Nurses accuse Govt of 'broken promise' on Plunket funding

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation is accusing the coalition of a “broken promise” around funding Plunket nurses.

The 2023 coalition agreement between National and New Zealand First included a commitment to “ensure Plunket is funded to do their job properly“.

NZNO union delegate and Plunket nurse Kelly Morrissey believes the promise “has not materialised”.

“Budget 2026 was the Government’s last chance to fulfil its coalition agreement between the National and NZ First parties but we were ignored again. To make matters worse our pay equity claim was scrapped last year when we were just weeks away from submitting it.”

New Zealand First said it was unable to comment yet on overall uplifts for Plunket over the term of this Government, as the agreement for the 2026/27 financial year is under negotiation, but said funding has increased.

A Budget 2026 document from February shows Ministry of Health officials said the Government had “further Coalition commitments to ensure are progressed, including ensuring Plunket is funded to do their job properly”.

It was labelled under the sub heading “Delivering on outstanding Coalition commitments”.

Officials also said the Government had needed to progress work on a greater portion of funding for road ambulances, which was later confirmed in a pre-Budget announcement.

The union is set to launch a formal campaign, including a call for signatures on an open letter to New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, to “fix Plunket funding”.

The organisation is specifically expressing concern that the service is still propped up by local fundraising, and that Plunket nurses are paid less than hospital-based workers doing comparable work.

Morrissey believed “proper” funding would result in better staffing: “Across Plunket, we have numerous vacancies that don’t get filled, primarily because of the wage. If we were fully funded, we could deliver that service to our clients on time, and more effectively.”

In a statement, New Zealand First said Health New Zealand holds a range of contracts with Plunket, and confirmed the agreement for the 2026/27 financial year is still being negotiated.

The national contract represents 90% of total Health NZ funding to Plunket, covering Well Child Tamariki Ora, and PlunketLine.

“This means we can’t yet comment on overall uplifts for Plunket over the term of this Government,” NZ First said.

“However, over the last two financial years the national contract with Plunket has increased by $4.3 million, or 5.4%, compared to the 23/24 financial year. Until contract negotiations have been completed for this financial year, it’s not possible to make any comment on Plunket funding.”

New Zealand First added Associate Health Minister Casey Costello has been actively undertaking work on health system expectations for the first 2000 days of a child’s life - part of which includes “consistent support” to new mothers from the Well Child Tamariki Ora (WCTO) programme.

“We would expect that funding models for all WCTO providers (Plunket is only one of many) would be considered through that work.”

The union, meanwhile, described Plunket as “neglected” and “feeling the strain”.

Plunket said the open letter to Winston Peters published by the union represents the views of the union and individual kaimahi, or staff.

“Whānau Āwhina Plunket values the contribution of our people and respects their right to express their views,” the organisation said.

It added it continues to engage constructively with the union on supporting staff, while ensuring babies, young people, and families get high-quality care and support.

Plunket said it continues to advocate for pay parity for nurses and healthcare workers: “Pay rates for these roles remain around 10-25% below comparable roles elsewhere in the health sector, which continues to create both recruitment and retention challenges.”

“As a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity, Whānau Āwhina Plunket is not immune to the rising costs of delivering services. We remain committed to working collaboratively with Government, our workforce, unions and other stakeholders to support sustainable, accessible essential services for pēpi, tamariki and whānau now and into the future,” the organisation said.

Plunket nurses are understood to be in wage negotiations with Health New Zealand.

Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.