As MP for Rongotai I am pleased with the decision to build a new Tertiary Hospital at the Newtown site in Wellington but a number of concerns remain, Annette King said today.

"This was an issue that saw most Wellington regional MPs working together and displaying a cross-party commitment to ensure the region retained a tertiary facility.

"The one exception was Richard Prebble who as usual resorted to grandstanding and making false claims.

"Wyatt Creech has now announced a decision in favour of Newtown. What hasn't been revealed is how the estimated $160 million cost will be met, or who will run the new tertiary facility. The failure to provide detail smacks of hasty decisions to boost National's election chances rather than the considered process that was initially agreed to.

"A tertiary hospital is not the only initiative that needs to be taken to meet the health needs of the Wellington region," Annette King said.

"There needs to be a long-term commitment to three secondary hospitals in the Wellington region: Hutt, Kenepuru and Newtown. Wellington needs three centres to ensure public access to services.

"The risk of earthquakes is one obvious reason why emergency services must operate from more than one site. The decision to establish a 24 hour Accident and Emergency facility at Kenepuru is a sensible one. But I am concerned National believes it can wait three years before opening the facility 24 hours a day and doesn't appear to be providing adequate back-up services.

"Today's announcement on health services in the Wellington region is a start. But we need more information before the people of the region can be assured that their needs are being properly met," Annette King said.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>