ATTENTION: HEALTH REPORTER NO. OF PAGES: 1

MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,
WEDNESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2001

“National Party Misses Boat On New Medical Position”

“National Party health spokesperson Dr Lynda Scott has missed the boat in her attack on the Health Minister’s decision to create a new Principal Medical Officer position,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today.

“This new position arose out of discussions between ourselves and Annette King over the importance of health ministers being able to receive daily advice on concerns and issues directly affecting health professionals at the frontline of health care. We were delighted that Mrs King announced this at our conference last week.”

“Too many bad decisions have been made over the years by health ministers out-of-touch with the practical experience of health professionals. Much of these were during the failed ‘free market’ experiment of Dr Scott’s former National government during the 1990s and the health system is still reeling from the results of this failure.”

“Mrs King’s decision should be welcomed by the National Party as a constructive measure rather than making cheap irrelevant shots about access to health services,” concluded Mr Powell.

Ian Powell

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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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.

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