Labour's Failure Leaves Plunket Holding The Baby

Heather Roy
Tuesday, 27 June 2006
Press Releases - Health

Today's presentation of a petition calling on the Government to save Plunketline will be de'jà vu for people remembering an almost identical petition backed by Labour in 1999, says ACT Health Spokesman, Heather Roy.

"Helen Clark's empty words and hollow promises, when she heavily promoted Plunketline's service to voters, have today come back to haunt her", Mrs Roy said.

"When she wanted to look family friendly and win the votes of young parents, Ms Clark and Annette King launched a petition to 'save Plunketline', receiving 60,000 signatures.

"Launching the 1999 petition, Helen Clark promised to fully fund Plunketline and restore its 24 hour-a-day service.

"Then, Helen Clark told New Zealand what a valuable and well-respected service Plunketline was. I challenge her to make the same statement, and the same funding promise, today.

"Ms Clark pledged that, once in Government, they would ensure Plunketline need never close due to lack of funding.

"Instead, the merger with Healthline was a deliberate measure by a cynical government, through the Ministry of Health, to set Plunketline up for failure and loss of funding.

"The moment Plunket announced that it would continue funding Plunketline itself, the Government was let off the hook, and Healthline announced that the dedicated line for parents to contact a Well Child service would be abolished.

"This is a Government that cannot be trusted - it doesn't mean what it says. Plunket have been left holding the screaming baby", Mrs Roy said.

ENDS

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