Cunliffe is “in charge now” and that is the core of the problems now besetting Labour in Health. Has he over-stepped in Hawkes Bay?
In talking tough, he has made the DHBs whipping-boys to some degree. They are going to take the rap when things go wrong, rather than the minister. The sacking of the Hawkes Bay board and Anderson’s appointment thus serve also as a message to other DHBs about the limits of Cunliffe’s patience.
This is fine for Labour politically when the DHB concerned cannot fight back – the case with Capital Coast Health, where the community’s fears about the DHB’s capacity to provide essential treatments far outweighed any sympathy for largely faceless board members.
It would seem to be the reverse in Hawkes Bay. The ousting of locally-elected board members by ministerial fiat has provided a lightning rod for dissatisfaction with Labour.
The strong community backing for the board and the accompanying backlash against the Government have obliterated any faint hope that Labour might have had of recapturing the Napier and Tukituki seats.
The main worry now for the party is what Cunliffe’s wielding of the axe in Hawkes Bay will do to Labour’s party vote not just in that province, but in provincial New Zealand as a whole.
Unfortunately fro Cunliffe and Labour the locals are pissed and more will come of this.
