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Last week Health Minister Annette King was in Masterton to celebrate progress to date of the Wairarapa Community Primary Health Care Organisation and the appointment of the permanent Board of Trustees.
Throughout the country more than 1 million New Zealanders are now accessing cheaper health care through these organisations - but National wants to scrap them.
I don't want to see this happen. Our health system took a beating under the last National government. In Wairarapa we saw three hospitals close and our sole surviving Masterton Hospital was under constant threat.
Labour has removed this threat and the hospital is now safer than it has been for a very long time.
Added to this primary health care has become more affordable. Everyone 65 years or older and enrolled in a Primary Health Organisation should now pay less to see their family doctor and the standard prescription charge is only $3 per item.
More than 90 percent of Wairarapa DHB's 6000 over-65 population is registered with a PHO and stand to gain from their share of a targeted cash injection of an extra $47 million into primary health care across the country.
An extra $759 million is being invested over four years in primary health thanks to the Government's commitment to building strong public services and improving the well being of all New Zealanders.
This is good news for Wairarapa.
While on the topic of health, a discussion document on whether folate fortification of food should remain voluntary or become mandatory is now available for public submissions.
This is important because increased intake of folate in the early stages of pregnancy is universally accepted as a way of lowering the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs), such as spina bifida. About 25-35 children are born with NTDs in New Zealand each year.
The Ministry of Health's policy advice recommends women planning a pregnancy take 800 mcg of folic acid daily for four weeks before conception and 12 weeks after conceiving. Women at high risk of having a baby with a NTD are advised to take 5000 mcg folic acid daily over the same period.
Although current policy allows for voluntary fortification of certain food products with folate, there has not been sufficient uptake by the New Zealand food industry to achieve the level of protection need.
The advantages of mandatory over voluntary fortification are that it would give folic acid to a wider population and potentially reach more women of child-bearing age, regardless of ethnicity and socio-economic status.
Submissions close on 20 August and the discussion document is on the website, www.nzfsa.govt.nz, or hard copies are available by request from NZ Food Safety Authority.
Good news too that Energy Minister Pete Hodgson has confirmed some aspects of power prices are to be regulated. The move follows calls for intervention on rising power prices from the Consumers Institute and other bodies.
The Minister has been concerned about the impact of rising power prices on low income groups for some time and has decided to make the low fixed charge tariff compulsory.
Some companies had been playing games around offering such an option.
Work on this regulation pre-dates the latest round of power price rises.
Regulation will compel all electricity retailers to offer a tariff, the fixed charges portion of which cannot exceed 30 cents per day excluding GST. This tariff is designed to make those consumers that use less than the average 8000 kwh of power a year better off.
In particular, it is designed to help older New Zealanders on fixed incomes who are typically frugal users of power.
The regulation will be gazetted next month and come into force on 1 October this year. The regulation will also require companies to give equal advertising effort to the low fixed charges tariff.
This action is being taken as some companies have been slow to publicise the option, which has resulted in a slow uptake of it.
There has been some concern about the impact of the Charities Bill on sports bodies and I am aware that some inaccurate information has been circulated to many sports clubs, suggesting that the Bill will make it harder for sports bodies to receive funding from Community Trusts.
That information, which appears to be based on a misunderstanding of the Income Tax Act 1994 as well as the content of the Bill, has, regretfully, caused needless alarm.
At present, charitable organisations are eligible for a tax exemption if the Inland Revenue Department is satisfied that they are dedicated to a recognised "charitable purpose". This may be the advancement of education or religion, the relief of poverty, or any other matter beneficial to the community.
Over the years, the Courts have identified various additional activities that are lawfully charitable. The Charities Bill will replace Inland Revenue's process with a Charities Commission to register and monitor charitable organisations that wish to obtain or retain tax-exemption status.
It will not, however, alter the definition of charitable purpose or the tax exemption available to organisations that operate primarily to promote amateur sport.
While it is no doubt good for the community, under the current law, the promotion of sport is not included in the definition of charitable purposes.
But, societies and associations that operate substantially or primarily to promote amateur sport are tax-exempt under a separate provision of the Income Tax Act, section CB4(1)(h).
The Charities Bill will not alter this provision.
If a gaming trust satisfies the criteria of this section of the Income Tax Act, it will remain able to give money to sporting organisations without its tax-status being affected, regardless of whether it is registered with the Charities Commission.
The changes that the Charities Bill proposes will not, therefore, affect the charitable status of sporting bodies nor their ability to secure funding in the future.
Further information is available by contacting Christopher Eastcott at the Ministry of Economic Development (04-460-1398 or email chris.eastcott@med.govt.nz.).
Finally, Sheryll and Jo are on leave this week but both the Dannevirke and Masterton offices will remain open. Gillian Allardice, who was the Citizens Advice Bureau co-ordinator, will be in Dannevirke and Marlene Ditchfield will be in Masterton.
Please don't hesitate to contact them if you need advice or help.
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