Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Government is in Trouble over Dunedin Hospital

When it comes to the Dunedin hospital scale back, the Government's in trouble on this.

That protest over the weekend was big. 35,000 people is more than a quarter of Dunedin's population.

If you assume they came from all over the region, which is probably true given the hospital would service the Otago region, it’s still big. It’s 14% of the population.

There are very few issues that would drive that kind of frustration, but health is one of them.

It's because we want to know that there are the medical facilities to save our kid's lives, or our parent's lives.

Or our life.

But this is the reality - we are broke.

New Zealand can’t afford a $3b hospital, and $3b dollar ferries and 64,000 public servants and any number of other things we may want.

We are running an operating deficit every single year. That's basically the household equivalent of spending more every year than you make and just running it on the credit card forever.

You can’t do it.

If you want to know how broke we are listen to the Treasury warning last week. 

Dominick Stephens, the Chief Economist there, warned that for us to get back to surplus the Government would have to cut so much spending, and so fast, it would be unprecedented in recent history in New Zealand.

Our debt is out of control, largely thanks to what Grant and Jacinda did during Covid.

Treasury's been warning about our debt levels since 2006. But back then they thought we were heading for net Crown debt of 13% of GDP.

We are now 3 times that. So, we’re broke.

I don’t want to see projects like a hospital scaled back. I don’t want to be sailing on tinpot ferries I’m not sure will make it to the other side.

But you need money to buy and build and we don’t’ have any.

And we need to wake up to that.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the Dunedan hospital scaleback. The government is in trouble
on this right. That protest over the weekend was big.
Thirty five thousand people are turning up to protest. What's
going on is more than a quarter of Dunedin's population.
Now to be fair, right, you've got to assume that
they didn't just come from Dunedan. They came from all
over the Otago region. And that will probably be true
because the hospital would service the whole regions. The whole

(00:21):
region cares even if you encounter include the population of
the region. That's fourteen percent of the population that turned
up on Saturday. That's still massive. Now, there are very
few issues that would drive that kind of frustration get
that many people out, but health is absolutely one of them,
right because we want to know that the medical facilities
in our area can save our kids' lives, or save

(00:42):
our kids, our parents' lives, or even you know, save
our own lives. But this is reality. Unfortunately, this is
and I think that this is something we're going to
have to come to terms with. We are broke. New
Zealand cannot afford a three billion dollar hospital, and we
can't afford three billion dollar fairies, and we can't afford
to pay the wages of sixty four thousand public servants
or any number of other things than we think that

(01:04):
we should have. We just can't have anymore. We are
running and operating deficit in this country every single year.
What that basically means if you were to compare that
to your household, that's basically the equivalent of spending more
every single year in outgoings on your groceries and your
rent and your power bills whatever. Then you're actually bringing in, Well,
how do you make up that shortfall? You chuck it
on the credit card. Now, that may be sustainable for

(01:26):
a year or two, but it is not sustainable year
after year after year after year, which is what we're
doing it you're doing at the moment. If you want
to know how broke we are, you just need to
listen to the Treasury warning that came through last week.
Dominic Stevens, the chief economist at Treasury, warned at that
for us to get back to surplus in this country,
the government will have to cut so much spending so

(01:47):
fast it would be unprecedented in recent history in New Zealand.
Our debt is out of control. Largely, and let's be
honest about it, largely thanks to what Grant and just
ended it during Covida has been warning about our debt
levels they reckon for about the last twenty years, since
about two thousand and six. Back in two thousand and six,
they were worried because they thought that we were heading

(02:09):
for a net crown debt situation of around thirteen percent
of GDP. We are three times that now. That is
how much trouble we're in. So we are broke now.
I don't want to see projects like a hospital, especially
scaled back, and I don't want to be sailing on
tin pop fairies that I'm not sure are going to
make it to the other side. But you need money
to buy and build things, and we don't have any money.

(02:30):
And judging by the size of that protest on Saturday
and the anger that's being directed at the government at
the moment, we clearly don't realize that yet. For more
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