True Faith

Lester Levy fails to strike oil, and Simeon Brown looks to bring costs down.

That's the price that we all pay
And the value of destiny comes to nothing
I can't tell you where we're going
I guess there was just no way of knowing

Songwriters: Bernard Sumner / Gillian Lesley Gilbert / Peter Hook / Stephen Eric Hague / Stephen Paul David Morris.

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What an eventful week it’s been. One that saw the departures of Adrian Orr, the Governor of the Reserve Bank; Greg Foran, the CEO of Air Aotearoa—New Zealand (there, I fixed it for you); Phil Goff, our High Commissioner in London; and even Lester Levy, the Commissioner of Health NZ.

It seems that things are going less than swimmingly across the board. Today, I want to focus on what I believe is the most critical of issues, both now and as we approach next year's election: the state of our healthcare system.

In my view, our public health system is National’s Achilles heel. I’m not saying it’s all their fault, but if you inherit a system in near crisis regarding waiting times and waiting lists, with an underpaid and overworked workforce, you don’t target it for cost savings.

Health care is expensive and will continue to be so as the system becomes more run-down and strained. However, taking money out of the health budget isn’t an option. That isn’t a thing.

I discussed this last night with Fi as the news played in the background. I said health is really important because it's a nonpartisan issue. Everyone wants good healthcare when they or someone they love needs it.

The left will complain about education cuts, and the right will moan about ivory towers and woke indoctrination. We might gasp at climate change; spoiler alert: if you’re not a believer, you might want to look away from Australia at the moment, while others roll their eyes and buy another Ford Ranger to get about town.

No one who has spent time in our public health service would suggest we ought to spend less and find savings, and most would agree that our medical professionals are worth their weight in gold, or at least a decent pay rise.

Faced with the need for healthcare and the stark reality of the system, this is not a partisan issue, and it’s not one that National is winning on.