Jules Radich: Dunedin mayor issues warning amid proposed cuts to hospital project

Dunedin's mayor isn't backing down on fighting for the city's new hospital ahead of potential cuts.

The Government has asked Health NZ for two options to deliver the project - within budget - after costs escalated to an estimated $3 billion from an original estimate of between $1.2b-$1.4b.

About 35,000 people took to the streets in Dunedin on Saturday to protest the proposed downgrades.

Mayor Jules Radich says there will be detrimental effects if it isn't built.

"Number one- people will die. The Government will have blood on its hands because this hospital is needed for the level of tertiary care that is required throughout the whole region."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And so far at least, the government appears unmoved by
the mass outrage against the cutbacks to Dunedin's plans for
its new hospital. About thirty five thousand people march over
the weekend to protest the plans to scale back the redevelopment.
But Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishops is the project extremely complex
and it is not as easy as just simply finding
a new contractor. We've got a way up the trade

(00:22):
offs between going out to market and potentially delaying the
actual start of construction on the impatient for another long
period of time. Dunedin Mayor Jules Radditch is with us
on this. This evening killed her. So what do you
make of the government's response.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, I mean the whole project's been not as easy
as anything because it's dragged on and dragged on and
it's a big part of the escalation and cost. The
name of the game is really did to get on
with it now? I mean, the good contract management with
the existing contractor will be fine. We've just got to
get them to build the job for the money at hand.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Do you accept the official line on the cost blowouts?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
No one, because well they've said they've gone to three billion,
but they're including a whole lot of other things that
weren't in scope. So you know, decommissioning or refurbishing a
building for three hundred and fifty million, where did that
come from? You know, that's never been talked about until
just now. So and to put that into the cost,
I mean the main the cost that needs to be

(01:30):
funded right now is the building is the construction of
the in patient's building. So it's here, ready to go.
The piles are done, the plans are made, the plans
are all drawn. It's just ready to go and they
just need to get it up into the sky.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
What will be the impact for Dunedin and the region
more broadly the wider region if this doesn't go ahead,
if you don't get the full project as originally planned, well.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Number one people will die. So you know, the government
have blood on its hands because you know, this hospital
is needed for the level of tertiary care that is
required throughout the whole region. This hospital will cater for
the whole lower half of the South Island and it
provides the high level of specialist care that's required in
the tertiary hospital. So people fly in on choppers from

(02:19):
emergencies all around the region, but also they come on
ambulances and in cars to see the specialists that we
have here. Internet.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
You know, we've had a lot of texts over the
last couple of hours people saying, oh, the protesters on
the weekend were all just labor supporters. They just hate
this new government. That's what it's down to. It simple politics.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
What do you say to that, Well, I think it's
not too late for them to keep the promise. I mean,
this government made the promise to build the hospital, and
you know the hospital has been in the gestation period
now for fourteen years, and you know, detailed work has
been done. Five hundred clinicians collaborated and cooperated and consult

(03:00):
to get it refined down to the minimum needed for
the city. And there's hardly any more beds in this
hospital than there isn't the current hospital. But it's a
lot more efficient, it's going to have a lot better
patient flow, and it's been designed for modern medicine, so
it'll be much better for people.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
So, Jewels, finally, what is your plan from here? What
will more protest mean? What else are you going to do?

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Well, first thing, we'll be sending some postcards to Minister
Ready So and then postcards will come from all around
the region because there were people from around the region
that came here to need, especially for the protest. People
from Queenstown came down especially for the day, just to
walk in the march, and I I don't think anyone
was expecting the size of crowd we got. It was enormous.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, hey, thanks for your time. I appreciate it. That's
the need and mere jewels radit for more from Heather
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