Latest news with #NationalGovernment
Scoop
3 days ago
- Health
- Scoop
Delighted With The Announcement Of A Third Medical School At Waikato University Focussing On Rural Doctors
Hauora Taiwhenua is excited by the Prime Minister's long-awaited announcement of the support for a third medical school at Waikato University. It is well known that New Zealand is suffering from an acute shortage of family doctors, and that shortage is the most pronounced in rural areas. Going into the last election, the National Government had promised to fund a proposal from Waikato University that put forward a very different approach to the existing two Medical Schools at Auckland and Otago. The proposal was to offer opportunities to existing graduates and provide a significant part of the training in rural and regional New Zealand. The coalition Government had asked for a detailed business case before continuing that commitment. Cabinet has today given the green light, meaning that the Waikato proposal could show positive financial, as well as medical, outcomes for the country. Hauora Taiwhenua's CEO, Dr Grant Davidson, stated, 'We are thrilled that the Government has met its election promise to provide a rurally focussed medical training programme in New Zealand. This will complement the excellent training programmes already in operation at Auckland and Otago, while providing a graduate-entry option with strong community immersion. It will give hope to rural general practice that the continuance of a targeted workforce for rural communities is important to this Government.' The Waikato proposal follows well-proven design principles for rural medical training in both Australia and Canada. Clear research shows that rural-origin students who train in rural areas and are trained by rural health professionals are six times more likely to work in those rural areas post-graduation. While graduates from the Waikato programme will be able to follow any medical specialty, as is the case with graduates from Auckland and Otago, we hope that by having more exposure during the training to general practice, that a higher percentage of graduates will see the benefits of working in the community. Hauora Taiwhenua notes that a third medical school for the population of New Zealand is not unusual. Based on Australia, we would have between four to five medical schools for New Zealand's population of over five million people. This initiative will see an extra 120 doctors trained each year starting in 2028. This will add to the extra 100 medical training placements that the Government has supported into Otago and Auckland's programmes over its current term, along with the funding of 120 Nurse practitioners and support packages for rural practices to take on graduate nurses. Last week, representatives of the nine Chapters of Hauora Taiwhenua met with the coalition Government to get an update on progress towards the published Rural Health Strategy. In holding the Government to account, one of the pressing questions was why the commitment to the Waikato proposal was delayed. Minister Brown at the time told the group that a decision was pending. It is pleasing to see that the commitment has now been honoured. Dr Davidson added that he is encouraged that "Our collective efforts strive to empower our rural communities by ensuring they have access to high-quality healthcare services delivered by professionals who understand and are committed to rural values and needs has been heard."
TimesLIVE
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
Open Book Festival launches urgent public appeal to secure 2025 event
For years we have spoken about our belief that Open Book Festival is not owned by us – it is owned by all those who contribute to making it an inclusive, vibrant festival that consists of incredibly important and difficult conversations and serves to highlight some of the fantastic writing coming out of South Africa (and beyond). We now need that collective ownership to take on a financial element. Your investment in the festival will not bring you dividends or shares, but what it will bring is the knowledge that the festival that you love and in whose value you believe will continue to exist. Many organisations face funding crises right now and we unfortunately find ourselves in that position. We have been partly reliant on support from different levels of government since the inception of Open Book, and there is still, so close to this year's September festival, no clarity about the applications we have made to the Western Cape or National Government. If you see value in Open Book, contribute by clicking here.
