in the Summit demonstrates the importance that New Zealand places on its longstanding partnership with NATO.
“Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine fundamentally undermines the international rules-based system that is so important to New Zealand. It has had significant impacts on the global economy, as well as New Zealand’s economic recovery,” Chris Hipkins said.
“The Summit in Vilnius gives New Zealand the opportunity to contribute our perspective to leaders’ discussions on these matters of global importance.”
The Prime Minister will also hold significant bilateral meetings with foreign leaders on the sidelines of the Summit.
The Prime Minister leaves New Zealand this Friday 7 July and returns on 14 July, while Damien O’Connor leaves the same day but returns on 12 July.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
1 comment:
Yet more blatantly racist policies by Ayesha Verrall.
Can you see the screaming headlines if such policies were reversed to favour non-Maori ?
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