National has made a choice to cut women’s pay and rob future generations of Kiwisaver contributions to make its Budget add up, but without enough funding for our health system.

“Our hospitals and wider health system only got enough in this year’s Budget to keep the lights flickering,” Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said.

“Health New Zealand, which runs our hospitals and other healthcare services, was already $1.1 billion in the red. Funds needed to assist services to deal with a growing population and inflation are instead servicing the deficit.

“This means New Zealanders won’t get the services they are used to, and will pay more and wait longer.

“National has chosen to subsidise tech giants, landlords, the fossil fuel industry, and tobacco companies, rather than make better choices to invest in our health system and pay women what they’re worth.

“We know the cuts National has made are affecting frontline services. Day after day we hear stories about waitlists, crumbling hospitals and health staff burnout. National had an opportunity to put it right yesterday but has failed.

“Yesterdays’ Budget also confirmed what we had suspected for a while – that the Nelson Hospital rebuild will have less than half the number of new beds than the rebuild Labour proposed while in Government.

“The $1 billion for capital projects is less than the Government needs to spend to ensure our hospitals are fit for purpose for a future growing and ageing population,” Ayesha Verrall said.

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