RNZ News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Local Government Amendment Bill introduced to remove council wellbeing provisions
Local government Minister Simon Watts. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The local government Minister is introducing a bill to remove four wellbeing provisions from the Local Government Act to "refocus" councils on their core functions. Minister Simon Watts said the Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill would help restore discipline and transparency, and push councils to focus on things like roading, core infrastructure, water and rubbish. "Kiwis are frustrated with rising rates, expanding bureaucracy, and poor value for money. This bill puts councils back to work on the basics, their core services, so ratepayers see real results for what they pay," Watts said. The bill will remove four well-being provisions - social, economic, environmental and cultural - which were reintroduced by Labour in 2019 after being removed by the previous National government in 2012. It will also impose a requirement on councils to prioritise core services when managing finances and setting rates. "Local government has drifted from their core responsibilities. This bill draws a line in the sand - focus on the essentials and deliver value for your community," Watts said. "This refocusing of our councils will help to deliver better value for money, and ultimately help address the number one issue people are dealing with right now, which is cost of living." Watts said the bill was a major milestone for local government reform. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
The influence of Peter, the conscientious objector, lives on after death
A committed stance still has meaning after death, Jenny Beck writes. He died a year ago, my brother Peter, the Moll family's mighty totara, and his loss still reverberates. And yet. "Non omnis obiit" — he is not all dead. His influence lives on among us. My English lecturer at university, Dr Bertelsen, displayed an arresting poster on her door: "Carry a little conviction this morning!" Peter did, and thus he became a conscientious objector. In South Africa military training was compulsory for young white men. Peter completed his "basic training" after school and then sailed off to the University of Cape Town. Where he began changing. First of all, there were the Soweto riots of June 1976 and then days later at a Christian student conference he had a "Damascus Road experience", noting that the delegates of colour were accommodated, inconveniently, miles away. Deliberately he widened his circle of friends to include those of other denominations and faiths, indeed, folk of all stripes. The (White) National Government then in power disrespected the humanity of other races and the army bolstered its position, he realised. Conscription compelled participation in an "unjust war", and the Lord, Peter told me firmly, was impelling him to oppose it. There was no precedent for the direction he was taking, and there was certainly virulent opposition, such that his life was made truly unpleasant. He was accused of being a disobedient son and a poor God-follower. But nothing deterred him, and during this period of decision making he practised, in the words of Ovid, being patient and tough, knowing that one day this pain would be useful to him. He objected to two army summer camps. Third strike though, he was warned, and you're off to jail. Peter worked as an actuary for a year after university. The third call-up though was looming, and, steadfastly setting his face towards Jerusalem as it were, on December 4 1979 he found himself at Cape Town Castle, convicted of failing to report and being sentenced to 18 months, to be served at the military prison, Voortrekkerhoogte, in Pretoria. I visited him there regularly; he was allowed three visitors per month for 15 minutes each. We would sit on formica chairs in the hot, largely shadeless prison yard. Really, the pits. Mercifully he could receive any number of letters (including monthly missives from Desmond Tutu) but was allowed to write only one per month of 500 words. Solitary confinement however was the worst privation. Peter refused to wear army overalls. Into solitary confinement he went for 10 days with no reading matter officially but the Bible and no clothes but his underpants. A few days after his release he was asked, Now will you comply? No, he said. In, out, in, out. Altogether he spent 125 days in that cell, all alone. On visiting days, I sensed his steely resolve but alongside that a curious serenity, calling up the immortal words of Dante Aligheri: "In His will is our peace." Despite all this Peter later said that objecting was the best thing he ever did, as it helped to ignite the conscientious objection movement in South Africa. There was the odd moment of joyful clarity. Over Easter 1980 supporters around the country fasted and prayed, and then on Easter Sunday Peter received a telegram from his Economics Professor Francis Wilson recounting the words of Romans 8:38: "Nothing can separate us from the love of God." Peter hung on to this promise of God's constant companionship and upholding. In the wake of Peter's stand, and that of our cousin Richard Steele, a movement was spawned, the End Conscription Campaign. But more importantly hearts were touched and challenged by the message that was, at bottom, as simple and profound as this: Love one another. This added to the anti-apartheid ferment in South Africa in the 1980s and, I like to think, helped make way for the new, more equitable regime to come. Our brother Terence in his Encomium said: "In our dark times, Peter is a reminder of how people with moral clarity and courage can make a difference." You can't help swelling with pride and gratitude, can you? After his death Professor Jim Cochrane was to say that Peter's was in a sense the story of anyone who has to break free of the straitjacket of authority that allows injustice to thrive "in order to find and follow the moral foundations that offer hope for all of humanity". I'm deeply comforted in my mourning by recollections of Peter's courage. And this thought from Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott: "Is death the last sleep? No, it is the last and final awakening." Also, recalling Dr Bertelsen's poster, to have had a brother who, God-with-him, carried more than a little conviction not only back then but all his life. ■Jenny Beck is a lawyer and member of Dunedin City Baptist Church.
The Hindu
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
From The Hindu, July 4, 1925: The situation in China
Canton, July 3: A Commission of 16 persons has been formed to conduct the National Government including the son of the late Dr. Sun Yat Sen, as a Minister of Communications. The oath adjures the Commission to follow Dr. Sun Yat Sen's political will. All foreign consuls except the British and French were invited.
