Clash over rural health funding
A spat over funding for a rural health advocacy and policy group has the Government and National at odds over who cares more for farmers.
National has tabled a petition in Parliament calling on Minister for Rural Communities Damien O’Connor to reverse his decision not to provide funding of $600,000 to the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa NZ (RHAANZ).
Taranaki-King Country MP Barbara Kuriger said the rural community was ‘‘frustrated’’ at the Government’s ‘‘failure to ensure vital services are provided to rural New Zealand’’, particularly in the wake of the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak.
But the Government has fired back, saying the issue was one of the previous government’s making and while a spokesman for the health alliance said the organisation would gratefully accept the extra cash, they were reluctant to get politically involved.
The Rural Health Alliance acts as an umbrella organisation for rural health in New Zealand. It is a registered charity and according to its annual report, membership levies and government funding are its main sources of cash and resources.
The government funding it received came from grants for specific projects that RHAANZ had tendered for, such as mental health. But this year’s bid for $600,000 was for core funding to keep the organisation running.
It had now been wound down in light of the Budget decision, but remained a legal entity that could be rebooted at a later stage.
Kuriger claimed the Government had announced a funding cut, but given the $600,000 would have been new money, the decision could not be described as a cut. Rather, it was a Budget bid declined, over and above what the alliance had been receiving.
The health alliance had declined this year’s normal funding of $250,000 to carry on with a Mental Health Initiative contract however, as it did not feel it was able to deliver its services on that.
Health alliance chair Dr Martin London said the organisation’s financial model had not been sustainable, but funding to help carry out the Rural Mental Health Initiative awarded to the group by the previous government in 2016 appeared to be a lifeline.
‘‘We ran that and it soaked up huge resources and it was incredibly successful. But in the end, it probably didn’t financially sustain us and was also off tune for us.’’
O’Connor said he had ‘‘respect’’ for all the work the Rural Health Alliance had done in advocating for rural communities and undertaking research.
‘‘I am disappointed they have not accepted a new contract from the Ministry of Health this year,’’ he said.
‘‘The Government is committed to a wide-ranging review of mental health services after the previous government ignored pleas for help. This will include rural New Zealand’s needs.’’