The Star: June 22, 2017

18 Thursday June 22 2017
Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
The Star
Viewpoint
•From page 17
Hamish Wilson – But she’s
happy out there, sailing on the
Waitemata Harbour.
Hugh Jonathan
McGuire – That’s disappointing.
The artist behind the
185 Empty Chairs tribute
is working to make it
permanent – and creators
of The Lord of the Rings
movies may help to make it
happen
Juliet Dalley – I love this
memorial as it helps to visualise
each person no longer with us.
As the article says – “the missing
chair at the table”. I appreciate
not all people will share my sentiments,
but for me this makes
a much greater statement than
the new memorial. Good luck to
the artist (Mr Peter Majendie)
and I do hope the city council
seriously considers the proposal.
It will be sad to lose this significant
tribute to all those that we
lost.
Julie Foster – I think it’s a
very visual and powerful memorial
to those we lost on a day
that changed our lives forever, I
personally think the 185 chairs
have a place in our city and in
our hearts.
Stephen Graham – We
have our permanent memorial
now. The chairs memorial
served its purpose well. Time
to move on. On the other hand,
there’s nothing to stop the artist
from displaying it on his own
private property.
Jan Wikaira – I love this
memorial. It came first and from
the heart and I would love to see
it find a permanent place.
Bronwyn Hendry – This
is one of the most powerful
installations I’ve seen in my life.
I really hope it stays. It is an important
part of history now.
Ali Greening – This a place I
go when I’m grieving the loss of
people, lifestyle and opportunity.
There is something here that recognises
that sometimes life sucks,
and we are forever affected by the
loss of someone or something.
Something that I do not find at
the other memorial. Yes, it came
from the earthquakes, but it is
about so much more.
•Our People, p22 & 23
Health funding ‘botch-up’
hurts Canterbury patients
JUST WHEN we
thought things
couldn’t get any
more difficult for
our underfunded
Canterbury District
Health Board they have been
dealt a proverbial kick in the
guts.
A botch-up with the numbers
in the National Government’s
budget has resulted in an error
in funding allocations nationally,
meaning 14 district health boards
were given too much money
and would have to give up some
of their funding to even out six
DHBs that were short-changed.
After initially being told how
much money they’d receive, DHB
leaders were then summoned to
Wellington and told their Budget
allocations will be changed.
Canterbury is on the losing end
of this maths and loses $2.69m in
funding.
To my mind, Minister of
Health Jonathan Coleman has
to front up and answer serious
questions about how this gross
error occurred. It’s fair to say Mr
Coleman has egg on his face after
a Budget that he’d rather forget.
There is no doubt that staff made
an error but I am old-fashioned
when it comes to these matters
– the buck stops fair and square
with the minister.
While this is embarrassing for
the minister, the bigger impact
is that some DHBs will have to
make sharper cuts than expected.
This affects patients directly. It
means if you are waiting for a hip
or a knee consultation or surgery,
the uncertainty will continue.
Critically, it also means that there
is no much-needed additional
funding here in Canterbury for
our mental health services which
are at crisis point.
This mess adds insult to injury
after a Budget that offered nothing
new on mental health, failed
to fund primary care adequately
and allowed the funding shortfall
under this Government’s watch
to stretch out to a cumulative
$2.3 billion. It’s clear that due to
his mismanagement of health
funding, there will be real losers
across the country. After nine
years, New Zealanders deserve
better. It’s time for a fresh approach.
•Megan Woods is Labour’s
Canterbury spokeswoman
What’s being done
about Canterbury’s
water quality?
Look a little deeper at the
action being taken to improve
our precious water.
This year, there are new requirements on farmers
to limit the effects of farming on water quality.
The majority of farmers are already doing the
right thing, but more needs to be done to truly
improve our precious water.
We are working with farmers so that they know
exactly what they need to do. It will take time
for these improvements to have an effect on our
water quality and quantity, but we’re off to a
good start.
Look a little deeper at
www.canterburywater.org.nz