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Where there’s smoke, there’s fire

Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

Recent days and indeed months have been intense for nurses with the actions of Te Whatu Ora leaving us stunned, but mostly nurses are angry. In the last six months or so, Te Whatu Ora has consistently made statements about the need to cut costs and spend within their budgets. Just last week, they announce a hiring freeze on non-patient facing roles. Staff told us Te Whatu Ora regions were asked to collectively save $105 million by July using “cost containment”.

This week, news was leaked to us from members that they were not matching graduates into their nursing workforce. It was then revealed they are restricting the employment of graduate nurses again due to budget constraints. But this time, they have come out and publicly claimed NZNO is spreading “untruths” and misinformation. Sad comment given their lack of communication and consultation and an unwillingness to commit to how many would actually be recruited within Te Whatu Ora and how many they would attempt to place in primary health and Aged Care where rarely are there the support mechanisms that graduate nurses need. All round a major mess.

Well, if the past six months are anything to go by, where there is smoke there’s definitely fire! A lot of leaks have across from the government, and they’ve never been refuted. Their modus operandi is always denial, but they never disprove the claims which turn out to true.

Last week, the Government announced there was a surplus of 2000 FTEs and this was done with no prior discussion with the unions. How could there be such a dramatic change when a month prior we were saying that there’s about 4800 nurse shortages. When Te Whatu Ora’s own information accessed under the Official Information Act reported many of the wards across the country reported staff below targets – targets set by Te Whatu ora itself. While the report validated what members were themselves feeling they also knew that the chronic short staffing could increase incidents of adverse events, near misses or care rationing and in some cases patient mortality increases with exposure to increased numbers of shifts where there is understaffing. 

This should not come as a surprise as it’s symptomatic of a system that’s been struggling for so long. The problem has always been no long-term workforce planning. We have always advocated for growing our domestic workforce. Te Whatu Ora has provided up to 80% of the placements for the NETP and NESP. They have the established support, preceptors and infrastructure to support the programme and they don’t have to struggle with the pay challenges that they face in the funded sector.

In a profession that has been fraught with shortages, working extra time and has nursing students struggled during their three years to the extent that some are living in their cars to survive.

On the subject of students, following this latest debacle some have come to me and asked: “How much for a passport? Australia is taking graduates!” They are unhappy and this means we are losing our future workforce.

My belief is that we should be focused on the issues at hand and not slinging mud. We don’t need nurses fighting nurses while Rome burns. Unity is strength and we should be holding on to this, clear up the differences and move forward for the benefit of our whānau, tamariki and communities as a whole.

Kia kaha! I would like to wish our members a happy Matariki or Ngā mihi o Matariki, te tau hou Māori


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Maranga Mai! – A hikoi

All over the country, thousands of us from various backgrounds and cultures connected on Budget Day embracing a call to stand up and hikoi against injustice and be a part of the change we want to see.

The national call for action to tāngata whenua and tāngata te Tiriti was heard by Māori and non-Māori underpinned by a growing understanding that “we are the ones that make the country’s wheels turn”. We are the workers who produce much of the country’s GDP. When we stop, the country stops.

There is huge power in the people who stand up and hikoi together. We are not only heard, but we are seen. It reminds me of a song called ‘Stand Up, sung by an incredible singer, Cynthia Erivo…

I’m gonna stand up
Take my people with me
Together we are going
To a brand new home
Far across the river
Do you hear freedom calling?
Calling me to answer
Gonna keep on keepin’ on

Doing what is morally right in a regime that sets the rules to privilege the few, not the many, takes courage. It also is founded on a belief that by standing up against an immoral tide of ‘policy bonfires’ that can only harm, not heal or help solve the health systems decades of political unwillingness to meet the ensuring challenges, that change will and must happen.

Nurses/midwives/health care assistants have huge courage. They demonstrate that every day they go to work to care in a very unsafe, under resourced, understaffed (see the recent OIA findings) healthcare work environment. Recently, a message was personally delivered to the Chief People Officer of Te Whatu Ora, Andrew Slater from delegates of our union.

