Healthcare wages, education and climate change highlighted at first pre-election debate
Healthcare workers are not paid enough, a room full of healthcare workers have been told. The first debate for the Kaikoura electorate was hosted by the Public Service Association on Tuesday night. Kaikoura National MP Stuart Smith , Labour candidate Emma Dewhirst and New Zealand First candidate Jamie Arbuckle attended. Act Party candidate Keith Griffiths was a late cancellation, and Dr Richard McCubbin , who had not long subbed in for the Green Party, sent his apologies. The union was the largest in the country, representing the likes of community public service, health and local government workers and the public and state sectors, with nearly 1500 members in the Kaikoura electorate, union organiser Ian Hoffmann said. When the floor at the Blenheim Bowling Club opened to questions, registered nurse Greg Davies asked what the candidates would do to close the gap between wages in Australia and New Zealand. If I worked in Australia, I would earn double what I get now, also their superannuation is 12% on top of my wages, Davies said. Smith pointed to New Zealands tax brackets, which had not changed since 2010. People on the average wage are in the highest tax brackets. That has to be adjusted, and that's what we're going to do, Smith said, adding were losing our best people overseas. Dewhirst said it was pleasing to see the Government had this week agreed with the nurses union to increase the top level of nurses pay. It's a significant increase and certainly steps in the right direction, Dewhirst said. When it comes to reducing tax rates, it results in only a few dollars for people earning low wages, so I don't believe that's a good step in the right direction, I believe that public services are a good direction, and it keeps everyone employed. Specifically in terms of nurses, absolutely I think there is work to be done on all fronts, for all people. Arbuckle, who clarified his campaign was more about advocating for a party vote, said New Zealand First actually agrees with National around tax rates, and they needed to be adjusted yearly in line with the Consumer Price Index. He said healthcare workers needed to be made a priority. We need to be looking at people in certain jobs who have got student loans, student debt, that we actually start writing that off if you are staying here and working. Hoffmann went on to give a shout-out to Greg and described him as a godfather to the union delegate team. But I'm really worried that from those answers we might lose him to Australia. So I'm just going to ask, are our nurses paid enough? All three agreed they were not. As we have seen with the flooding last year, the climate crisis is here, what specifically will you do in the electorate to tackle the changes coming? Arbuckle: Climate change is real, and it is happening. New Zealand First has a view that regardless of what we do with 5 million people, or 6 million people in New Zealand, we aren't going to change climate change. The Government needs to put aside money for infrastructure funds, and that infrastructure fund needs to be going into adapting to the way we are living. Dewhirst: Human-induced climate change we know is driven by carbon release. Today we had a very, very exciting announcement by our Labour Government, that $2b is being invested in New Zealand's innovation to dealing with the climate crisis. She said she would support any move to decarbonise the transport and energy industries. Smith: I was out today in the Sounds looking at road damage in the Okiwi Bay area, and that is the sharp end of the climate issues that we are facing. In terms of the $2b ... that's BlackRock Capital. We still can't figure out what the announcement is about, other than an announcement for the sake of an announcement. But we of course support renewable electricity, that's our Electrify NZ policy ... one that I wrote. Will you commit to not capping, or cutting, the number of workers in the public service? If the answer is no, please be specific who will be losing their job. Arbuckle: If you are in the bureaucracy of Government, you could find certain departments there where we would be thinking there are too many people. But in other areas, our social services, definitely we would be maintaining, or increasing. Dewhirst: I don't believe that Labour has got a policy of cutting public services, I believe that they have got one which continues the good work that we are already doing. Smith: I can't announce our policy, so I'm not going to either confirm or deny. But what I can say is there are 14,000 more public servants in the last six years in central bureaucracy roles in Wellington, and weve got no better outcomes from that. What will you do to support the young people in this town, and their education, so they can become, nurses, librarians, future PSA members? Smith: We will have our policy called teaching the basics brilliantly, which gives all students one hour a day of each of reading, writing and maths, compulsory, on average. They don't have that now. A lot of the primary school teachers, are not confident in teaching maths, they say that. We have to give them support too. We have got to get that right. Dewhirst: I'm highly invested in this question because I have two very small children who will be going through the colleges at some point. So to me, it's absolutely critical that our schooling reflects the best possible outcomes. It appears the curriculum needs updating. Also, mental health is a really big issue within the schools, and that can result in disruptive lessons. Arbuckle: Every one of you is a taxpayer, and we fund education, and we fund for students to actually go to college and go to school. That is one of the biggest things under the Labour Government that has really, really slipped. Go back to your basics and teaching them basics. My children at the boys' and girls' college, you hardly understand the subjects they're taking any more. The names of the subjects are absolutely ridiculous. Name a political leader that inspired you? Arbuckle: Winston Peters Dewhirst : I have to say Jacinda Ardern Smith: Winston Churchill What is the last movie you have watched? Smith: Oppenheimer Dewhirst : Barbie Arbuckle: Barbie (A show of hands indicated more of the room had seen Barbie than Oppenheimer, Smith joked you could "see the intellectuals.) What are you currently reading? Arbuckle: Council agendas Dewhirst: Im actually reading three books, but my main one is The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley Smith: Te Kootis Last Foray, by Ron Crosby Beetroot on a burger? Arbuckle: Yes Dewhirst: Yeah, sure Smith: No, definitely not Do you have your own Netflix account, or do you use someone elses? Smith: My own Dewhirst: I use someone elses Arbuckle: I have my own