Alexander (Sandy) Milne  

I agree with several of the points regarding the failures of our coalition Government, which Labour's Philippa Branthwaite mentioned in her March 12 letter.

But she should remember that Labour's achievements in healthcare in the past two decades are nothing to be proud of.

I have been a sad witness for decades.  Labour let privatisation flourish.
It is a pity that Philippa didn't get her basic facts right about the protest, which she reminded us was organised and led by Councillor Nandor Tanczos, whom I believe will be challenging Mayor Victor Luca in the October election.  

For example, how did she arrive at the figure of 1000 walkers at the so-called "hikoi for health"”?  A little over 300 people left the Mitchell Park meeting point for their stroll to The Gap.  Can it be true that 700 others joined the "hikoi" in the next 10 minutes?  Can The Gap site accommodate 1000 people?  Surely not.  

Was our mayor invited to attend?  After all, Dr Luca along with the Ōpōtiki mayor had discussed the obstetrics and gynaecology issue with key players and made progress almost two months earlier.

There is no need for Philippa or anyone else to Trump-up the numbers: 300 attendees is a respectable turnout.  

I repeat my call for Whakatāne District Council to provide free or very low cost accommodation for essential workers, and build decent homes on the huge number of empty sections in Whakatāne.  This will do us all more good than a multi-million dollar tart up or replacement for our relatively new War Memorial Hall.

Few hospital workers will be attracted to a town where rent for a three-bedroom house is around $700 a week; more than half of the take-home pay for some workers.

Let's get our priorities right.