Nurses turn their backs as Health Minister Simeon Brown slams strikes

Wednesday, 17 September 2025

More than three dozen nurses stood and turned their back on Health Minister Simeon Brown in Wellington today as he criticised their strike earlier this month.

Brown was speaking to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) annual general meeting in Wellington, weeks after 36,000 unionised nurses undertook a two-day strike over staffing levels and wage disputes.

He was speaking hours after the organisation released an Infometrics report showing hospitals were short an average of 587 nurses every shift in 2024, with half (49%) of all shifts on cancer, heart, and trauma wards understaffed.

Brown acknowledged the report and said far more work needed to be done, but critiqued nurses for striking.“Let me be clear, you have the right to strike. That right is part of a free and fair society. But it's also true that thousands of patients are affected, and it's not just critical appointments that are cancelled.

“One mother whose baby was born prematurely was told that skin-to-skin contact was critical for the baby's well being, but was unable to hold her baby for two separate 24-hour periods because nurses were on strike.”

Brown’s speech was met with a stony silence and occasional muttering from the gathered nurses, with a group of more than three dozen standing and turning their backs on him.

Nurse Rangi Blackmoore-Tufi from Auckland Hospital was one of the first to turn her back and told The Post she didn’t think Brown deserved her attention for a “guilt trip”.

“As the conversation went along the lecture starting coming out, so I kind of stopped looking at him. Then I looked at my laptop and I just found myself with my back fully turned in my seat, and I just thought: ‘You don’t deserve my attention, because now you’re trying to guilt trip us with the stories that we see every day, about us going on strike,’” Blackmoore-Tufi said.

She felt for the mother who had not been able to have skin contact with her child but said that every day understaffed wards caused far worse outcomes, including deaths.

“People are dying all the time because of unsafe staffing …This baby missed out on 24 hours of skin-to-skin, whereas there's going to be multiple babies in the future that die if we don't get safe staffing levels.”

Speaking to media following the speech, Brown said it was the nurses’ right in a free and democratic society to protest his speech, but that “tough conversations” needed to be had.

“I acknowledge the need that we need to be hiring more nurses at Health New Zealand. The report they released today shows that the situation has improved. There’s clearly more work to be done.

“I accept robust conversations need to be had. Clearly, not everyone in that room agrees with what I may have said. That's what happens in a free and democratic society. I welcome it but, at the end of the day, I stand here on behalf of patients who are having their care delayed … cancelled, and postponed.”

NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter said the report from Infometrics proved that Health NZ’s claims of safe staffing were wrong.

“The hiring of 3000 Te Whatu Ora nurses last year shows the growing demand for hospital services, but patient needs are still not being met. Patient safety is being put at risk because of short staffing and the ongoing recruitment freeze. This is an abject failure of workforce planning.”