Ann Fletcher

John Capener’s letter (April 22, 2026) is a brainfart of baseless inuendo.

Mr Capener cries out “where did the money go, it didn’t go to anything tangible or pay down the nation’s debt”.

Are you referring to the Labour blowout debt that rose from $50 billion to $175 billion under the management of Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson with little to show for it?

The debt that is costing New Zealand taxpayers $9.5 billion a year to service. An amount that is used to fund the entire Police, Ministry of Justice, Customs Services, Corrections and the defence force, a debt that will be saddled on our children and their children.

Then the further irony of Mr Capener’s rage that “this Govt took away the maternity services of Whakatāne Hospital” only indicates a skewed reality.

Ms Ardern, in the middle of a pandemic, transitioned the total restructure of the NZ Health Portfolio via stealth.

She dismantled Helen Clarks’ (2001-2008) District Health Boards and loaded a new co-governance system that took local decisions away from our community.

The mess of a two-headed health monster and a debt-laden health department was only rectified when the incoming coalition sorted through the landmines of Labour-appointed minions still sitting in, not only management, but strung through the public service.

The same minions who announced right on Christmas that Whakatāne Hospital couldn’t attract staffing (positions that they hadn’t advertised) so the maternity section would close.

Mr Capener, this was of Ms Ardern’s and Labour’s making and thankfully health is being returned to a more localised position by the “newly minted” health minister.