Anne Daniels, President
NZNO Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa

‘Hearts and minds’ is a concept occasionally expressed in the resolution of war, insurgency, and other conflicts in which one side seeks to prevail not by the use of superior force, but by making emotional or intellectual appeals to sway supporters of the other side. The use of the term ‘hearts and minds’ reference a method of bringing a so-called subjugated population on side.

The term was widely used by the British who were intent on sanitising the experience of fighting wars of decolonisation. The British systematically hid evidence of their counterinsurgency campaigns in a bid to mislead. The ACT party is using a similar strategy, using misinformation to galvanise sympathy and support for their Treaty Principles Bill, a strategy that has been torn to shreds by many including Kennedy Warne  in his New Zealand Geographic critical piece A Matter of Principles.

As I write, possibly the largest uprising of tāngata whenua and citizens of this land are voting with their feet as they join a nationwide hikoi towards parliament grounds. Why? The foundation of this nation is being disrupted in the halls of government with an overt attack on the constitutional status of te Triiti o Waitangi to remove its effect in law and limit Māori rights and Crown obligations. This will undermine social cohesion by strengthening discrimination and racism. It will increase  the divide of social determinants of health experienced by Māori, and those who have not rather than have. This will directly negatively affect the health and well-being of Māori and an increasingly impoverished population. As such, it is the business of our NZNO members, to stand up and advocate for those we care for. The time for political neutrality is well past.

Disruption, by this Coalition government, is evident everywhere you look. For example, the expectation that the health system will be there to take care of us, when and where we need it. We all know that that is no longer true. We have shifted from the pre 1990s, where the public and primary health care system were free for all New Zealanders, to an increasingly user pays system that is blocking access to timely health care for many, resulting in increasing acuity and emergency department presentations, long wait times, and for some avoidable harm and death as outlined in this story by The Hui.

The lack of resource to prioritise patient safety is becoming an alarming pattern, for all to see.  A ‘pause’ on Care Capacity Demand Management (CCDM) data collection, at Te Whatu Ora, is a case in point as it has a direct effect on knowing if there is a need for more nurses to be recruited to a specific unit, or if a particular shift is under target and there are not enough nurses on duty to provide safe care. How can Te Whatu Ora rationalise this ‘pause’in terms of patient safety? All fingers point to saving money rather than saving lives. If you don’t know how many more nurses you need to recruit, you don’t need to be accountable to recruit them, nor pay them once recruited. If you don’t know the required full time equivalent (FTE) nurses you need on any one shift (with the right knowledge, skills and experience), then you don’t have to fill the gaps, and you don’t have to pay the wages.

The pause on CCDM data collection has galvinised our NZNO members working in Te Whatu Ora to overwhelmingly vote to strike. There has been a mindshift within our membership. Gone is the polite waiting for the employer, who historically drag their feet in negotiations, to eventually come to the table with an offer. NZNO members are very angry. We are sick and tired of doing more with less. Being told that they must meet unrealistic expectations of a Government who has set health targets that cannot ever be met in an under resourced and grossly underfunded system has pushed us past our limits of tolerance. We suffer when our patients suffer. On 3 December, our members too, will vote with their feet.

We are not the only ones. About 35,000 people protested against the proposed changes to the Dunedin Hospital rebuild business case. Thousands more protested in the recent Council of Trade Unions (CTU) ‘Fight Back Together’ campaign to keep workers’ rights. And now an estimated 50,000 are walking to Parliament to fight for te Tiriti o Watangi. Instead of division through disruption, the opposite is true. The groundswell of change, ‘in the hearts and minds’ of the people are reflected in those who have never protested before but are now. Maranga Mai! We are rising up together. The power will always be with the people, the many, not the few. We will overcome.

Kia kaha!