If there is one thing more deplorable than Health Minister Simeon Brown attempting censor Public Health doctors speaking out on dietary issues, it’s ACT Leader David Seymour calling them “muppets who should be put back in their box.”
I wouldn’t even bother to repeat Seymour’s insult if it were not for the fact that it came from a self- centred, libertarian Associate Minister of Education who is so unconcerned about the diet of the school children for whom he is responsible, that he has found them the cheapest possible slops for them to eat.
And putting aside the sheer rudeness of his ‘muppets’ comment, I invite you to consider the hypocrisy in his making such a derogatory remark.
Here is a man whose political ideology ostensibly promotes the rights of the individual, telling public health doctors, whose job it is by law to speak out on issues such as diet, to shut up and do what they are told.
But I’ll leave the flaws in his liberarian ideology for another day and get back to the behaviour of the Health Minister.
Here’s my 5 minutes worth on why Simeon Brown is failing as a Minister for Health and why his lack of understanding that freedom of speech is one of the cornerstones of our democracy, suggests to me that he may not even be fit to be an Member of Parliament.
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TRANSCRIPT
Hello I’m Bryan Bruce on Saturday the 22nd of March 2025
Have you noticed how advocates of libertarianism, who trumpet the rights of the individual, actively impose regulations and restrictions on anyone who doesn’t agree with them?
I thought I would talk briefly today about Health Minister Simeon Brown and his unsuitability for that role, or even maybe to be a MP, for two reasons.
Firsly he doesn’t have a healthcare background and while he wants to impose efficiency demands upon hospital doctors for example, he doesn’t seem to understand what they really need to be effective in providing care for sick and injured people.
And secondly ,he doesn’t seem to understand that the 1990 Bill of Rights assures every citizen in our country – even health professionals- Freedom of Expression.
Let me start with his failure to understand a fundamental work need of hospital doctors, for example .Simple logic tells you that if you increase the amount of time a doctor has to do administrative work, it reduces the number of patients they can see on a shift and reduces that and the amount of time they can spend with each patient.
So while cutting administrative support staff might make the bottom line of a health budget look fractionally better, it’s counterproductive if you want to reduce hospital waiting times and improve patient outcomes.
The other thing Minister Brown doesn’t seem to understand is that, prevention is far more cost effective than cure.
We have an obesity and diabetes problem in our country because of the high sugar content of the poor quality food that many New Zealand are choosing to eat because good quality food is so expensive.
But instead of focusing on reducing the cost of living and wanting to support doctors promoting healthy eating, Minister Brown wants to muzzle public health doctors and stop them from warning people about how fast foods and cheap foods rich in sugar can so affect their health so badly that they’ll end up having to have expensive hospital care.
Brilliant.
By delivering an edict that public health doctors need to get permission at “national level” before they speak to local health issues, not only undermines the hard earned qualifications and expertise of local doctors to speak to local health issues. it also completely ignores the fact that Medical officers of health have a legal obligation to analyze how issues, such as alcohol and diet impact on health in their region.
Moreover, given that Minister Brown has something of a legal background and you’d have to wonder about his fitness as an MP who doesn’t appear to understand that we have Bill of Rights which guarantees every citizen in our country freedom of speech, and that censoring medical officers for speaking to their expertise might be a violation of what the 1990 Bill of Rights states at paragraph 14. Let me read you what it says.
“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form.”
Well, Minister Brown – “everyone” includes medical experts ..and to censor public health professionals is not only foolhardy it undermines the right to freedom of expression and opinion which is one of the cornerstones of our democracy.
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