Indian Newslink 15th April 2018 Digital Edition

APRIL 15, 2018
02 Homelink
Coleman refuses to take responsibility for hospitals rot
Jane Patterson (RNZ)
Outgoing National MP
Jonathan Coleman is defending
his record as
Health Minister, while debate
rages on about funding for
public services.
Dr Coleman delivered his valedictory
speech to Parliament on
April 11, 2018 as he prepared to
take up a job heading the private
health provide Acurity.
The coalition government is
softening up the electorate for
a Budget that may not live up to
everyone’s expectations, by talking
up deficits in health and education
it inherited from National.
Rotting Hospital Buildings
Rotting buildings at Middlemore
Hospital, DHB deficits and government
claims of ahealth fiscal hole
have plagued Dr Coleman after he
handed over the reins to the new
minister Dr David Clark.
Dr Coleman said he leaves believing
he did a good job but cannot
take sole responsibility for
health funding.
“As Minister of Health you receive
money in each Budget, and
that is decided collectively by the
Cabinet; so, you cannot hold one
individual responsible for the
funding of the health system ...
but whatever you put into health,
there will be always people who
say it is not enough.”
‘Ropey Figure’
But Labour is launching a fullcourt
press against the record of
the former National government,
with health a main target.
Dr Jonathan Coleman bidding adieu to Parliament yesterday
(Picture for RNZ by VNP/Daniela Maoate-Cox)
Dr Clark said that he had a
“ropey” figure of about $14 billion
for extra capital spending needed
over the next decade.
“What is clear from the stories
that I have been hearing from all
the DHBs is that many of them
have claims to buildings that need
replacing, these buildings and situations
didn’t occur overnight
... they won’t be solved in one
Budget.”
Dr Coleman questioned from
where that figure came.
“That is setting up an excuse for
not funding the operations, the
‘doing’ things in health, literally
the surgical operations, the wages,
the drugs, the treatments.”
And the government was using
rotting and leaky building at
Middlemore to imply much bigger
problems, he said.
Government not told
“They’re making a huge play
on these leaky buildings ... which
the last government was never
told about, to fix those buildings
is a tiny slither of less than 1
percent of the total health budget.
To extrapolate that to say that is a
symptom of what’s happened right
across the health system actually
portrays a very misleading picture,”
Dr Coleman said.
Labour and the Greens have
Budget Responsibility Rules under
which debt would be paid back
more slowly than under National
and spending limited as a proportion
of GDP.
Finance Minister Grant
Robertson said these would not
change, as they were financial
disciplines the two parties campaigned
on.
“They are about setting the balance
between making sure that
we are prudent with taxpayers’
money but also make the investments
we need to make,” he said.
Dr Coleman’s departure just six
months into the new parliamentary
term has sparked a by-election
in his Northcote seat, to be held on
Saturday, June 9, 2018.
The National Party will announce
its candidate to replace Dr
Coleman on April 15, 2018.
Jane Patterson is Political
Reporter at Radio New Zealand
based in Wellington. Indian
Newslink has published the above
Report and Picture under a Special
Agreement with www.rnz.co.nz
Please read our main story
on Page One and our Leader,
‘Former Minister’s arrogance astounding’
under Viewlink.
Immigration Profiling
was certainly racist
Alastair
McClymont
Last week Indian
Newslink reported on its
Web Edition and Social
Media on allegations that
Immigration New Zealand (INZ)
were using a tool that would
racially profile people for early
deportation.
The Minister of Immigration
has now suspended the Pilot
Programme subject to further
investigation.
I have now been able to read
INZ’s explanation for what was
reported in the media and I have
seen the tool that have been
piloting, which is little more than
an Excel Spreadsheet.
Racial Content
The government denies that
there is racial profiling but the
Spreadsheet that they are using
can very clearly be used for
racial profiling.
By giving different weights to
different factors, it is possible
to identify the racial profile, or
nationality, of the applicant.
Immigration New Zealand also
admit, in their briefing to the
Minister, that those people who
are at risk of being victims of
immigration harm are “targeted
for early intervention”.
Yes, rather than deal with
problems of exploitation, just
target for deportation someone
who might sometime in the
future be a victim who has been
exploited.
‘Harm Score’
Now, this tool then allocates a
harm score to a person where
someone gets points for making
too many applications, to having
a certain visa type, their age and
a number of other factors. If the
tool uses current visa types, then
it can clearly be used to predict
future risk to the immigration
system.
So, any Visa Officer assessing
the application will look at the
applicant’s name and nationality,
then look at the harm score that
the system gives them.
And aVisa Officer is really
going to have an open mind to
that application?
Of course not, they have been
told by the computer that Mr Singh
is a risk to our Immigration
system and “early intervention is
required.”
No mixed signals there, no
doubt what the application
decision should be.
That, is racial profiling.
Alastair McClymont is an
Immigration Law Specialist
based in Auckland.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi
National ListMPbased in Manukau East
Happy Indian Festivals of
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