This was in response to Te Whatu Ora’s leadership deciding to put the budget before the health and wellbeing of patients and the nurses who care for them in a cost containment exercise. Many nurses, midwives and health care assistants shared their feelings about their fears that chronic understaffing combined with a demand to reduce costs by slashing overtime, sick leave cover, and double shifts would harm their patients. Further nurses felt that this would increase the poor morale and drive senior nurses, with all their expertise and commitment to doing the impossible every day, to hikoi, to walk, to leave.

Andrew Slater’s response on RNZ was that it was up to the clinical managers to make that decision, despite the fact that Te Whatu Ora leadership has demanded it of them. Talk about not taking any responsibility. Decisions made by others, about us, without us, often make us take responsibility for something that is not of our making.

But without us, without the 60,000 plus NZNO members, the health system, in all sectors, would immediately halt. That is our power.

We are the largest health workforce. Doctors number about 1,800. Who is at the bedside? Nurses? But are they? Nurses and nursing are often made invisible when politicians and nurse employers talk about “which of the six sickest patients will get the five most closely monitored beds”. Do beds monitor the patients? Do cars go to see the patients in their homes? No. Nurses do the monitoring, the seeing, the caring, the being with, the critical thinking, the decision making, communicating, advocating, negotiating, facilitating, and making a system work for their patients under impossible conditions. When we stand up together and hikoi together, our power is palpable and can move mountains. Our hikoi will start soon in the form of a bus tour throughout the country, encouraging our own members and their communities to stand up with us so that we can realise Ratio Justice through culturally safe nurse patient ratio legislation for all. Together, we stand up at our coming He Tipua – Ratio Justice conference to continue our journey from “a spiritual place, growing without restraint into a desired state of being”. Freed to care. Proud to Nurse!


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Our voices must be heard

Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

These are interesting times we live in. At a recent convention I attended I was asked a very interesting question about the power of a voice on global health. My response was a simple but one that rings true through the mists of time. “Throughout history the power of the voice can inspire people and make them brave, or it can diminish people by the language and the tone of voice.”

The voices of many historical figures – both good and bad – have left indelible marks on humanity and its impact on nurses has been no different! Over our history, we’ve largely been silenced by the dominant forces within the system.

So, the big question is how do nurses get that voice we long for in order to tell our story when that the voice has been stripped away from us through legislation, through policies and practice in many situations? Now more than ever it’s important that our stories be heard. One such example is the OIA NZNO obtained from Te Whatu Ora. This provides a platform for us to inform the data when it comes to getting the truth out there. This can be done by our union lending support to our nurses by giving them the courage to regain that confidence and strength. We need to protect them in a quite hostile environment where it’s not okay for nurses to speak out.

Many of our legislative decision-makers only put forward only a medical view.  Pae Ora for example looks at having doctors as part of those decision-making groups. Nurses are excluded. It raises the question again about why the voices of nurses are silenced. Is it because of the more historically subservient role that nurses play? It’s the stereotypical approach and still a hangover from the old ways! It used to be that women should be seen and heard, in many ways that archaic attitude still exists. This marginalisation is only worse if you’re Māori or another minority group.

It’s taken a few brave women to really challenge the status quo and we need to support them. The way forward is to look at what leadership looks like within nursing. And those nurses that are speaking out have got to see that there’s a group of people around them, and not just a few individuals popping up. It is the responsibility of the union to support and promote the freedom of a voice, and to protect the interests of nurses that speak out.

Through our struggles we’ve always got to be optimistic for change because our purpose in life right is to make it easy for the people coming behind us. It does take some solid action and solidarity and that’s why our Ratio Justice bus tour requires more than just a few people to turn up, but we need crowds present who need to make their voices heard loudly and clearly.

Caught between a rock and a hard place

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Anne Daniels, President
NZNO Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa

Many of us feel we are caught between a rock and a hard place right now for different reasons. While the saying has different shades of meaning, I am aware of the frustrations of many of our members who want to act in the right way but are being forced, by circumstances created by others, to decide between two negative scenarios that potentially can prevent them from acting in accordance with their principles and values. The phrase is used as a heartfelt expression of real concern and frustration.  Bailey Zimmerman sang….

Between a rock and a hard place.
Is this where it mends or it breaks?
How much more can we take?”

A recent leaked communication from Te Whatu Ora regarding managing its 2023/34 budget put Clinical Nurse Managers (CNMs) and Associate CNMs between a rock and hard place. They were directed to “address personnel related costs…given that they have room to do this given the significant progress made on workforce shortages, such as filling nurse vacancies”.

