Doctors to strike for more than 1.5% pay rise; Simeon Brown points to $353k average pay, including overtime; Health NZ sacking 383 HR staff despite unfilled vacancies; Kids swamped in junk food ads
I can't think of anything better than Zuru losing $3bn off their balance sheet. Probably the only good thing to come out of Trump's tarrifs. Potentially, this could lead to a small reduction in plastic waste.
Maybe Nick won't donate quite some much money to the NATZ, ACT and NZFirst as his bank balance suffers. That would be a good thing. Most of us won't miss the plastic bits and bobs at all. I really wish we would have end of life product disposal legislation in Aotearoa. And can we add a huge levy on single use containers such as those used by fast food outlets such as Maccas. And all those businesses that use those so-called eco cups end up that end up in our waste stream and are not composted (because they are not compostable). Sorry off on a zero waste rant but it does drive me a bit silly!
I can hear the protests from the "free market" tribe now.........get your hands off our junk food and sugary drinks and let the market decide..........all the while obesity grows, and our health system is literally squashed under the weight! As always, this is an example that highlights our lack of strategy as a country, we have no sense of the country we want to be in 20-30 years, and our policy makers continue to avoid the really tough/brave issues. All the while..........as Bernard says........"the lobbyists are unregulated here". We must find ways to have some of these debates in our communities and outside of the narrow, incentivised for the short term game that is our politics. Surely the time for more deliberative democracy is now?
I'm curious about how much Simeon Brown earns. And then I would like to understand how much he has studied. I'm also interested in understanding what doctors are paid as a baseline, before over time, and how much over time they're working on average. My guess is that doctors have studied a lot more than Brown, they work a lot harder, and they do a lot more good for the average Kiwi than Brown does.
and doctors and other health staff take responsibility for their actions, have very long and specialised learning and training - whereas Brown has no relevant qualifications and no compunction about lying his way out or situations.
Specialists have studied for well over 10 years - but all doctors, nurses and other health professionals continue to study throughout their entire careers - they have to keep abreast of research.
Mountain Tui reports "Last year, PM Luxon and his Cabinet Ministers received a 10.5% pay increase over 3 years, taking Luxon’s base salary to $520,000, and a Cabinet Minister like Simeon Brown being bumped from $296,000 to $327,100 per annum."
I understand he got a law and commerce degree, then worked for a year at a bank, then became an MP.
Brown (Five) is the problem. He does not justify his position on vital decisions re health. We all suffer, does his health insurance ensure his family go top of queue?
This was brilliant and exposing. I wonder how many of Brown's supporters would change their minds though I suspect it's easier for the to close their eyes and their hearts to the reality. It feels like personal health insurance is what separates the haves from the have nots.
Simeon Brown, who has zero qualifications or experience in anything, erans almost the same. But while doctors are actually doing good in our communities, Simeon is only bringing harm.
He has the hutzpah to talk about putting patients first while cutting funding to gynecologists so pregnant people have to travel hours to get the care they need.
Simeon Brown has a University of Auckland conjoint degree: Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws. (this does not mean that I support him or the current corrupt coalition government)
In addition, he finished university when he was 26, worked at a bank for a year, and then entered Parliament at 27. His vast life experience, and qualifications, makes him ideally trained to lead our health system.
Neither of which qualifies him to make cogent decisions about funding the health system. But what would? Let's not enter into a qualification war - I'm sure in time the University of Auckland or somewhere will grant him an honorary degree in something or other that will neither reflect or improve his performance.
Regarding senior doctor/dentist strikes: To paraphrase a friend from an ASMS union meeting (which echoed the issues two years ago), "I don't want a pay rise, I want some help". The system is grossly understaffed, being held together by excessive overtime (paid and unpaid) which a massive non-financial burden being borne by staff and the whānau of these overworked, highly stressed, burnt out staff. It's actually not what you train 20 years for: "I work in a shit place, with shit managers, with shit employers, doing a suboptimal job but if we don't do it, who else will look after vulnerable Kiwis". There are some amazing people working in health, but people are wearing thin and we have had people, those who are able to, voting with their feet.
