How a debate over $5 chemist fees descended into a row over 'gutter politics'
The government suggests National want to take women back to the 50s – or worse. The opposition says it’s the victim of a smear campaign.
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, June 2, by Catherine McGregor. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Hawke’s Bay homeowners learn their fate; a Russian mercenary has his eye on the Chatham Islands; and Chris Bishop tells Bernard Hickey about his plans for urban housing. But first, did Labour go too far with its attack on National’s prescription charging plan?
A single gif, and a whole lot of drama
Despite knowing full well that it ran out of steam at least two seasons ago, I can’t seem to give up on the Handmaid’s Tale. Even if you don’t watch it yourself, you probably know it’s set in a totalitarian near-future when women are forced into sexual and religious submission by a fundamentalist ruling class. Not really much like contemporary New Zealand, then. Yet when National confirmed contraceptives won’t be exempt from its plan to reinstate the $5 prescription charge, Labour’s Megan Woods tweeted out a gif from the show in response. It wasn’t just Woods. "The 1950s called and they want their National Party back," said prime minister Chris Hipkins. National’s Nicola Willis said Labour was “getting down in the gutter”; Christopher Luxon called it a “smear campaign”. “[Labour] see Luxon's stance on abortion as a weakness with women so they leapt at the chance for another reproductive rights crack,” writes Newshub’s Amelia Wade. “But their hyperbole is an own goal. If Labour's Handmaid outrage is to be believed, why's it taken them six years to remove the prescription fee?”
Getting birth control to those who need it
While it plans to bring back the $5 fee, Willis says National also wants to increase access to clinics offering free birth control, and enhance subsidies for long-acting contraceptives such as IUDs. Writing for the NZ Herald (paywalled), Lizzie Marvelly argues that not only should all contraceptives be free of charge, but so should all GP consultations where they’re prescribed. “A return to the unpopular prescription fees will mean a return to an inequitable system,” she writes. “Luxon [has] showed voters – particularly female voters – that he has no problem with a regime that penalises women unfairly.” A widely shared Spinoff article by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey sets out the economic reasoning for scrapping the $5 charge, which can become prohibitive for low income earners who have a number of regular prescriptions to fill. Removing the charge will generate savings of around $2.65 billion a year in reduced hospital visits, according to data collected by Otago University researchers.
The fairness debate rumbles on
National’s plan to give free prescriptions to only the neediest groups might sound good on paper, but universal policies are cheaper to administer, prevent stigmatisation and enable wider uptake, argues former Labour advisor Clint Smith on The Spinoff. The fairness of the government's prescription fee cut was debated again in parliament after National’s health spokesperson Shane Reti noted that British and Australian visitors will now get free prescriptions under reciprocal health agreements with New Zealand. Reti compared it to French backpackers getting last year’s cost of living payment, reports the NZ Herald. Another view of the fairness issue comes from community pharmacists, who argued that the free prescriptions offered by the likes of Chemist Warehouse were a threat to their livelihoods. In their view, scrapping the fee will level the playing field and help keep smaller operations in business.
The problem with a two-tier health system
The rule change, set to commence on July 1, represents one of the largest increases to pharmaceutical funding in recent history, the Herald reports. But unlike previous pharma boosts, no new medicines have been funded by Pharmac, meaning many patients will continue to have to pay out of pocket for the treatments they need. The relationship between the private and public health systems is the subject of a thought-provoking piece by bioethics lecturer Elizabeth Fenton, republished on The Spinoff. “Our willingness to accept a second tier of healthcare accessible only to those who can pay depends on the sufficiency of the first tier. The worse the services in the first tier, the weaker the justification for the second tier.”
Reader support keeps The Spinoff free for all
Times are tough for a lot of people at the moment and this is why we are determined to keep The Spinoff’s content freely available to all, without a paywall. But this is only possible with the support of our readers. If you value our work and believe in the importance of independent and freely accessible journalism, please consider becoming a member or making a contribution today.
Hawke’s Bay homeowners learn their fate
Homeowners in the worst-hit areas of Hawke’s Bay have received voluntary buyout offers for their cyclone-hit properties. Those receiving offers are in Category 3, which can be “likened to Christchurch’s ‘red zone’, where properties were deemed high risk and unsafe to rebuild there, and these property owners would be offered a buyout,” Stuff reports. Category 2 properties will not be bought out, with the government instead working with councils to “help them build flood protection and other resilience measures” prior to rebuilds. Category 1 means homeowners can start rebuilding immediately. For areas outside Hawke’s Bay, “our understanding is Auckland Council will be talking to property owners from June 12 and Tairāwhiti has already begun contact with property owners in category 3, with the remainder to be finalised over coming weeks,” said minister Michael Wood.
What do Russian mercenaries want with the Chatham Islands?
A belter of a story here. When Stuff reporter James Halpin noticed the Chatham Islands marked on a map showing a notorious mercenary company’s global interests, he did what any enterprising reporter would do: he asked the Russian oligarch who runs the private army for comment. "We will not share this information, everything has its own time," said Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin, nicknamed “Putin’s chef” because of his background in catering. Prigozhin’s spokesperson later said they would “not disclose the plans of the PMC ‘Wagner’ regarding Chatham Island.” Chatham Islands mayor Monique Croon tells Stuff being picked out on the map “seems absurd, but you can never rule anything out”. Wagner is part of Russia’s invasion force in Ukraine, and is famous for using prison conscripts as mercenaries. “New Zealand has sanctioned the Wagner entity, as well as Prigozhin and other individual leaders in the group,” Halpin reports.
How big does Chris Bishop want us to be?
National’s housing spokesperson Chris Bishop wants councils to zone enough land with enough pipes and roads to house 30 years’ worth of population growth, but not all through densification. In this week’s episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey asks Bishop just how big he wants Aotearoa to be, and who will pay for all the extra infrastructure needed when that growth is on green fields.
Click and collect
National MP David Bennett has said sorry for saying the Commerce Commission “need a bullet”
A 48-year-old man has been charged with five counts of murder over the Loafers Lodge fire.
Banning media from Wayne Brown’s budget speech on Thursday was an “insult to voters”, the Media Freedom Council says.
Wellington mayor Tory Whanau says she was “heckled and booed” at an Oriental Bay Residents Association meeting, a characterisation the association’s president rejects. (NZ Herald, paywalled)
Yet more ructions in local government: a Dunedin Council public workshop descended into chaos after being hijacked by anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.
If you liked what you read today, share The Bulletin with friends, family and colleagues.
Today on The Spinoff: Chris Schulz answers your questions about buying weed legally for medical purposes, should you wish to do so. Edward Willis explains why Jan Tinetti is going before the privileges committee, and what the privileges committee even is. Hera Lindsay Bird advises a reader with a very persistent unwanted admirer. A new proposal might change online safety in New Zealand, says Shanti Mathias. And once more, and with feeling, Toby Manhire howls into the void: where is Wayne Brown?
Sporting snippets
Wellington is bracing for travel chaos after Metlink warned there will only be ‘imited' rail replacement buses put on for the Hurricanes match on Saturday
Crusader Samuel Whitelock is moving to France after this Super Rugby season winds up.
Two dozen organisations are calling on the Canadian government to launch an investigation into an alleged toxic culture of abuse in sport in the country
It’s Friday, so…
Let’s all watch this super-viral fancam of Succession’s most chemistry-laden relationship – Tom Wambsgans and Greg Hirsch. Farewell Disgusting Brothers, we’re going to miss you.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
