Dunedin (Friday, 27 September 2024) – Protesters taking to the streets in Dunedin tomorrow are being encouraged to wear white as a demonstration of unity in the Hospital Cuts Hurt campaign.

Mayor of Dunedin Jules Radich says, “Saturday’s protest is a critical moment in the campaign and it’s vital as many people as possible turn up and help us express the public’s outrage.

“We need to send a clear and unambiguous message to the politicians in Wellington that our community simply will not accept an underfunded, piecemeal hospital that fails the people of the South.

“The government is more interested in playing the regions off against each other than it is in delivering a hospital that is fit for purpose, so we need to show them just how united we are.”

Saturday’s protest will begin with a karakia and the singing of the Hospital song at 12pm (midday) outside the Dunedin Dental School entrance on Great King Street.

The protest will then make its way down George Street to the Octagon, where the crowd will hear from speakers including:

• Mayor of Dunedin Jules Radich
• Dr Sheila Barnett (Clinical Transformation Group Chair)
• Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan
• Anne Daniels (President of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation)
• Piri Tohu-Hapati (former Te Ao Māori Officer for Te Oranga ki Ōtākou / Māori Medical Students Association)
• Richard Thomson (former health board chairman, city councillor, clinical psychologist and neurosurgery campaigner)
• Pete Hodgson, former Minister of Health and former chair, local advisory group.

Members of the public are encouraged to gather from 11.30am, and:

• Wear white clothing if possible
• Bring a clever placard and a pen to fill our one of our campaign postcards
• Bring campaign posters and/or the centrefold from today’s ODT
• Put on some comfortable shoes and warm clothes
• Don’t forget water and a snack!

A limited number of campaign tee-shirts and placards will also be available for free before the march begins, and campaign postcards will be distributed in the Octagon for people to send to Wellington.

People can either take them home to post later or fill them out and place them in boxes around the Octagon for posting after the event.

All Dunedin buses running between 10am and 3pm on Saturday will also be free, thanks to the Otago Regional Council, to help people get to and from the march.

The protest march is expected to cause traffic disruption in the CBD, so everyone travelling to and from the protest should consider alternative transport options where possible.

Police will also be at the march to keep everyone safe.

“This promises to be a major milestone for the South, and our message to the government is simple – deliver the hospital you promised, without cuts to clinical services or facilities.

“Do it once, do it right.”

© Scoop Media