Luxon gets cost-of-living lesson in Levin
National leader hears of community’s hardship, says Govt ‘not getting results’
National Party leader Christopher Luxon was painted a bleak picture when he visited Levin recently. Luxon met more than 20 people linked to various social services in Horowhenua, and was told they were being overwhelmed for the basics, and some elderly were going without food in order to pay the bills.
He was told record house prices had reached unaffordable levels, how young people were couch surfing in the absence of affordable rental accommodation, and that some people were waiting weeks to see a doctor in Horowhenua.
If the National Party leader was visiting the provinces to hear their concerns, he left town under no illusion of the challenges facing a region with an average annual income less than $25,000.
Horowhenua Grey Power president Terry Hemmingsen told Luxon 75 per cent of elderly admitted to hospital were on the brink of malnutrition.
“It’s a generation that pays their bills first and buys food last. They are too proud to ask for help, to their detriment,” he said.
Hemmingsen said he had spoken to a resident who had $5 left each week for food after paying the bills.
“Any increase in superannuation is not keeping up with inflation and the rising cost of living. They are constantly going backward,” he said. “I’m constantly hearing it.
“I get phone calls from out-of-town family members telling me ‘mum’s not getting groceries’.
Luxon said he was visiting towns like Levin to hear it from the horse’s mouth.
The cost-of-living-crisis was the biggest issue facing New Zealand, he said.
“The need is immense. It’s getting greater . . . we’ve got to stop throwing seeds on concrete,” he said.
Mortgage rates, interests rates, rents, power bills, food prices, fuel . . . “it doesn’t matter what you pick, the essentials have got out of control and really expensive”, he said.
“We are worse off than we were 12 months ago because our money doesn’t go as far. Prices going up 6 per cent — wages are only going up 2.6 per cent . . . it’s a big big problem for New Zealand going forward.”
“When inflation takes root in an economy it’s very hard to get out. People will remember the 1980s, the 1970s . . . the reality is all of us are going backwards.”
“But it doesn’t matter whether it’s roading, health, mental health, poverty, education — we have a Government that is not getting results.”
Luxon said the health system was failing to train and retain enough medical professionals and the high turnover of doctors in Horowhenua was unacceptable.
“We haven’t got this health workforce right. For every doctor or nurse we train, we lose one, so it’s just
a tunnel of people in, people out, and part of it is the immigration settings,” he said.
“If you want to attract the best doctors and nurses and medical people to NZ — they don’t just choose to come here because we think it’s a great place — they have choices.”
“The world wants medical staff who are well trained. If you are a doctor, you can work anywhere in the world. There are 195 different countries and 7.8 billion people to help, so you get to choose where you want to go and where you want to work. But what they hear is NZ is not open for business with a nightmare immigration system that doesn’t offer you a pathway to residency . . . only recently, an O¯ taki doctor left his practice and 1300 patients, let down through poor immigration policy.”
Luxon said New Zealand needed 1400 more doctors, 1400 more hospital specialists, and 14,000 more nurses, to reach the per-capita rates of Australia.
“We need to train as many as we can inside New Zealand and be able to encourage young people into those pathways and make sure we have good working conditions to retain them in the health system.”
“There has been $2 billion spent on mental health — why has it got worse? Why are there no results? Access to mental health services has got worse, not better.”
Luxon also said it was vital the recently completed Transmission Gully project continued all the way to north of Levin once the current extension as far as O¯ taki was complete.
“Just get it done. It’s cheaper today than it ever will be tomorrow.”