Otago worked to block Waikato’s bid for NZ’s third medical school - documents

Monday, 17 November 2025

An artists impression of the University of Waikato Graduate Medical School.

Documents released to the Waikato Times reveal sustained efforts by the University of Otago – including its vice-chancellor and ex-Finance Minister Grant Robertson – to slow or derail Waikato University’s ultimately successful bid to establish the country’s third medical school.

Robertson repeatedly challenged the credibility of the business case process, criticising both the content being developed and the timelines set by Government officials. His objections, along with those of senior Otago and Auckland medical leaders, are detailed in emails, letters and reports obtained under the Official Information Act.

Concerns about the Waikato proposal were outlined in emails and letters from former Finance Minister and University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson.

Robertson was raising concerns as early as November 2024. In an email to a Ministry of Health policy analyst, marked for then Health Minister Shane Reti, he complained: “We are concerned at the piecemeal way in which information is being requested from us in the preparation of the business case for the third medical school proposal.”

“It is absurd to be asked for information on that timeline . . . you will not be surprised that we might feel cynical about the process when we are given only one day to respond to be included in a critical element of that process.”

Robertson said he was “not confident that we are getting the opportunity to fully put forward the options that are to be considered in the business case”.

“If you or your officials would like to engage in a more structured way, please do not hesitate to get in touch.”

His objections were not new. In a September 2024 email to the University of Otago Medical School, he said the Waikato proposal “simply doesn’t make sense”.

“Our position remains that it is far more cost effective and efficient to train more doctors in the two existing medical schools – at the University of Otago and the University of Auckland,” he said.

Acting Dean of Otago Medical School, Professor Tim Wilkinson, said he found ‘inaccuracies, incomplete information or misinterpretations’ in the business case for the Waikato school.

Robertson argued the Government did not need a new medical school to lift doctor numbers. “All that’s required is for the Government to increase the cap on the number of training places available,” he said.

“If this happened, we could potentially train as many as 300 more doctors a year without hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on new facilities,” he said. “At a time when Government resources are stretched, especially in the health system, the proposal simply doesn’t make sense.”

Internal documents show the resistance extended beyond Robertson.

A December 2024 report from acting Otago Medical School dean Tim Wilkinson outlined “inaccuracies, incomplete information or misinterpretations” in the draft business case backing Waikato. “These totalled over 50,” he said.

Wilkinson said the effect of those issues “is likely to have bolstered the impression that what Waikato is proposing is bold and new, while at the same time underplaying the innovations that Otago (and Auckland) have made over the years”.

He said the report highlighted Waikato’s plans but was “silent” on Otago’s existing achievements, something that “risks creating a misleading impression”.

“Either that the report writers were unaware of current practices or that these were deliberately understated to strengthen Waikato’s case.”

A joint letter to Reti from University of Auckland’s Professor Warwick Bagg and Otago’s Health Sciences associate professor Megan Gibbons added to the pushback. Dated July 2024, the letter said both universities could expand medical training at lower cost and without Government capital funding.

“In contrast, University of Waikato-led increased capacity carries significantly more implementation risks, including those associated with gaining accreditation, recruiting faculty, and developing new facilities,” they said.

“We believe the country’s existing medical education programmes offer the most cost-effective way to increase the number of domestically trained doctors. The need is urgent, and through the existing medical schools, the commitment to increase training places can begin within months.”

Despite the opposition, the Government has approved Waikato’s bid, a decision reached after months of behind-the-scenes attempts by Otago and Auckland to keep the country’s medical training expansion within their own institutions.