13 August 2025
David Adamson
By email:
[FYI request #31555 email]
Ref:
SBOIA25-809
Dear David
Response to your request for information
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) on 11 July 2025
to the Minister of Health, Hon Simeon Brown. The Minister is focused on putting patients first
and delivering access to timely, quality healthcare for all New Zealanders.
You requested:
“Please provide all communications sent or received to or from you or your office
(including internal messages within your office) about your Facebook post of 11 July
regarding nurses striking. This includes any drafts and key messaging (such as how
you calculated nurses earning $125k per annum), and includes any messaging or
information to or from the Ministry of Health or Health New Zealand with your
office/private secretaries on this matter. This includes emails, texts, hardcopy
documents, and any communications you sent to other members of Government
(including the Prime Minister’s office).”
Searches of our information systems have identified items in scope of your request.
Documents are itemised in Appendix 1 to this letter and copies of the documents for release
are enclosed. Where information is withheld, this is outlined in the Appendix and noted in the
document itself. Where information is withheld under section 9 of the Act, I have considered
the countervailing public interest in release in making this decision and consider that it does
not outweigh the need to withhold at this time.
Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review any
decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Brian Anderton
Senior Ministerial Advisor
Appendix 1: List of items in scope
# Date
Title
Decision on release
1
11 July 2025
Email chain: Urgent Fact Check by Released with some
1.00pm Today: Strike Media
information withheld under
Release
section 9(2)(a) of the Act, to
2
11 July 2025
Email chain: Urgent Fact Check by protect the privacy of natural
1.00pm Today: Strike Media
persons.
Release
From:
Saphron Powell
Sent:
Friday, 11 July 2025 1:25 pm
To:
MASS #BrownPolitical
Subject:
Fw: [
]: Urgent Fact Check by 1.00pm Today: Strike Media Release
Hi all
From HNZ:
We can confirm all of the facts and figures are correct and consistent with previously released or provided
ACT 1982
information, except the one highlighted below and replicated here
The average nurse takes home more than $125,000 a year, inclusive of overtime and allowances.
This reflects the average salary and doesn’t take tax into account, whereas phrasing it as ‘taking it home’ sounds
more like an after-tax amount, so suggest sticking with saying this is the salary.
Cheers
Matt
INFORMATION
Matt McLay (he/him)
Group Manager
s 9(2)(a)
| [email address]
From: Saphron Powell <[email address]>
Sent: Friday, 11 July 2025 12:19 pm
To: Health New Zealand Media <[email address]>; hnzBriefing <[email address]>
Cc: Fiona McCarthy <[email address]>; Matthew McLay
<[email address]>; Maria-Laura Crespo <[email address]>; Mark
Sleeman <[email address]>
Subject: [
]: Urgent Fact Check by 1.00pm Today: Strike Media Release
Importance: High
Hi all
The office has asked for an urgent fact check only of the following release,
by 1.00pm today – material drawn from
what has been provided to the office previously.
Please highlighted any suggested changes:
-------
RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL
It is incredibly disappointing to hear the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) Union has chosen to strike later
this month. This will not solve the pressures in our health system; it will only cause harm to patients.
Thousands of New Zealanders will face disruption as a result of this action. Across the country, the strike is expected
to:
•
Cancel or postpone around 1,500 elective surgeries and arranged treatments, such as hip, knee, and
cataract operations.
1
• Delay approximately 2,800 first specialist assessments.
• Affect between 1,700 and 2,500 radiology procedures.
• Disrupt around 1,300 to 1,800 MRI, CT, and ultrasound scans.
Even procedures booked before and after the strike may also face delays, with impacts expected to last well beyond
the strike itself.
We value our nurses and the care they provide to patients, and we have invested significantly in our nursing
workforce as a Government.
The average nurse takes home more than $125,000 a year, inclusive of overtime and allowances. This is similar to
salaries paid to nurses overseas, such as in New South Wales.
Additionally, since 2011, pay for NZNO Union nurses has increased by almost 74 per cent - well ahead of wage
growth across the wider economy, which has increased by 35 per cent according to the Labour Cost Index over the
same period.
