Source: Radio New Zealand
A petition containing 90,000 signatures is presented to Parliament. RNZ / Giles Dexter
A petition calling for the government to urgently fix the health system – which organisers estimate is New Zealand’s longest petition ever – has been delivered to Parliament.
Unfurled across Parliament’s lawn, the petition stretched down the steps, and past the Cenotaph.
Patient Voice Aotearoa spokesperson Malcolm Mulholland estimated it was 276 metres long, stretching a few metres beyond the length of the Suffrage Petition.
Mulholland said it weighed somewhere between 150 and 200 kilograms, and said it “quite literally” felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
“I can’t lift it myself, I need more help. But for me, the first part of the journey feels over.”
A petition containing 90,000 signatures – calling on the government to fix a broken health system – is presented to Parliament. RNZ / Giles Dexter
The 90,000 signatories were signing up to what Mulholland called the Buller Declaration – an assertion that the health system is in crisis, that Māori, rural, and low-income populations are disproportionately impacted, that the government must act urgently to address the crisis and meet its Treaty of Waitangi obligations to protect Māori health, and that it must allocated additional resources to train, recruit, and retain more nurses, doctors, and specialists.
“The call was made that our health system is broken, and because it is broken, people in Buller are missing out on the health care that they need, and in today’s age that is just unacceptable,” Mulholland said.
“It should be the priority of any government, regardless of colour, be they blue or red, that they look after the health of their people.”
Mulholland said his travels around the country had made him realise that what he at first thought was just a Buller problem was then a rural problem, then a Māori problem, then everyone’s problem.
A petition containing 90,000 signatures – calling on the government to fix a broken health system – is presented to Parliament. RNZ / Giles Dexter
The petition was also supported by groups such as the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, and the New Zealand College of Midwives.
It was accepted by MPs from the Greens, Labour, and ACT.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters watched from a distance, but the Health Minister was absent.
Simeon Brown said he had a Cabinet committee meeting and so could not attend the petition handover, but he accepted there were “significant” challenges in the health system.
“I accept that too many people are waiting too long to be able to get the care they need. I hear the concerns of New Zealanders every single day, I meet with staff on the front-line when I’m visiting hospitals on a regular basis, and I’m focused on making sure we address these issues,” he said.
“We’re investing record funding into our health system, we are hiring more doctors, more nurses, and we’re focused on reducing those wait-lists which is why we reintroduced those health targets.”
A petition containing 90,000 signatures – calling on the government to fix a broken health system – is presented to Parliament. RNZ / Giles Dexter
Mulholland was not disappointed with Brown’s absence, saying it was more important that “the people” were present.
For now, the petition will stay in Green MP Hūhana Lyndon’s office.
But Lyndon was keen to get the petition into Te Papa, to serve as a constant reminder to whoever is in power of the importance of the health system.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
