Don’t forget to enrol
Gypsy Day is over and now is the time for dairy farming families to register with a medical practice in their new district.
The Voluntary Bonding Scheme needs to be more focused on delivering better health services for rural New Zealand, Labour spokesperson for Rural Affairs Damien O'Connor says.
The scheme was set up in 2009 to encourage newly graduated doctors, midwives, nurses and vets to take up placements in hard to staff areas and specialties. However, there is no system in place to track how many of these graduates end up in rural areas.
"Measures must be put in place to establish how well the scheme is working for rural communities and whether there needs to be another tier added to further incentivise graduates to work in rural areas," Damien O'Connor says.
"High vacancy rates and reliance on expensive locums takes a toll on the quality of service that can be provided in rural areas and places stress on medical and veterinary professionals and their staff.
"The nature of these jobs is also different in a rural setting, as compared to those in towns or cities.
"It is therefore important that we have separate statistics for rural voluntary bonding and that it is not lumped together with all hard to staff areas.
"Rural communities are the beating hearts of our primary industries, which contribute hugely to our GDP. We have to look after them," says O'Connor.
Fonterra has cemented its position as the country’s number one cheesemaker by picking up nine NZ Champion of Cheese trophies this year.
New Zealand dairy processors are welcoming the Government’s commitment to continuing to push for Canada to honour its trade commitments.
An educational programme, set up by Beef + Land New Zealand, to connect farmers virtually with primary and intermediate school students has reported the successful completion of its second year.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has welcomed a resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to declare 2026 International Year of the Woman Farmer.
Waikato herd health veterinarian Katrina Roberts is the 2024 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.
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