Political Party Survey

Eye Health Aotearoa Political Party Survey

Where do our political parties stand on eye health issues?

We asked political parties a set of questions that are of crucial importance to all New Zealanders.

Parties were asked to give yes/no responses and invited to make an additional 150-word statement. We received responses from the Labour, National, Green and ACT Parties. The Green Party followed the format precisely. For the other parties, we have summarised their responses to the questions.

	Labour	Greens	National	ACT
1. Would your Party appoint a Clinical Director of Eye Health within Manatū Hauora (Ministry of Health)?	Will investigate options	Yes	Position will be determined by capacity and available finances	Have not considered this issue but generally supportive
2. Would your Party fund New Zealand’s first National Eye Health Survey? The survey will tell us where to invest to get the biggest return on the public health dollar.	Yes, in principle, as workforce and funding allows	Yes	Support in principle, subject to capacity and available finances	Support in principle, subject to cost-benefit analysis
3. Would your Party improve access to eye health care services by subsidising the cost of eye health examinations and glasses for community service cardholders?	Yes, in principle, as workforce and funding allows	Yes	Not National's policy	Support in principle, subject to cost-benefit analysis
4. Would your party keep benefit increases at the rate of wage increases (e.g. not reducing increases to the rate of inflation)?	Yes, keep benefits linked to wage rises	Yes	No, link benefits to inflation, not wages	Tighten rules for assessment of disabilities
5. Would your party maintain free prescriptions for people with disabilities?	Yes, maintain free prescriptions	Yes	Only for people aged 65+ or with community services card	No, restore prescription charges
6. Would your party continue discounted fares for Total Mobility services?	Yes, made half price fares for Total Mobility services permanent	Yes	Yes, maintain as is	No policy to cut this
7. Would your Party expand the ENABLE spectacle subsidy for myopia management to provide specialised myopia prevention spectacles for people who face financial barriers?	Yes, in principle, as workforce and funding allows	Yes	Not National's policy	Support in principle, subject to cost-benefit analysis
8. Would your Party implement a consistent national diabetic retinopathy screening programme?	Yes, in principle, as workforce and funding allows	Yes	No response	No policy to implement such a programme

Green Party additional statement: "The Green Party will ensure that public healthcare services are timely, accessible, and meet the needs of everyone in Aotearoa – including progressively expanding the health services offered through the public system. Successive governments have left primary healthcare to private providers, and many people now cannot afford to access dental or eye care. The time is now to invest in our collective health and wellbeing so everyone can lead a healthy life, and the Green Party is the only party with a plan to bring this vision to life. You can find our priorities for election 2023, including our manifesto, here: https://www.greens.org.nz/our_2023_priorities"

Authorised by John Mulka and Chrissie Cowan, Co-chairs, Eye Health Aotearoa.