The missive directed to have more nurses off the floor on annual leave, a ban on double shifts, not sick leave cover (except night shift and subject to CCDM). No context was provided in the letter i.e. how many nurses had left, how many work areas were still understaffed, how many areas still (after 20 years) don’t have CCDM, how many shifts under target there are, and how many vacancies could be removed if unfilled. Do CNMs decide to comply or push back? How do our senior nurses do that in a way that keeps their patients and staff, let alone themselves, safe? The pressures are huge, and relatively thankless when the senior nurses are still struggling to get pay equity relativity.

Just as recently, a historic rally of internationally qualified nurses (IQNs) was held in Palmerston North where nurse representatives asked for help to get jobs for the many nurses who have come from their homelands to work in Aotearoa, on the understanding that there are thousands of job vacancies. The issues are multiple from coming in on visitor visas instead of work visas, CAP courses that may not uphold the Nursing Council standards required for registration, not being able to get a job once registered, and having to live hand to mouth with little income and relying on the support of their communities. They cannot return home as they don’t have the funds to do so. The Government, Nursing Council, and employers must work together to help these nurses and do right by them.

RNs going to work in every sector are being forced to decide who gets care and who doesn’t. This is an everyday ethical dilemma. Those who make workforce decisions based on budget rather than quality and safety are responsible if harm comes to a patient when there are not enough nurses to do the job in a timely manner that meets the professional, ethical, legislative, and cultural standards of practice that guides their practice.

NZNO members have a choice. We can decide between a rock and hard place to try and make things work, or we can say no! Decisions made by others about us, without us are not ours to own. The responsibility of decisions that impact on quality and safety in health care lands back on their doorstep.

We don’t have to accept being between a rock and hard place. Our wins in court over contract breaches and the right to strike when all else has failed to address unsafe staffing and work conditions demonstrate our recourse options. We can also mindfully commit to stand up and join our colleagues on the picket lines, join the campaign for nurse-to-patient ratios in every sector throughout the health system, and report staff and safety concerns consistently until our voice is heard. It was great to see so many of you unite at rallies across the country at yesterday’s Day of Action. Be part of the change we want to see. Get involved. Kia kaha.

Maranga mai!

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The resurgence of colonisation in Aotearoa

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Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

The theme for the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) was “Enhancing indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination in the context of the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples: emphasising the voices of the indigenous youth”. 

UNPFII is an expert body of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with a mandate to provide advice on indigenous issues to ECOSOC, and through the UN agencies supports programmes to raise awareness and promote integration and coordination of activities relating to indigenous people. The UN activities and actions promote and respect the United National Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

The notion of UNDRIP was started many years prior by indigenous advocates across the world. The specific actions of colonisation could be seen in the patriarchal oppression that denied women of their rights, the oppression of indigenous language, cultural rights and protection of lands and territories and rights to self-determination.

Protection of our pre-existing rights has seen our rangatira travel overseas many times since 1840, including when they presented to the League of Nations in Geneva in 1920. So, it is not surprising that many Māori were instrumental in the drafting of UNDRIP, including Dr Moana Jackson who was frontline as the elected chair of Indigenous Peoples Caucus in 1990.

During the drafting of UNDRIP and UNPFII some governments were  nothing short of intentionally obstructive, so it was a triumph when the UNDRIP was adopted by the General Assembly on 13 September 2007 with the majority of 143 States in favour. While it was passed by the clear majority; Canada, USA, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand voted against.

Eventually Aotearoa New Zealand would ratify UNDRIP in 2010 and begin to implement policies to give voice and choice to Māori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa. However, UNDRIP as a UN instrument is always under attack by the ill-informed or those intentionally trying to inflame power imbalances. The struggle for human rights is not easy and it is evident in the current debates both locally and internationally that discussions of human rights and the obligations of those rights are quickly distracted by challenges around “special rights” or “privileges”.

This year’s forum was no different I imagine from 2007. The aggressive and hostile treatment of Government on indigenous people was appalling, with many groups reporting that merely being indigenous seems to be justification enough for such punitive treatment. It always used to feel that things are worse overseas but when reflecting on changes since the 2023 elections and change of Government, these actions are just as violent here.

