Category: This Is Christchurch -> National Governance

This week the government announced the health sector will be reformed by abolishing 20 DHBs replacing them with four entities which are fully controlled by a new bureaucracy, “Health NZ”, based in Wellington. There will not be an elected membership as there currently is for the DHB system. The idea has received at best a…

In New Zealand we have a perennial debate about the interaction and service distribution between central government and local authority control. This happens because the country does not have any form of state government. Instead, there is one central (federal) government based in Wellington, and two tiers of local government with far less powers and…

This blog has previously focused on concerns about Labour’s health policy with particular relevance to the Canterbury District Health Board leadership crisis. This was the subject of a series of blog posts in the last few weeks. The hallmark of the John Key led National government was that Key was perceived to be a “front…

Canon David Morrell is a former Christchurch City Missioner and a Canon of the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch. He was an elected member of the Canterbury District Health Board from its inception in 2001 until last year’s CDHB elections – sitting for a total of 18 years. His commentary on the Health Board issues appears…

In the last few days the NZ Government has taken steps to meet with the CDHB Board and protesting health staff to discuss their concerns, alongside the first steps to implement staff and resourcing cuts in the Board’s operations following Board approval of a $56.5 million cut in expenditure this week. Some Board members and…

Labour is campaigning to be re-elected in a few weeks, and has ruffled a lot of feathers by declining to issue any policy manifestos, saying they are “too busy” with the Covid-19 crisis. The real question, however, is whether Labour has any major policy in a number of areas, including health. During the 2017 election,…

So the war of words over Canterbury DHB continues, this time with an interview in The Press today with Lester Levy, claiming Canterbury DHB’s deficit “has grown out of control”. Levy was appointed Crown Monitor to the CDHB board last year and is a former chairman of all three Auckland DHBs. However, the counter claim…

We’re still evolving what this site is about and how we will use it, but we are sticking for now with our plans that it won’t be a general political site, but that we will continue to use it to address a small selected range of issues that we feel are of key importance. The…