The Mycoplasma bovis crisis confronting New Zealand is a story that will be dissected and commented on for decades to come.
This was not simply a matter of a bacteria infecting cattle. This was a story on many levels; of flouted rules; a significant inadequacy of the “free market”; critical under-funding by National (no surprises there); and the best silver-lining that farmers could possibly hope for…
Writing in the new, tabloid compact-sized Dominon Post on 2 May, political columnist Tracy Watkins mentioned the oft-parroted cliche from the Right, the so-called “decade of deficits”;
“Labour spent years in the wilderness after the global financial crisis gave it a “decade of deficits” as its legacy.”
Watkins left out a crucial factor in National’s ongoing deficits – a fact to be pointed out;
Regardless of headlines, the content confirmed years of media reports and countless blogposts on The Daily Blog, The Standard, and elsewhere, that New Zealand’s public healthcare system was critically under-funded; over-stretched; and staff were burning out from over-work. The story confirmed nine years of National’s gross under-funding and mis-management of the health system as successive ministers demanded that DHB managers and health-workers “do more with less”;
Each time the Nats open their mouths to carp about the Coalition’s reforms, it is a delight to remind them of their own pitiful track record over the last nine years. And for Steven Joyce, I offer his very own:
You can tell it’s election year; the lolly-scramble (aka, hint of tax cuts) has begun;
Since National has not thought twice at under-funding the Health Budget, it certainly does not seem troubled at using tax-cuts as an election bribe, and undermining this country’s future superannuation savings-fund for selfish political gain.