ACT 1982
Nurses also receive a wide range of additional benefits, including:
• Extra pay for nights, weekends, and on-call work.
• Additional leave for long shifts, long service, and sick leave.
• Professional development payments of up to $6,000 a year for some roles.
• Five weeks’ annual leave after five years of service.
Our Government is also investing significantly in our nursing workforce in Budget 2025:
INFORMATION
• Supporting 400 nurses each year to start their careers in primary care, with payments of $15,000 to primary
care providers in urban areas for each graduate nurse they employ, and $20,000 in rural areas.
• Funding to train 120 Nurse Practitioners each year in primary care.
• Funding to upskill 60 nurses each year in primary care to become nurse prescribers.
This strike is a choice by the NZNO Union, which is putting politics ahead of patients. The strike will not reduce
waitlists or improve patient care. It will only worsen delays for New Zealanders who are already waiting too long for
treatment.
Health New Zealand remains at the table, ready to negotiate in good faith.
The offer on the table will see a new graduate nurse on $75,773 gain a total pay increase of $8,337 by the end of
June 2026, inclusive of step progression. The union should return to talks and put patients first. Walking off the job
does not solve anything; it simply harms the very people who need care most.
Our Government remains focused on reducing wait times and delivering timely, quality healthcare. We recognise
that nurses are essential to this work, and we thank those who will continue to work hard for Kiwis needing care.
There is still time to step back from this strike and do what is right for patients.
---
RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL
Thanks
Saphron
Saphron Powell
Private Secretary (Health) | Office of Hon Simeon Brown
Minister of Health, Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Minister for Auckland
2
M: s 9(2)(a)
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain
information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to legal privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message
ACT 1982
INFORMATION
RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL
3
From:
Saphron Powell
Sent:
Friday, 11 July 2025 2:04 pm
To:
Matthew McLay
Cc:
Fiona McCarthy; Maria-Laura Crespo; Mark Sleeman; Health New Zealand Media; hnzBriefing;
Nadine Gray; Tricia Sloan
Subject:
RE: [
]: Urgent Fact Check by 1.00pm Today: Strike Media Release
Hi Ma
Received, thanks for the heads up on this.
Saphron
ACT 1982
From: Matthew McLay <[email address]>
Sent: Friday, 11 July 2025 1:41 PM
To: Saphron Powell <[email address]>
Cc: Fiona McCarthy <[email address]>; Maria-Laura Crespo <Maria-
[email address]>; Mark Sleeman <[email address]>; Health New Zealand
Media <[email address]>; hnzBriefing <[email address]>; Nadine Gray
<[email address]>; Tricia Sloan <[email address]>
Subject: RE: [
]: Urgent Fact Check by 1.00pm Today: Strike Media Release
INFORMATION
Hi Saphron
Hold the phone – one other change suggested, with a note accompanying the removal of diagnostics impacts
to say that although there is an impact, and we noted it, there is less dependency of nursing and can be
diƯicult to quantify:
• postpone around 1,500 elec ve surgeries and arranged treatments, such as hip, knee, and cataract
opera ons.
• Delay approximately 2,800 first specialist assessments.
Even procedures booked before and a er the strike may also face delays, with impacts expected to last well beyond
the strike itself.
Hapy to chat if you like Saphron
Matt McLay (he/him)
Group Manager
s 9(2)(a)
| matthew mclay@tewhatuora govt nz
From: Matthew McLay <[email address]>
RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL
Sent: Friday, 11 July 2025 1:20 pm
To: Saphron Powell <[email address]>
Cc: Fiona McCarthy <[email address]>; Maria-Laura Crespo <Maria-
[email address]>; Mark Sleeman <[email address]>; Health New Zealand
Media <[email address]>; hnzBriefing <[email address]>; Nadine Gray
<[email address]>
Subject: RE: [
]: Urgent Fact Check by 1.00pm Today: Strike Media Release
1
Hi Saphron
We can confirm all of the facts and figures are correct and consistent with previously released or provided
information, except the one highlighted below and replicated here
The average nurse takes home more than $125,000 a year, inclusive of overƟme and allowances.