The 2023 election saw a new Government that has declared war on these Māori rights. They have developed legislation to challenge the rights to self-determination set out in the nation’s founding document Te Tiriti o Waitangi and reflected in the Declaration. They are developing a new set of ‘Treaty principles’ that remove any reference to Māori and publicly challenged the status of Māori as an Indigenous people.

They have disparaged Māori language and have mandated agencies to remove Māori language or diminish its use in names and government documents. This list of attempts to oppress Māori continues, but what is encouraging as we have seen nationally and at the UNPFII, is the uprising of the youth.

There is a new generation of hope in the power global voice of the youth, determined by struggles of the past and that builds on an indigenous future.


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Every life matters

Anne Daniels, President
NZNO Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa

In a world where calls for a ceasefire are debated while innocent people continue to die – and those who try to help, the aid workers, nurses, doctors and more, die alongside them – what does it mean to us, so far away on the other side of the world?

What does it mean when we are told that weapons are made and delivered by the same regimes that call for a ceasefire. You have to wonder which side is up. War cannot happen if there are no weapons, and there are other ways to settle disputes.

Every life matters.

The struggle to respect, protect and support life belongs to all of us. This is fundamental to us as health professionals. We all have our own struggles but in this country we are expected to ‘harden up’ and get on with it.

Mike King (comedian and founder of I am Hope’ foundation) thinks otherwise. His sincere hope is that Kiwi “stop pretending we have our shit together”. He further says that having a suicidal thought doesn’t make you mentally ill, it makes you human. If you haven’t left your house at least once in your life thinking ‘what’s the point’ then you need to get out of the marshmallow you’re living in.”

Why? Because we are failing our children. Our children are our future. Suicide is the third leading death category for our kids aged 28 days to 24 years (one in five of our mokopuna, but much worse for our 15- to 19-year-olds and young men). Serious thoughts of suicide and attempted suicide occur more often in areas of high deprivation and under the current government, deprivation is set to grow. This is avoidable, unfair, and unjust. This is a major issue, and it belongs to all of us.

Yet, right now, in a bid to cut costs and honour the election promise of tax cuts, the current Government is slashing and burning the Suicide Prevention Office, set up to work with the many public health and community groups working towards eliminating suicide.

It’s also proposing downgrading the drug-checking services function leading to a loss of people working in mental health and addictions. Further, the national telehealth service is struggling to recruit enough qualified clinical staff to operate the 24/7 phone lines for triaging people with mental health problems, while also supporting police and ambulance services. In the next four weeks, more than half the shifts are understaffed. Why? Poor pay and conditions.

National promised pre-election that there would be no cuts to front line health services. Yeah, right. The currently proposed cuts will end the lives of our most vulnerable. Yet this Government is ignoring the facts. It is cheaper to prevent harm than to try and fix it when it happens. We cannot stand by in silence. We must act.

Mike King’s patai (question) is, will we climb out of our marshmallows, rise up (Maranga Mai!) and be counted? Will we take off our masks and be more vulnerable in front of our kids, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll be able to take off their masks and reach out and ask for help before something tragic happens.

Jess Glynne reminds us all: “Don’t be so hard on yourself, no. Learn to forgive, learn to let go. Everyone trips, everyone falls. So don’t be so hard on yourself, no.”

We need to start talking to each other, and our children – today. If you need to talk – free call or text 1737 any time or Lifeline – 0800 543 354.

If your need NZNO help call 0800 28 38 48.


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IQNs not the long-term solution

Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

There has been some media focus recently on Internationally Qualified Nurses (IQNs) being exploited by recruitment agencies taking advantage of monetary incentives offered by the Government.

These agencies are bringing IQNs into the country without first securing them employment  which leads me to reiterate what I’ve been saying in the media. We uphold the importance of ethical recruitment. We have serious concerns about the recruitment agencies that are incentivised to flood Aotearoa with nurses, particularly from India. These nurses are often unable to be employed despite completing New Zealand’s competency assessment programme and holding NZ practising certificates (APCs).

That many recent IQNs are not being employed is through no fault of their own. IQNs are not always professionally or culturally suitable for employment in positions where local experience is required. It puts a strain on the system with training, culturalisation and finding effective support for them once they’re in jobs. The levels of support required to upskill them costs too much, so often they’re left to drown in the deep end.

