Channel Magazine Columns
-
Essential cancer treatments are needed
Simon Watts 
September 11, 2023
Share
Many more Kiwis will receive the essential cancer treatments they have been denied if Chris Luxon's National Party becomes Government. The 13 cancer treatments have been identified by the Cancer Control Agency as life-saving or life-prolonging and are not currently funded in New Zealand.
-
New medical school will deliver more doctors
Simon Watts August 14, 2023
Share
We all know we don't have enough doctors in New Zealand, so I'm glad that Chris Luxon and Dr Shane Reti have announced a new medical school at the University of Waikato will happen if there is a change in government after October.
-
Putting gangs on notice
Simon Watts July 10, 2023
Share
This softly, softly approach to gangs has fuelled crime and fear too long, and Chris luxon has made it a priority to restore law and order in New Zealand.
-
Let’s deliver more nurses and midwives
Simon Watts June 12, 2023
Share
New Zealand’s health system is in crisis, with a severe shortage of nurses and midwives contributing to ballooning waitlists, delays accessing treatment, and dangerously overcrowded emergency departments. Nurses on the frontline are bearing the brunt, and working long shifts is causing stress, anxiety, and burnout.
-
Time to take on our cities hidden challenges
Simon Watts February 24, 2023
Share
Unless you’re a geotechnical engineer or one of the other professionals that focuses on a city’s hidden challenges there’s a good chance that February’s floods looked like a news story from another country.
-
Are you ready for change?
Simon Watts December 30, 2022
Share
As National’s Associate Spokesperson for Local Government, I’ve had the good fortune to meet people throughout New Zealand. I have discovered that communities generally have an excellent grasp of the challenges they face and the opportunities they want to take advantage of.
-
Crime and the growing social crisis
Simon Watts November 11, 2022
Share
Everyone should feel safe in our communities, but due to a huge increase in crime and no clear plan to address it, people on the North Shore are rightly concerned about their safety.
-
An economy out of balance
Simon Watts October 14, 2022
Share
Reserve Bank Governor, Adrian Orr, has said: “Inflation is the thief in the pocket.” He’s not wrong; the crippling cost-of-living crisis is robbing cash from practically every household in the country. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
-
New Zealand is in danger of missing out
Simon Watts September 09, 2022
Share
The weather has been nasty lately, but there’s no mistaking a change of seasons is imminent: the daffodils are coming up and Auckland has welcomed its first cruise ship in two and a half years!
-
Much of the economic pain you are suffering is home-grown
Simon Watts August 12, 2022
Share
Every New Zealander who is struggling through the cost of living crisis needs to understand one vital truth: overseas events cannot be blamed for all of the pain you are suffering.