Latest news with #Uffindell
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
MP ‘ill-informed' on seesaw
A National MP has been accused of getting his facts wrong after slamming council spending on a central Dunedin seesaw. In a social media post published on Thursday, Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell criticised the Dunedin City Council for wasting ratepayer money on "stupid vanity projects". He claimed the council had spent $600,000 on a seesaw as part of an inner city playground built during upgrades to George St. "The message to local government is clear: get your costs under control — Kiwis are doing it tough." "I mean, how stupid do you have to be," he asked. Reaction from social media commenters was mixed — some were supportive while others pointed out the overall playground feature had cost less than $600,000 in total. The council said the play space cost $586,000 and also featured "talk tubes", benches and shading and soft-fall surfaces. Invoices showed the three seesaws in the playground — a 7m-long, 12m-long and inclusive seesaw — together cost $244,700. The council had received a $250,000 donation from lead contractor Isaac Construction to go towards the cost of the playground. Cr Christine Garey said Mr Uffindell was "ill-informed" — "but that's not a surprise". Children and families loved the playground feature of George St, she said. "This decision was made long before the cost of living crisis that was caused by his government. "Did he talk about the huge cost of government regulation imposed by central government on local government? I doubt it." Cr Andrew Whiley said he and Mr Uffindell attended the same event when the MP was in Dunedin earlier this month where the topic of the seesaws came up. "I quickly said, 'well, actually, councillors never signed off on the seesaws'," Cr Whiley said. "I made it quite clear to him that actually councillors had not seen or had the ability to review that prior to it being installed and being signed off by council staff." Councillors had seen and noted a plan for the play space at an extraordinary planning and environment committee in April 2022, but it did not include the seesaws, Cr Whiley said. "I never basically understood [how] the playground went from what was in our papers to being what it was finished." Council central city plan project director Glen Hazelton said councillors voted to note the report in 2022, "including the details on the play space". The council was "disappointed" by Mr Uffindell's comments. "The total cost of the entire play space on George St was $586,000," he said. "At less than 1% of the total budget for George St, we believe the investment in a more people-friendly space is good value for money." "A number of new retail tenants coming to George St have noted the improvements that make the area more people-friendly, including the play space, as the reason for relocating," Dr Hazelton said.
1News
5 days ago
- Politics
- 1News
'People will be disgruntled' — leak of National MP talking up Labour policy
National MP Sam Uffindell told a meeting of retirees if the Government didn't take action on reforming retirement villages legislation people would be disgruntled. He was concerned that retirement village residents would believe National hadn't yet delivered and that Labour was doing something about the issue. Audio of the meeting was leaked to 1News, featuring Uffindell praising a private member's bill from Labour MP Ingrid Leary. If drawn out of the tin in Parliament and passed, the bill would require retirement villages to pay, within five days, 10% of what was owed to residents or their families if they moved to higher care levels or died — and the rest within two months. When asked about reforming the current legislation, Uffindell told the meeting in Mosgiel: "Ingrid Leary... has quite cunningly put forward a member's bill which would address some of this. And she's savvy enough to have garnered up a lot of attention around retirement villages. ADVERTISEMENT "And so that's in the pipeline as well. We need to arrest or take the key parts out of that [which] are workable and make sure we build that into something." The Tauranga MP went on to say that he knew voters were concerned. "But importantly, it needs to go through the House before the end of this term, because if it hasn't, we're going to have a whole bunch of disgruntled people and retirement villages who all vote and all talk to each other about it. Who will go, 'oh, National hasn't actually delivered and Labour was going to do this'." Uffindell also told the meeting that he raised the issue with the Prime Minister. "Maybe every three months or so… the Prime Minister will invite eight to 10 backbenchers up to his office. We sit around and have pizza and Pepsi Max. PM standard diet drinks – a lot of that stuff. Anyway. Went up there. Sat around and he asked us a bunch of questions about a number of different things... One of them he brought up was the Retirement Villages Act. And what we thought about that and [National MP] Tom Rutherford and myself, obviously Bay of Plenty heavy in retirement villages, we said, 'look, we need to do it this term. You know, this is a big issue for a lot of our folks'." He described Casey Costello, the Minister for Seniors and Tama Potaka, the Associate Minister of Housing as "very accessible", saying they agreed with him that they wanted to bring the reforms forward. When asked about his comments today, Uffindell said: "[The] Retirement Villages Act review is a really big concern. I go around to a lot of the retirement villages in Tauranga, and I know Tom does in the Bay of Plenty, and you hear a lot of the concern from those residents there. ADVERTISEMENT 'Ministers Potaka and Costello are looking at how we can improve the current arrangements. We're open to all good ideas out there, and New Zealanders would expect nothing less. National's determined to make sure that we get the legislation right for the retirement villages residents." Lose votes to Labour? Asked if he believed that National would lose votes to Labour if they didn't reform the Retirement Villages Act, Uffindell said: "Look, this is a big constituency out there, and they want this issue addressed, and they want us to get on, and that's why our ministers are getting out there and looking at ways that we can improve the Retirement Villages Act so it delivers. And I'm committed to doing my part to delivering for the residents in retirement villages here in Tauranga." Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said: "There was work underway under the previous government around retirement villages. What we said before the election is we'll continue that work and we are. Tama Potaka and also Casey Costello, as the relevant ministers, are leading that work and we'll have more to say about that in the coming months as well." He didn't directly answer the question about whether National would lose votes to Labour if they didn't reform the act. "We've been committed since before the election to continue the work around retirement villages and I'm proud of the work the ministers are doing,' he said. "They're very engaged on the issue. They've been talking a lot with people affected on all sides of the proposals and we'll have more to say about that shortly." Leary: 'Do it because it's the right thing to do' ADVERTISEMENT Responding to the leaked audio, Labour MP Ingrid Leary said: "It's great to hear that National Party MPs are supporting my bill, that's the right thing to do. But they should be supporting it because it's the right thing to do, not just because it's politically expedient. 'I think Christopher Luxon needs to show some leadership. We need a law that mandates fair repayments, nothing about incentivising because the only thing that will work in this case is actually requiring the operators to give the money back." She said the Prime Minister should listen to his backbenchers, acknowledging that Uffindell raised the matter in his office on level 9 of the Beehive. Leary said she believed there was a lot of public support for her bill. "I've spoken to numerous seniors and their families who are just really concerned and anxious about having access to their own money. They live with the uncertainty of not knowing when they'll get repaid, if they'll get repaid or if their families will be able to get the benefit of what is their own money,' she said. 'So I really want to see things move quickly. People have been waiting for decades for a change and currently there are people living in retirement villages who really want to see a change and are worried that they may not be around when the law change finally happens. We need to honour and respect them and make sure that we do the right thing by them."
NZ Herald
18-05-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
Tauranga to get new 24/7 urgent care service by 2026, Luxon announces
'As part of this investment, a new 24/7 urgent care service has been identified for Tauranga, as well as an extended after-hours service including new weekend hours. This will make it easier for people to access care during evenings and weekends, reducing the pressure on hospital emergency departments,' Uffindell said. 'Strengthening urgent and after-hours care is central to our plan to ensure everyone can get the care they need, when they need it.' Uffindell said for a fast-growing city such as Tauranga, these changes were about keeping up with demand and ensuring that families, older residents, and workers could get timely care close to home. Rutherford said the new and improved services would be introduced in the next two years, alongside continued support for existing providers and targeted improvements to rural and regional access. 'This National-led Government is investing more in health than ever before, with a record $16.68 billion across three Budgets to improve health outcomes for Kiwis. This investment is about putting patients first by strengthening healthcare services nationwide to meet local needs and reduce wait times. 'This is a major step toward a healthcare system that works for everyone, ensuring all New Zealanders – including those in Tauranga – have access to timely, quality urgent care, no matter where they live.' In November, Papamoa's after-hours medical care clinic Consult365 abruptly closed after being open less than a year. The clinic's founder told the Bay of Plenty Times at the time, it had seen 10,000 patients but needed double that or extra funding to be financially sustainable, and the decision to close was 'the hardest thing'. Health NZ said Consult365 was not eligible for capitation funding – payments based on patient enrollments – because it was not set up as a general practice. It recognised there was 'no consistent approach' to funding urgent care services and was looking into 'future potential models' for this. Where the investment will go Key Budget 2025 initiatives for the Northern region include: A new 24/7 urgent care service identified for Counties Manukau by late 2025. A new 24/7 urgent care service identified for Whangārei from 2026. Maintaining all existing urgent and after-hours healthcare services in the region. Extended after-hour services identified for Dargaville, Hokianga, Kaitaia, and Wellsford. Improved services for rural and remote Northland communities, including better access to diagnostics, urgent medicines, and 24/7 on-call clinical support. Key Budget 2025 initiatives for the Midland region include: A new 24/7 urgent care service identified for Tauranga by mid-2026. Maintaining all existing urgent and after-hours healthcare services in the region. Extended after-hour services identified for Thames, Whakatane, Tokoroa, Gisborne, Taupo, Te Kuiti, and Hawera. Improved services for rural and remote Midland communities, including better access to diagnostics, urgent medicines, and 24/7 on-call clinical support. Key Budget 2025 initiatives for the Central region include: A new 24/7 urgent care service identified for Palmerston North by mid 2027. A new daytime urgent care service identified for Lower Hutt, building on the existing after-hours service in late 2025. Maintaining all existing urgent and after-hours healthcare services in the region, with capability to extend hours in central Wellington. Extended after-hour services identified for Dannevirke, Masterton, Levin, and Wairoa. Improved services for rural and remote communities, including better access to diagnostics, urgent medicines, and 24/7 on-call clinical support. Key Budget 2025 initiatives for the South Island include: A new 24/7 urgent care service identified for Dunedin by late 2025. A new daytime urgent care service identified for Invercargill and Timaru, building on the existing after-hours services. Maintaining all existing urgent and after-hours healthcare services in the region. Improved after-hour services identified for Alexandra, Ashburton, Balclutha, Golden Bay, Gore, and Oamaru.