Absolutely - in my opinion, all staff working in the health sector should be taking industrial action (with unions collaborating to support this) on the basis of conditions and breaches of health and safety requirements alone. There is no way - under the current manufactured crisis and the effects on staff - Te Whatu Ora is meeting its obligations as a PCBU.
While not ideal, industrial action is the only way of meaningfully getting people across Aotearoa and in the media to hear *and* listen to their concerns. I've got immediate whanau who may be directly affected by further delays in care, and I would *still* see health workers take this action to get some positive change.
I heard 5 mins of newtalk zb when flciking through the car radio yesterday evening and the consensus apparently was the doctors are in the wrong. I had to hear it to believe it.
If there's a decision between Simeon Brown and any group of NZer's, I am picking the non Simeon group everytime. The man shouldn't be in charge of the coffee machine never mind crucial portfolios.
He's not adverse to bending the stats to suit his narrative either and that average salary sounds high even with kiwisaver and overtime. Only last year he was perpetuating the 500k cost of speed humps at conferences and stand-ups when it had already been corrected by AT to be in the region of 20-30k.
Minister Brown has strong political instincts that lead him to hyperbole, exaggeration and attack-mode responses. An MP can often get away with that in opposition, but the longer Hon. Mr Brown is in the Executive, the more likely this behaviour will contribute to a loss of trust in him and the government he is a part of. Leadership is about more than capturing the soundbite. He seems unlikely to be able to adapt to become a more sophisticated politician over time. It's not just Bernard calling him out, multiple times now in multiple portfolios. If I were him I wouldn't be going head to head with the doctors. Grab your popcorn.
Brown's got a very strong power drive and preying on prejudice is just a means to an end.Suspect he's counting on the Easter Break to provide the space for him tospin a response to being called out in yet another lie.
His behavior on Morning Report today was nothing short of disgraceful. If he thinks shouting and rabbiting on demonstrates leadership, he went to the wrong finishing school.
The WSJ article on the viability of restoring manufacturing leaves out more than it includes, presenting a misleading view of capitalism in the US, its appalling post-WWII predatory investments in Europe, especially Germany and worldwide. These continue today. The US control of Germany is at least as much a target of the Ukrainian conflict as is Russia, just as it was in 1945. Witness the bombing of Nordstream and cheap gas to Germany. WSJ ignores the fact that US corporations exported jobs to cheap labour countries at the expense of US working class people, for their private profits. It ignores the destruction of education and healthcare for increasingy large sections of Americans and thus their capacity to contribute to society. It glosses over the rump of production in the military industrial complex, the war machine. Even this is now bereft of essentials for bomb making. It ignores the fact that U.S. no longer has the economic and cultural depth needed to sustain its corporate empire internally. Here’s a clip from Apple’s Tim Cooke, one of the greedies who took Trump 1’s tax handouts and brought up his own stock to inflate its value and line his own bonus pocket. One of the oligarchs celebrating Bigtech’s victory at Trump’s inauguration:
Can some let Brown know that a three month paid ‘sabbatical’ is standard in Australia for nearly all professions, it’s called long service leave. So is hardly a perk for Kiwi doctors.
Think he may have plucked that number from the rarified air he breathes but wondering how Simeon Brown justifies his own tax-payers funded salary ($304,000 after last year's increase of 2.8%), plus funding for services that assist him in 'fulfilling his duties and functions' aka 'taff devoted to his every whim'.
Oh dear, poor Nick Mowbray. All that enthusiastic tweeting in support of right wing authoritarians and one of them goes and pokes him in the eye. Hubris, meet nemesis.
Zuru is one of many companies making trash plastic goods that the world would be a better place without!
Minister Brown is arrogant, stating the moral high ground about Doctors should be caring for their patients and accusing them of creating greater waiting lists etc. when he is undermining the funding and privatising services and putting spin to how he is improving waiting lists and services. When Doctors and Nurses are openly complaining and striking, public are protesting about health services things have to be pretty dire !!!
