The government has added 32 healthcare professional roles to the Green List fast track for immigration, but critics argue that the decision comes too late to address the current crisis in the healthcare system.

According to National’s Immigration spokesperson, Erica Stanford, the Labour government ignored calls for these changes for nearly a year.

Stanford claims that the National Party had been urging the government to add more health professional roles to the Green List for months.

She said, “National has been calling for more health professional roles to be added to the Green List fast track for months. Last year, I wrote to then-Health Minister Andrew Little and Immigration Minister Michael Wood asking for more healthcare workers to be added.”

“However, the Labour government seemed to prioritise fast-tracking food technologists and multimedia specialists instead.

“The healthcare sector had been lobbying for these changes, but it took a year for the Labour government to respond. “It shouldn’t take the sector a year of lobbying for a minister to make simple changes that were clearly necessary to everyone,” Stanford added.

“Nurses and midwives were only added to the Green List fast track in December of last year, despite repeated calls from the sector. In comparison, Stanford pointed out, “Australia added nurses to the Green List fast track a year ago.”

Stanford highlights the current state of New Zealand’s health system, which is struggling with long emergency wait times and delayed specialist appointments and surgeries.

The Labour government, she says, has been “gaslighting New Zealanders” by insisting that the health sector is coping, despite evidence to the contrary.

“The delayed decision to add healthcare professionals to the Green List means that many of these workers won’t be in New Zealand in time for the winter season, contrary to the Health Minister’s claims.

Stanford argued, “Labour’s arrogance and slow decision-making has meant these workers will not be here in time for winter, despite what the Health Minister has disingenuously claimed.”

She asserts that the Labour government’s “own stubbornness and failure to listen to the health sector means that New Zealanders are failing to get the healthcare they need and deserve.”

Stanford concluded by saying, “National would have opened up New Zealand’s immigration settings for the health workers months ago and focused on funding and supporting front-line staff.”