Dunedin council launches campaign against hospital project cuts - with a song

Monday, 23 September 2024

Mayor of Dunedin Jules Radich and city councillors with a new rally song protesting over possible cuts to the hospital project.

A campaign over possible cuts to the Dunedin Hospital project is under way.

It includes a march on Saturday at noon, and now a campaign song.

That tune was a familiar one to southern rugby fans, but the message is a different one.

A song made famous during Highlanders’ matches has been reworked into a rallying cry against possible cuts to the Dunedin Hospital project.

Mayor of Dunedin Jules Radich and City Councillors are adding their singing voices to the Hospital Cuts Hurt campaign by unveiling a new rally song for the people of the South.

Concerns over potential cuts to the new Dunedin Hospital project, which was first announced in 2017, has led to a call to take to the streets with a march planned this Saturday.

But now that Hospital Cuts Hurt campaign has gone one step further, with Dunedin Mayor Radich and councillors launching a new rally song.

The lyrics to that song, include:

We are the southern people

We’re here to say again

You told us you would honour

Your pre-election claim

To build our southern hospital

And standards be retained

Should not be a house of pain

Radich said: “This is a rallying cry for people right across the South to come together and send a clear message to Government – build the hospital as promised, without clinical cuts”.

The new version of the song was penned by Cr Bill Acklin, who wrote and sang the earlier version Welcome to the House of Pain, which was first performed in front of the Carisbrook terraces.

Timelapse of Dunedin's new Outpatient Building shows façade installation. With the structure finished, window and panel work highlights innovative design and materials, blending modern features with local heritage.

Acklin said: “This about all the people of the South who will be relying on this hospital, now and for decades to come”.

“We need to get this right for them. The Government needs to keep its promise. “Build it once, build it right.”

The song was recorded as a backing track over the weekend, before councillors together with staff, adding their voices during a recording session on Monday morning.

Radich urged the community to learn the lyrics, before coming to the march which begins on Saturday from noon outside the Dental School.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Dr Shane Reti said: “Minister Reti is very aware of the passion and commitment of the people of Dunedin and this video reflects that.”

The hospital is billed as one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects, which was last officially costed at $1.7billion.

Work on installing the cladding of the 15,000sqm Outpatient building, which is expected to open in 2026, continues.

The design of the Inpatient building, scheduled to open in 2029, was still listed as a “design in progress”.

That building was originally estimated to be around around 73,500sqm.