Wake up all you kiwis the Governments revenue is totally inadequate to fund our core services, there are two major issues holding this country back, 1. Our govt super and 2. insufficient tax. The problem, politicians lack courage and vision and appear happy to weaken our democracy with lobbying and excessive donations.
Re Minister Brown's criticism of Dr strike: Funny how Govt uses the argument that market forces should be the basis of e.g. NZ electricity system charges, what banks charge, what private sector partners are paid, but doesn't apply the same logic when it comes to paying hard working and vital medical and other public service staff!
Simeon Brown has lost the doctors. Medical specialists are now closing ranks and frankly who can blame them. I feel this all started when Simeon Brown muzzled public health specialists. Remember at the time acting PM Seymour cheered him on saying “put the muppets back in the box,” so disrespectful from a politician. I listened to Brown regarding the strike this am, a very poor interview and it convinced me he is not the right person for the health portfolio.
Thanks for covering the Minister's sorry response to the doctor strike. Misdirection and misinformation from the Minister on one point that you did not highlight. Blaming our union, the ASMS, for not negotiating when it is Health NZ that is unable to negotiate. Because of budget cuts. And a reason that I voted for the strike was to get them to negotiate. Where's the offer Minister?
I can't think of anything better than Zuru losing $3bn off their balance sheet. Probably the only good thing to come out of Trump's tarrifs. Potentially, this could lead to a small reduction in plastic waste.
Maybe Nick won't donate quite some much money to the NATZ, ACT and NZFirst as his bank balance suffers. That would be a good thing. Most of us won't miss the plastic bits and bobs at all. I really wish we would have end of life product disposal legislation in Aotearoa. And can we add a huge levy on single use containers such as those used by fast food outlets such as Maccas. And all those businesses that use those so-called eco cups end up that end up in our waste stream and are not composted (because they are not compostable). Sorry off on a zero waste rant but it does drive me a bit silly!
I can think of better things but I still clicked on liked.
I can hear the protests from the "free market" tribe now.........get your hands off our junk food and sugary drinks and let the market decide..........all the while obesity grows, and our health system is literally squashed under the weight! As always, this is an example that highlights our lack of strategy as a country, we have no sense of the country we want to be in 20-30 years, and our policy makers continue to avoid the really tough/brave issues. All the while..........as Bernard says........"the lobbyists are unregulated here". We must find ways to have some of these debates in our communities and outside of the narrow, incentivised for the short term game that is our politics. Surely the time for more deliberative democracy is now?
Totally agree Peter!!
I'm curious about how much Simeon Brown earns. And then I would like to understand how much he has studied. I'm also interested in understanding what doctors are paid as a baseline, before over time, and how much over time they're working on average. My guess is that doctors have studied a lot more than Brown, they work a lot harder, and they do a lot more good for the average Kiwi than Brown does.
and doctors and other health staff take responsibility for their actions, have very long and specialised learning and training - whereas Brown has no relevant qualifications and no compunction about lying his way out or situations.
Specialists have studied for well over 10 years - but all doctors, nurses and other health professionals continue to study throughout their entire careers - they have to keep abreast of research.
Well said, Carolyn!!
Mountain Tui reports "Last year, PM Luxon and his Cabinet Ministers received a 10.5% pay increase over 3 years, taking Luxon’s base salary to $520,000, and a Cabinet Minister like Simeon Brown being bumped from $296,000 to $327,100 per annum."
I understand he got a law and commerce degree, then worked for a year at a bank, then became an MP.
Thanks explains a lot.
Brown (Five) is the problem. He does not justify his position on vital decisions re health. We all suffer, does his health insurance ensure his family go top of queue?
Dr Gary Payinda has lain it all out in his substack today - https://open.substack.com/pub/drgarypayinda/p/my-response-to-simeon-brown-health?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2nzl7
This was brilliant and exposing. I wonder how many of Brown's supporters would change their minds though I suspect it's easier for the to close their eyes and their hearts to the reality. It feels like personal health insurance is what separates the haves from the have nots.
