Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says Government open to help from private health sector

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says New Zealand is late to the party in getting infrastructure built and is open to help from the private sector.

He said the Government was open to public-private partnerships in building critical health infrastructure on a case-by-case basis.

He made his comments to media this afternoon at Ormiston Hospital & Healthcare in Auckland, which he visited with Health Minister Shane Reti to open a new extension.

Ormiston Hospital & Healthcare is a joint-venture partnership with Southern Cross Healthcare.

Luxon said the extension was a great addition for the community.

He told reporters that private hospitals often performed specialist services and “power through them”.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon addressed media at Ormiston Hospital, Auckland. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

There were big challenges in the public system and the Government would consider using the private sector to help, though he said this was not a change from previous governments’ approaches.

The Government “wants to get infrastructure built” whether it was in health, education or transport.

He said other countries did this and New Zealand had been late to the party.

Reti said just over 10% of elective procedures were completed privately at the moment. There had been a small increase in this over the past decade.

He said the Government was interested in discussions with the private sector.

The pair also touched on recent criticisms of Associate Health Minister Casey Costello.

It was revealed yesterday that Costello’s “independent advice” on heated tobacco products amounted to five articles that were either about different products, were outdated or offered only weak support for her view.

RNZ reported that Labour was calling for Costello to be sacked after the revelation, but Luxon today said that he maintained confidence in Costello as she wanted to bring down smoking rates.

He would not take advice from Labour on how to deal with her.

Health Minister Shane Reti said there had been a small increase in elective surgeries being completed privately. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

The Government was determined to deliver Smokefree 2025 and there had been great progress on this, he said.

Vaping had assisted Kiwis to quit smoking, Luxon said, adding the Government was interested in alternatives to smoking.

Reti said Costello was the lead on this work and he supported her, as would the entire Cabinet.

Luxon and Reti ended their press conference with praise for first responders dealing with extreme rain in Dunedin.

Luxon said Dunedin City Council and first responders were doing a great job amid the weather events.

He wanted to see a focus on the initial emergency response while wider recovery issues could be dealt with down the road. He encouraged locals to follow the advice of Civil Defence.

New entity to manage school property portfolio after scathing inquiry

The press conference came shortly after the Government announced it would consider creating a new entity to manage the school property portfolio after a ministerial inquiry found the Education Ministry’s management of the portfolio lacked transparency, clarity and efficiency.

The inquiry, led by former Foreign Affairs Minister and National MP Murray McCully, included scathing criticism of the ministry’s handling of the $30 billion property portfolio and found its ability to deliver cost-effective and timely development was lacking.

The inquiry also warned of a “significant and unsustainable gap” between delivery expectations and available funding, given only 153 of the 488 school works projects were fully funded, meaning almost $3b of additional capital funding was needed.

Education Minister Erica Stanford said those projects would still be built but they would require funding from future Budgets.

Education Minister Erica Stanford and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop speak to media about a scathing report into the Education Ministry's handling of the massive school property portfolio. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Stanford attacked the previous Government for leaving “a pipeline of unfunded projects”, saying the ministry had realised there was a problem and had begun looking into it before the change of government.

The McCully inquiry’s primary recommendation was to establish a new entity separate from the ministry to “assume ownership and asset management responsibility for the school property portfolio”.

This entity would take the form of a “Crown agent, Crown entity company, schedule 4A company, statutory entity, public benefit entity or state-owned enterprise, based on further advice from the Treasury and the Public Service Commission”. Each of these structures comes with varying degrees of political independence.

Stanford said the proposal would go to the Cabinet in the “coming months”.

The report says: “There was a strong consensus that school buildings funded by taxpayers should be simple, functional, cost-efficient and based on repeatable or standardised designs. The ministry’s failure to execute in line with these principles drew strong criticism.”

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.