Labour leader "relieved" over cancer funding, thinks PM owes apology

“I am relieved Pharmac will be funded more to buy medicines for Kiwis. It is important that decisions on which drugs get funded remain independent from politics,” Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said.

“There are many people who deserve an apology from Christopher Luxon and are still waiting for one.

“He is yet to say sorry for the anguish he has caused people suffering from cancer up and down the country while they waited for the government to deliver on their promises.

“The funding for cancer medicines was supposed to come from scrapping universal free prescriptions in Budget 2024. Now it’s being borrowed from next year’s Budget instead.

“Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis are treating the Budget process like an Afterpay scheme, buy now pay later. Their numbers never added up and their rhetoric on fiscal management does not match reality.

“Quite rightly, New Zealanders have been asking where their promised medicines are.

“Christopher Luxon has finally realised he was wrong but he is unwilling to admit it. If he had funded Pharmac from the start he could’ve saved so many families the anguish of waiting,” Chris Hipkins said.