You will need a linked in account to see this - if you don't have one you can sign up for free - https://www.linkedin.com/in/simeon-brown-37625621/. I can tell you his experience is not impressive.
Also, he's a senior minister so I suspect it's around the $300k mark, possibly a bit more because he's a member of cabinet.
Simeon Brown, who has zero qualifications or experience in anything, erans almost the same. But while doctors are actually doing good in our communities, Simeon is only bringing harm.
He has the hutzpah to talk about putting patients first while cutting funding to gynecologists so pregnant people have to travel hours to get the care they need.
Simeon Brown has a University of Auckland conjoint degree: Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws. (this does not mean that I support him or the current corrupt coalition government)
In addition, he finished university when he was 26, worked at a bank for a year, and then entered Parliament at 27. His vast life experience, and qualifications, makes him ideally trained to lead our health system.
Love it!!
https://open.substack.com/pub/drgarypayinda/p/my-response-to-simeon-brown-health?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1gey7c
Neither of which qualifies him to make cogent decisions about funding the health system. But what would? Let's not enter into a qualification war - I'm sure in time the University of Auckland or somewhere will grant him an honorary degree in something or other that will neither reflect or improve his performance.
Regarding senior doctor/dentist strikes: To paraphrase a friend from an ASMS union meeting (which echoed the issues two years ago), "I don't want a pay rise, I want some help". The system is grossly understaffed, being held together by excessive overtime (paid and unpaid) which a massive non-financial burden being borne by staff and the whānau of these overworked, highly stressed, burnt out staff. It's actually not what you train 20 years for: "I work in a shit place, with shit managers, with shit employers, doing a suboptimal job but if we don't do it, who else will look after vulnerable Kiwis". There are some amazing people working in health, but people are wearing thin and we have had people, those who are able to, voting with their feet.
100% agree as someone who has worked in medical profession for many years
Thanks for your insights Mate.
Absolutely - in my opinion, all staff working in the health sector should be taking industrial action (with unions collaborating to support this) on the basis of conditions and breaches of health and safety requirements alone. There is no way - under the current manufactured crisis and the effects on staff - Te Whatu Ora is meeting its obligations as a PCBU.
While not ideal, industrial action is the only way of meaningfully getting people across Aotearoa and in the media to hear *and* listen to their concerns. I've got immediate whanau who may be directly affected by further delays in care, and I would *still* see health workers take this action to get some positive change.
Well said Jonathan, during the last election I heard so many times - "I don't want a tax cut, I want a health system"
I heard 5 mins of newtalk zb when flciking through the car radio yesterday evening and the consensus apparently was the doctors are in the wrong. I had to hear it to believe it.
If there's a decision between Simeon Brown and any group of NZer's, I am picking the non Simeon group everytime. The man shouldn't be in charge of the coffee machine never mind crucial portfolios.
He's not adverse to bending the stats to suit his narrative either and that average salary sounds high even with kiwisaver and overtime. Only last year he was perpetuating the 500k cost of speed humps at conferences and stand-ups when it had already been corrected by AT to be in the region of 20-30k.
Minister Brown has strong political instincts that lead him to hyperbole, exaggeration and attack-mode responses. An MP can often get away with that in opposition, but the longer Hon. Mr Brown is in the Executive, the more likely this behaviour will contribute to a loss of trust in him and the government he is a part of. Leadership is about more than capturing the soundbite. He seems unlikely to be able to adapt to become a more sophisticated politician over time. It's not just Bernard calling him out, multiple times now in multiple portfolios. If I were him I wouldn't be going head to head with the doctors. Grab your popcorn.
Brown's got a very strong power drive and preying on prejudice is just a means to an end.Suspect he's counting on the Easter Break to provide the space for him tospin a response to being called out in yet another lie.
Yes, On point!!!
