Is there anything wrong with your public healthcare being a source of private profit? A chat with Ian Powell.
Ian Powell spent 35 years in healthcare policy as head of the public (salaried) doctors' union. He's seen it all, and has some surprising thoughts about the privatisation of healthcare.Read more of Ian's work at https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com/2025/07/14/who-benefits-from-outsourcing-planned-surgery-follow-the-funding/
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29:22
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29:22
Doctors ask Politicians to finally put some 'Skin in the Game'.
An interview with Dr Marcus Lee, a Northland cardiologist who, along with dozens of other doctors, penned an open letter to Simeon Brown, the Minister of Health, and other top politicians, asking them to put their money where their mouth is: To pause their private health insurance plans while they're in office, and to live with the same public healthcare system that the majority of New Zealanders, young and old, must rely on.What a great idea! I was happy to sign on. Just imagine a world where the understaffing of public hospitals and GPs and nurses actually affected those politicians making the laws and deciding where the taxpayers' money gets spent. We'd have a better public healthcare system as fast as you could say: "Wow, I guess that $2.9 billion dollars of our taxpayer money given to landlords really could have fixed all our healthcare staffing shortages nationwide and provided public dental care for every Kiwi."Skin in the Game matters! Accountability matters! Hypocrisy withers under the light of day. Sign the PUBLIC petition to demand accountability at https://chng.it/LCwBMGLhKc
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23:47
Taupo ED underfunding, the alcohol industry doing the right thing and is wine a carcinogen?
Taupo's ED understaffing woes and close-down risk is making news again. A bit of good science news on the gut microbiome's effect on heart attacks. And a piece on the alcohol industry doing the right thing when forced to, by (gasp!) legal regulations: Ireland accurately labels wine as a known carcinogen. Will NZ follow?
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29:51
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29:51
The Hate that Social Media Brewed: When rage fuels Social Media corporate profits, how do nations avoid a descent into violence?
Paul Spoonley is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Massey University and an expert on how nations counter violent extremism. This episode of The Frontline, Prod Spoonley tells us whether the Christchurch Massacre was a wake-up call for New Zealand, or an unheeded warning.
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27:51
Simeon Does it Again, Attacking Nurses on Social Media
The Frontline talks with Odie Matson, an experienced nurse and NZ Nurse's Organisation delegate, about Simeon's latest Facebook lash-out.How can a Health Minister who just got 4 annual pay rises in a row, find himself attacking nurses on Facebook for their attempts to negotiate safer working conditions? Nurses who are offered a pay rise that is less than the cost of inflation... and who have watched their request for "safe staffing ratios" eliminated from their negotiations by a government bent on austerity for workers, while handing out tax breaks for landlords, tobacco companies, and oil corporations.Come along with us: support The Frontline movement.
Frontline Kiwi workers are struggling to pay for food and rent, while politicians are giving away billions to the very rich. Public services are being cut back, privatised, and sold off. This is not how you build a stronger, healthier, or safer society. It’s time to stop the vandalism and rebuild NZ.
Join Dr Gary Payinda and guests on The Frontline.
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