Yvonne van Dongen: Woke Surgeons Only Need Apply

If you had impacted wisdom teeth requiring surgery, would it comfort you to know the consultant surgeon was competent in te ao Māori?

Or, say, if you needed oral cancer surgery, is it a bonus if the person operating on your mouth has had experience in projects and initiatives which give effect to Te Tiriti principles?

David Farrar: Dunedin Hospital confirmed

The Herald reports:

Dunedin’s new hospital will be built on the old Cadbury factory site despite several “construction challenges”, Health Minister Simeon Brown confirmed today.

The Government has also released details of the hospital’s scale, with Brown stating it will offer 351 beds, 58 emergency department spaces, 20 short-stay surgical beds and 22 theatres. …

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 31/1/25

Not only can we drive faster – our chances of hitting potholes are being reduced (thanks to a $3.9bn govt investment)

Great news flowed today from Transport Minister Chris Bishop. Fresh from enabling us to put the foot down and drive at higher speeds on several roads and highways, today Bishop said potholes are being repaired more quickly, too.

Around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways are being repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, he says.

David Farrar: Labour hoping for fool me twice

The Herald reported:

If elected, Labour will build the new Dunedin Hospital to the level that was promised at the 2023 election before the coalition Government said it would downsize the build, blaming cost.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Government is in Trouble over Dunedin Hospital

When it comes to the Dunedin hospital scale back, the Government's in trouble on this.

That protest over the weekend was big. 35,000 people is more than a quarter of Dunedin's population.

If you assume they came from all over the region, which is probably true given the hospital would service the Otago region, it’s still big. It’s 14% of the population.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 27/9/24

Thanks, Minister – but our wellbeing would be greatly improved if we knew the cost of this mental health initiative

Small Business and Manufacturing Minister Andrew Bayly is among the ministers who contributed to a flood of announcements and speeches to the government’s official website in the past 24 hours.

But we suspect something is missing from his enthusing about the Government and Auckland Business Chamber entering a memorandum of understanding

Point of Order: McAnulty comes clean on Three Waters....

...but Opposition MPs say his arguments for sinking our democracy just don’t wash

Not for the first time, we have had to wait a few days for a minister to acknowledge that something vital was missing from a statement posted on the Government’s official website.

In this case, Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty made no mention of “co-govern”, “co-governance” or “co-government” in the statement he issued last Thursday on a major shakeup which will see affordable water reforms led and delivered regionally.

Garrick Tremain: Foundation stone

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on woke maori names, bungling and cost cutting!