Page 19 - Dame Patsy Reddy News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Analysis - The political stakes are sky high as the government waits anxiously for confirmation from Pfizer that enough of the Covid-19 vaccine will arrive to keep the rollout going.

“On that basis I stand with those families and with great sadness I will be returning my NZOM Medal to Dame Patsy Reddy.” When Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern named King as the 2019 New Zealander of the Year award in February, the awards' chief judge Cameron Bennett described him as a "wonderfully complex and compelling Kiwi". King started campaigning for better access to mental healthcare after seeking help himself when he was 45 years old. He said he needed professional help to ditch booze and drugs, and due to other mental health issues. He first started drinking at 13 years old. Kin...

"Three years ago I remember standing on a podium with you singing your party's praises as you announced that you were spending $1.9b on mental health," he writes. "As long as I live I will never forget that day. There was such a euphoric feeling in the air, full of optimism and hope and I believed with all my heart things were about to change, finally we had a government who cared." But three years on, he says he feels they've both "let everybody down". "I know none of this is your fault Prime Minister and I know you truly care about our children but the system is broken and it seems to our m...

AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR PRIMEMINISTER Dear Primeminister Tomorrow is the 3rd anniversary of Gumboot Friday and to celebrate I’ll be walking 100,000 meters in Gumboots around the Auckland Domain to raise $100k that will go towards our $5 million goal. If we reach our goal it will provide over 37,000 free non stigmatising counselling sessions for our kids. I say non stigmatising because under the current system the only way young people can get free counselling is to go to a doctor, be diagnosed mentally ill, and then go on a long waiting list before being met by an often burnt out mental healt...

Savanna went along and tried out as a piper. “The piping was difficult, I didn’t have enough breath to get to it. I lasted a couple of months and went onto drums. A couple of tutors helped me with Tiffany Gilchrist my main tutor.” She has not looked back. “There’s a lot of hard work and practice, but I’m not performing with the South Canterbury band during the competition season because I’m so busy with sports, rowing in summer and netball in the winter.” In 2019, Savanna was invited to join the Nelson-based Celtic Pipe Band which travelled to Scotland and competed in a g...