It has been revealed to me recently that these agencies are also exploiting loopholes in the system to bring nurses into Aotearoa via the UK’s National Health Service. If not already illegal this kind of activity should surely be shut off as it is in my opinion tantamount to fraud.

This cannot continue and Te Whatu Ora has recently assured us that the $10,000 incentive to agencies has been closed But will the funding now be diverted to growing our own workforce where it should have been in the first place?

It’s time we realised IQNs are not the solution to the nursing shortage in Aotearoa even in the short term. Our focus should be on strategies to attract New Zealanders rather than IQNs to take up nursing study with the aim of building a strong workforce that is culturally competent and responsive.

We are aware of the harmful effects of international nurse recruitment which according to the International Council of Nurses some associations in poorer and developing countries equated with a form of neo-colonialism. IQNs are needed in their home countries as much as they are here, and this is another reason why more effort and resources need to be put into growing our own workforce.

The Government now needs to consolidate the situation with the existing number of IQNs in the country to ensure they get jobs along with appropriate training and support and this means we need to freeze the recruitment of IQNs and discourage recruitment agencies from bringing them out.
It needs to divert any possible funding into broadening the number of nursing students and then training them, keeping them, and giving them good jobs afterwards. That would be the long-term solution to this nursing crisis.


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Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater

Anne Daniels, President
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

Treasury recently stated that our health system will either need to be cut back or taxes will need to be raised to fund it.

I thought……WHAT? Didn’t the new coalition government promise no cuts to the front line? Aotearoa has an ageing population and levels of inequality where many cannot enjoy the opportunities of living in a wealthy country. The poem What will matter (abridged) by Michael Josephson suggests we all need to….

Live a life that matters
Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.
So what will matter?
How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance, but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.

And so we all should. But what happens when the very government that shapes the environment in which we live and work makes every day an ever-increasing struggle where our individual and collective choices are being dismantled and everything, we have fought so hard for, including the structures that protect you at work” are being torn apart?

My recent blog on injustice identified similar issues. So why are we involved in this escalating struggle with our current government? One commentator recently said the coalition government has taken a match to the hopes and dreams of Māori (and Tauiwi), resulting in a bonfire that is burning them down as quickly as possible without using due process and without remorse.

Our government’s processes, behaviours and policies must be called into question. The role of government and its officials is to serve the public interest with ethical awareness and ethical actions, and to act for the common good. These ideals seem to have been thrown out the window along with both the baby and the bathwater without any concern to the harm that may land on those standing below.

What does it mean for us as NZNO members and for those we care for?

Politics and governmental decision-making affect us all in terms of funding, resources, and our ability to do our jobs to the professional standards we must uphold. Further it has the potential to increase our current struggles, the lack of nurses, poor work-life balance, the lack of protection from accountants whose only bottom line is the dollar.

OUR bottom line must be the provision of safe, evidenced-based care, where and when it’s needed, going forward. Only then will we realise a healthy nation instead of an increasingly sick one.

So, we must “Maranga Mai!” – Rise up together all the while remembering…

If in our hearts we do not yield,
We will overcome.


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It’s about life

Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

On 28 February CTU’s youth wing, Stand Up, organised a protest at Parliament against the Government’s all-out assault on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te Taiao, and workers. Of all the powerful kōrero from that rally, one stuck out prominently because of its strength and its relevance. It came from Action Station director Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tuwharetoa) who hit home exactly what the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora means.

“Te Aka Whai Ora was about life,” she said.

It was about the simple but horrifying fact that Māori die seven years younger than Pākehā. All Te Aka Whai Ora was intended to do was find ways to close that gap so our mokopuna get seven more years with their kaumātua; So we can have seven more years to keep deepening our reo and tikanga; So we can have seven more years living with Ranginui above us, Papatūānuku beneath us, and growing in the universe that our tūpuna fought so hard to deliver us into.

We know in health that equity literally is the difference between living and dying. How can they justify this, knowing that it means people dying too young? This Government intentionally attacks any policy or structure that aims to create equity because they maintain their power through racism and division. And if that means death so be it. They will continue to trample on Māori and as they do they will blame us for the outcomes of the injustice they have created.

