20th Anniversary of NZ Nuclear Free Legislation

Today marks 20 years since the passage of New Zealand's nuclear free legislation.  “Twenty years on, New Zealand can celebrate its nuclear free legislation as having marked out internationally its clear commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons”, says Disarmament and Arms Control Minister, Phil Goff.

“But we cannot yet celebrate the achievement of that goal. Proliferation of states with nuclear weapons, and an estimated 27,000 nuclear warheads which are still in existence, indicate we still have a long way to go to rid the world of the threat of nuclear devastation.

“New Zealanders can be proud of our country’s activist stance and its role as a good international citizen in regard to disarmament and non-proliferation.

“Introduced by the Fourth Labour Government, the legislation represents a deeply engrained part of our New Zealand identity. It reflects not only the strong opposition by most New Zealanders to weapons of mass destruction. It also reflects the view that even as a small country we can and should show leadership in articulating our values to the world as an independent nation."

Affordable primary health care a Government priority

Extra money is being offered Primary Health Organisation practices that maintain very low fees for their patients, Health Minister Pete Hodgson announced this week. "This is an area of priority for this Government and I am interested in additional opportunities to further support low cost, high quality primary care,’’ Pete Hodgson says.

Since last October PHO practices that agreed to maintain very low fees received additional funding. From July 1 this year that top-up will increase from 15 per cent to 17.5 per cent.

The Very Low Cost Access Initiative currently involves 23 per cent of PHO practices and benefits over 900,000 people, many of whom have high needs. In 2007/08 a total of $18.72 million will be available for practices already involved in this initiative and more practices are welcome to join. The additional money will help practices retain staff and continue to provide quality, affordable services to their mainly high needs populations.
 
From July 1, a major milestone will be reached when the final stage of the Government’s $2.2 billion funding roll out for the Primary Health Care Strategy will see 25-44 year-olds benefit from reduced fees for doctor visits and prescription charges. Cheaper fees are already in place for other age groups.

Cradle to school support for hearing loss

The Labour-led government is delivering a full programme of support for children with hearing loss, including screening of newborns, providing cochlear implants, and extra support in school, says Education Minister Steve Maharey and Health Minister Pete Hodgson.

A universal newborn hearing screening programme will roll out from July this year, to identify babies with hearing loss at the earliest opportunity and make sure they get the support they need. The $16 million funding was part of Budget 2006. In addition to this, Budget 2007 will invest $8.4 million over four years to provide cochlear implant services to children with hearing loss. The electronic devices give a sense of sound to help deaf children understand speech.

This years budget also funds $599,000 for additional support in schools to give children identified in the screening programme appropriate follow up services. The investment will increase the number of school staff with specialised skills to help deaf children.

“The Labour-led Government is committed to ensuring that children who are detected through the screening programme as having serious hearing impairments receive the extra support they need to build solid foundations for early learning,” Steve Maharey says.

Vital new research funding for health

The Minister of Research, Science and Technology, Steve Maharey, is welcoming the announcement of $59 million to fund key research into health issues that affect New Zealanders. "The Labour-led government is committed to investing in quality research to improve the health of all New Zealanders through the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC).

"This funding will research a wide range of issues including asthma and respiratory disorders, injury prevention, neurological diseases and heart injury.

"It will also target a variety of public and mental health issues, including a study of traffic-related injuries of newly licensed drivers, and research into depression in alcohol dependent people."

New direction for waste in New Zealand

A new report released this week shows the time is right for New Zealand to take a quantum leap forward in terms of how we manage our waste and so make an even greater contribution to environmental sustainability, Environment Minister David Benson-Pope said.

"Targets in the New Zealand Waste Strategy 2006 Review of Progress shows good progress in recycling and landfill management since the Strategy was released in 2002," said Mr Benson-Pope. "But it also highlights New Zealand wide inconsistencies in the management of waste, and that responsibilities are not always assigned to the correct parties.

"What needs to be done is clear. We need to set ourselves more challenging waste targets, we need more consistency in our local approaches to waste management, we need better information about waste flows and we need to take a more collaborative approach between producers, local authorities, recyclers and consumers in the design of waste minimisation schemes.

"The government is supporting a move to a more comprehensive product stewardship regime as part of the Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill, currently before the Local Government and Environment Select Committee. It includes regulations to support product stewardship schemes and ensure that those producers who take a leadership role in this area are not undermined by those who won't."