His behavior on Morning Report today was nothing short of disgraceful. If he thinks shouting and rabbiting on demonstrates leadership, he went to the wrong finishing school.
Mōrena Bernard and team Kaka.
The WSJ article on the viability of restoring manufacturing leaves out more than it includes, presenting a misleading view of capitalism in the US, its appalling post-WWII predatory investments in Europe, especially Germany and worldwide. These continue today. The US control of Germany is at least as much a target of the Ukrainian conflict as is Russia, just as it was in 1945. Witness the bombing of Nordstream and cheap gas to Germany. WSJ ignores the fact that US corporations exported jobs to cheap labour countries at the expense of US working class people, for their private profits. It ignores the destruction of education and healthcare for increasingy large sections of Americans and thus their capacity to contribute to society. It glosses over the rump of production in the military industrial complex, the war machine. Even this is now bereft of essentials for bomb making. It ignores the fact that U.S. no longer has the economic and cultural depth needed to sustain its corporate empire internally. Here’s a clip from Apple’s Tim Cooke, one of the greedies who took Trump 1’s tax handouts and brought up his own stock to inflate its value and line his own bonus pocket. One of the oligarchs celebrating Bigtech’s victory at Trump’s inauguration:
https://x.com/shen_shiwei/status/1910661371349655881?s=46&t=P2PMLXkOM3pvZEWMzGHZyQ
Can some let Brown know that a three month paid ‘sabbatical’ is standard in Australia for nearly all professions, it’s called long service leave. So is hardly a perk for Kiwi doctors.
Think he may have plucked that number from the rarified air he breathes but wondering how Simeon Brown justifies his own tax-payers funded salary ($304,000 after last year's increase of 2.8%), plus funding for services that assist him in 'fulfilling his duties and functions' aka 'taff devoted to his every whim'.
Oh dear, poor Nick Mowbray. All that enthusiastic tweeting in support of right wing authoritarians and one of them goes and pokes him in the eye. Hubris, meet nemesis.
Zuru is one of many companies making trash plastic goods that the world would be a better place without!
Minister Brown is arrogant, stating the moral high ground about Doctors should be caring for their patients and accusing them of creating greater waiting lists etc. when he is undermining the funding and privatising services and putting spin to how he is improving waiting lists and services. When Doctors and Nurses are openly complaining and striking, public are protesting about health services things have to be pretty dire !!!
Wake up all you kiwis the Governments revenue is totally inadequate to fund our core services, there are two major issues holding this country back, 1. Our govt super and 2. insufficient tax. The problem, politicians lack courage and vision and appear happy to weaken our democracy with lobbying and excessive donations.
Right on!
Re junk food: This article from The Guardian about the benefits of the UK sugar tax might interest fellow Kaka readers. https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/09/childrens-daily-sugar-consumption-halves-just-a-year-after-tax-study-finds
Re Minister Brown's criticism of Dr strike: Funny how Govt uses the argument that market forces should be the basis of e.g. NZ electricity system charges, what banks charge, what private sector partners are paid, but doesn't apply the same logic when it comes to paying hard working and vital medical and other public service staff!
https://open.substack.com/pub/drgarypayinda/p/my-response-to-simeon-brown-attacking?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=bth19
Dr Payinda's response to Simeon Brown.
Simeon Brown has lost the doctors. Medical specialists are now closing ranks and frankly who can blame them. I feel this all started when Simeon Brown muzzled public health specialists. Remember at the time acting PM Seymour cheered him on saying “put the muppets back in the box,” so disrespectful from a politician. I listened to Brown regarding the strike this am, a very poor interview and it convinced me he is not the right person for the health portfolio.
We can probably do okay without doctors. They're important, obviously but they're not as essential as landlords
Thanks for covering the Minister's sorry response to the doctor strike. Misdirection and misinformation from the Minister on one point that you did not highlight. Blaming our union, the ASMS, for not negotiating when it is Health NZ that is unable to negotiate. Because of budget cuts. And a reason that I voted for the strike was to get them to negotiate. Where's the offer Minister?