New Zealand is in the midst of a mental health crisis and this Government has proven itself incapable of delivering on any of their promises to address it, Leader of the Opposition Judith Collins says.

“The Prime Minister has had nearly four years to make progress on her pledges of ‘transformation’ in the mental health sector and by all accounts things have only become worse.

“To have vulnerable mental health patients sleeping on floors is inhumane.

“We only know the extent of their neglect of mental health services because National’s Mental Health spokesperson Matt Doocey has been investigating the lack of delivery and discovered that the Government are not even spending the funds that they announce for mental health services.

“As a consequence of light being shed on the Government’s utter incompetence, Health Minister Andrew Little has now indicated that he will be initiating a review of some kind to presumably figure out what is going wrong. This comes less than two years after the last mental health review conducted by the Ardern Government.

“It is obscene for this Government to have fed New Zealanders false hope and announced large investments that they have then left unspent. They cannot possibly claim to have prioritised this issue because we can all see they have neglected it.

“New Zealanders are sick and tired of the spin. With respect, Prime Minister, New Zealanders do not want to hear how sad you are about the mental health crisis. They want you to do something about it.”

© Scoop Media