This reflects the average salary and doesn’t take tax into account, whereas phrasing it as ‘taking it home’ sounds
more like an a er-tax amount, so suggest s cking with saying this is the salary.
Cheers
Ma
Matt McLay (he/him)
Group Manager
ACT 1982
s 9(2)(a)
| matthew mclay@tewhatuora govt nz
From: Saphron Powell <[email address]>
Sent: Friday, 11 July 2025 12:19 pm
To: Health New Zealand Media <[email address]>; hnzBriefing <[email address]>
Cc: Fiona McCarthy <[email address]>; Matthew McLay
<[email address]>; Maria-Laura Crespo <[email address]>; Mark
Sleeman <[email address]>
Subject: [
]: Urgent Fact Check by 1.00pm Today: Strike Media Release
INFORMATION
Importance: High
Hi all
The office has asked for an urgent fact check only of the following release,
by 1.00pm today – material drawn from
what has been provided to the office previously.
Please highlighted any suggested changes:
-------
It is incredibly disappoin ng to hear the New Zealand Nurses Organisa on (NZNO) Union has chosen to strike later
this month. This will not solve the pressures in our health system; it will only cause harm to pa ents.
Thousands of New Zealanders will face disrup on as a result of this ac on. Across the country, the strike is expected
to:
• Cancel or postpone around 1,500 elec ve surgeries and arranged treatments, such as hip, knee, and
cataract opera ons.
• Delay approximately 2,800 first specialist assessments.
• Affect between 1,700 and 2,500 radiology procedures.
• Disrupt around 1,300 to 1,800 MRI, CT, and ultrasound scans.
RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL
Even procedures booked before and a er the strike may also face delays, with impacts expected to last well beyond
the strike itself.
We value our nurses and the care they provide to pa ents, and we have invested significantly in our nursing
workforce as a Government.
The average nurse takes home more than $125,000 a year, inclusive of over me and allowances. This is similar to
salaries paid to nurses overseas, such as in New South Wales.
2
Addi onally, since 2011, pay for NZNO Union nurses has increased by almost 74 per cent - well ahead of wage
growth across the wider economy, which has increased by 35 per cent according to the Labour Cost Index over the
same period.
Nurses also receive a wide range of addi onal benefits, including:
• Extra pay for nights, weekends, and on-call work.
• Addi onal leave for long shi s, long service, and sick leave.
• Professional development payments of up to $6,000 a year for some roles.
• Five weeks’ annual leave a er five years of service.
Our Government is also inves ng significantly in our nursing workforce in Budget 2025:
• Suppor ng 400 nurses each year to start their careers in primary care, with payments of $15,000 to primary
ACT 1982
care providers in urban areas for each graduate nurse they employ, and $20,000 in rural areas.
• Funding to train 120 Nurse Prac oners each year in primary care.
• Funding to upskill 60 nurses each year in primary care to become nurse prescribers.
This strike is a choice by the NZNO Union, which is pu ng poli cs ahead of pa ents. The strike will not reduce
waitlists or improve pa ent care. It will only worsen delays for New Zealanders who are already wai ng too long for
treatment.
Health New Zealand remains at the table, ready to nego ate in good faith.
INFORMATION
The offer on the table will see a new graduate nurse on $75,773 gain a total pay increase of $8,337 by the end of
June 2026, inclusive of step progression. The union should return to talks and put pa ents first. Walking off the job
does not solve anything; it simply harms the very people who need care most.
Our Government remains focused on reducing wait mes and delivering mely, quality healthcare. We recognise
that nurses are essen al to this work, and we thank those who will con nue to work hard for Kiwis needing care.
There is s ll me to step back from this strike and do what is right for pa ents.
---
Thanks
Saphron
Saphron Powell
Private Secretary (Health) | Office of Hon Simeon Brown
Minister of Health, Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Minister for Auckland
M: s 9(2)(a)
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain
information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to legal privilege If you are not the intended
recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message
3
