Tax campaign cash ‘could save hospital’

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 2

Tax campaign cash ‘could save hospital’

By OLIVER RIDDELL in Parliament Money spent by the Government on the taxation propaganda programme could save Reefton Hospital from closing, according to the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger. He told a public meeting in Westport yesterday that the taxation propaganda programme would cost $2.5 million. That money should have been used to help people and could have been used to help keep open hospitals on the West Coast. It would have been more than enough to maintain the services at Reefton and Hokitika hospitals for some years. Such money could equally have been spent on improving flood protection for Greymouth, or replanting much of the hill country devasted by Cyclone Bola in the North ■ Island, Mr Bolger said. Gisborne and Grey-

mouth had both been devasted by floods twice in recent times, and while it was impossible to control nature and prevent floods entirely, it was entirely possible to prepare in advance for natural disasters. That the Government refused to do, he said. Cutting back on catchment programmes would

destroy thousands of hectares of land as well as increasing flood risk for nearby communities. According to the general manager of the Westland Catchment Boad, much of the damage could be blamed directly on Government cuts to flood protection funding. Yet in November, 1986, the Government had been warned of the danger of the cuts, but had chosen to ignore the warning, Mr Bolger said. Short-sighted Government policies had left a shell-shocked community which, while strugggling to survive Labour’s crippling economic policies, was simply unable to bear the extra burden of another $lO million bill to repair the damage, said Mr Bolger. “Why does the Government have such a cavalier attitude to these situations?” he asked. “The answer is that it cares more about money than people.”