But they won’t just blame Māori. They’ll blame women for not being able to earn enough. They’ll blame young people for not being able to keep a job. They’ll blame nurses for not being able to keep up with the demands of tangata whaiora. They’ll use their power and control to try to convince us all that we are responsible of our own exploitation and oppression. Or, of course, they’ll wheel out their favourite tactic: saying that the real reason workers have no power is because Māori are trying to take it.

Yet more and more, people are understanding that this is not the case. The Toitū Te Tiriti movement has seen unprecedented shows of solidarity from Pākehā and tauiwi because people are seeing the restoration of tino rangatiratanga not as a threat, but simply as a matter of justice and equity. As Angela Davis said, “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” People are standing up and saying they do not accept the idea that Māori are powerless on their own land. They do not accept that Māori will die seven years before Pākehā. And they will not accept the erosion of workers’ rights, nor the destruction of the earth.

This struggle concerns all of us. You must understand that this Government will continue to do all in its power to dismantle everything we have fought so hard for, including the structures that protect you at work. If you see the injustice and cannot accept this reality, then you have a role to play. Together we have the power to change the world. We simply must take the next step and show true leadership, unlike those in Parliament. That means getting organised, talking with each other, and taking our struggle to the streets.


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(In)Justice

Anne Daniels, President
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
― Martin Luther King Jr

Last year, I had the privilege of attending most of the NZNO Regional Council Conventions. During the day we discussed member engagement and what motivates members to get involved by going to meetings, rallies, protests, and taking on an advocacy role such as being a delegate, or health and safety representative. The answer was anger at injustice. Anger overcomes fear. Anger motivates a person to find out how to right the wrong. Anger motivates a person to become part of the solution through action.

Justice assumes that society has a responsibility to treat people fairly. Society confirms concepts of justice in its legal frameworks. There is an inter-relationship between law and justice, which means that one does not automatically override the other. Laws are modified over time, and it’s thought that when they are applied, justice is increased.

But does it? What if the law is unjust? What if there is no law to provide justice? Right now, in New Zealand, laws are being repealed and changed which will result in injustice in our society and lead to an increase in poor health outcomes for those we care for. So, what do we do about it?

It is said there is power in the people to create change. The history of protests shows this to be true. The Kia Ora incident (1984) is an example of one person starting an action, and seeing it finish with the power of the people behind her. Naida Glavish, a telephone operator was instructed to stop using “Kia ora” when greeting callers. Glavish refused and was stood down, with the whole affair attracting much public interest. She was later given back her job when the Postmaster General, who initially supported the Kia ora ban, changed his mind, and persuaded the Prime Minister Robert Muldoon to overturn the prohibition. This incident was considered key in the movement to revitalise the Māori language. The power of the people overcame the injustice.

On Waitangi Day 2024, I was asked to attend a hikoi in Dunedin to protest against the current Government’s policy to review te Tiriti o Waitangi, our country’s 180-year-old founding document, which will “unravel decades of indigenous progress” I have attended and led many protests in my time, but this hikoi was the first where there were so many people participating, I could not see the end of the march. The power of the people was palpable. Māori and non-Māori came together to fight injustice. I knew that this was just the beginning. Justice will be served.

So, it must be for NZNO members. Exhaustion, fear professional and personal responsibilities cannot hold us back from standing together and acting against the injustices perpetuated against us and those we care for. Inaction perpetuates injustice and consequent suffering, negates change, and is done to us, without us. We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. Every member everywhere must heed the call of our Maranga Mai! Strategic Plan 2023-2025, and act locally, regionally, nationally. Together we stand, divided we fall. We cannot wait for ‘someone else’ to do it for us. Each one of us has the power to make a difference. But we have unstoppable power when we act together in “unionity”.

NZNO represents more than 60,000 members. Together, we are a power to be reckoned with. This year the Membership Committee (made up of regional council representatives) will work with other NZNO groups to reach out to ask every nurse, everywhere to raise their voice and do the mahi. This year we will fight the injustice of being told to do more with less, putting ourselves and our patients at risk. Nurse-patient ratio legislation will protect us from these injustices but together we will have to fight on the picket lines, and in the halls of power. Marvin Gaye sang “Picket lines and picket signs/Don’t punish me with brutality/Talk to me, so you can see/Oh, what’s going on.” I will see you all there, Every nurse, everywhere.