It came as the minister admonished nurses at their own AGM for striking — and alongside the release of a damning Infometrics report on nursing numbers.
However, it appears the members’ message is sinking in — Brown later admitting there was “clearly, work to do” on nurse recruitment. This was something Health New Zealand needed to work with NZNO on, he added to media.
“But they need to continue to hire frontline nurses.”
‘Nah, this isn’t right’
The initial quiet resistance came thanks to Te Poari member Rangi Blackmoore, sitting at a table near the front of the conference room in Te Papa, Wellington.
Brown’s speech suddenly lurched into a lecture of sorts, telling off the conference room for striking.
He needed to address the “elephant in the room”, he said: That while it was true nurses had the right to strike, it was also true that thousands of patients were affected.
Brown told a story of a mother who couldn’t touch her premature baby during the last two strikes — “I say this story because that is the real human cost of striking.”
Blackmoore found herself turning her back and looking at her laptop on the table.
“And as he kept going I thought ‘nah’ so I stood up and I walked and I just stood here, and I felt people coming and standing next to me, and I thought, ‘there must be a few of us’.”
In the end the line ran along one wall of the conference room.
At a glance
- Health Minister Simeon Brown entered politely hostile territory speaking at the NZNO annual general meeting on Wednesday.
- It comes after the union’s 36,000-plus Te Whatu Ora members went on three nationwide strikes in July and September.
- Brown was shown the backs of a line of nurses, then hit with silence as he walked out of the echoing conference room.
“He was telling us about going on strike . . . I thought ‘what are you coming here to tell us about striking and trying to guilt trip us?’. We’re trying to make a better future for the health system.”
Adding to the power of the stand, the members of Te Poari had already adopted the ‘paraikete whero’ [red blanket] kaupapa — an initiative, started in Waitangi this year by wāhine Māori.
Nurses were the most trusted profession, Blackmoore, a clinical nurse specialist, said. “It takes a lot for us to stand up and do that, especially as Māori. But I was proud of us.”
The minister speaks
Brown thanked the nurses across the country for the care they give across all settings “You’re often the first face patients see, and the last one they remember.”
He said he understood many nurses were frustrated but he needed to address the recent strike action.
There was a “real human cost” to striking, and the nation could not afford a health system where patients were caught in the middle.
“Ultimately Health New Zealand is the employer, and they are responsible for patients and the safety of patients – they have to ensure they are doing that.”
After his speech, NZNO kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku thanked Brown for “looking the taniwhā in the eye” and having a kōrero.
“As you can see the frustration in the room is palpable, the frustration nationally, is palpable.”
Nuku said the Infometrics report released that morning showed the devastating impact of understaffed wards.
Every strike came after careful life preserving service planning, she said, and it was still very difficult for nurses to take action.
Meanwhile, after wrapping up the speech, Brown walked out of a silent conference room — the audience standing and watching without applause as he left.