New Zealand health minister Andrew Little has directed a bizarre spray at Australia over its global campaign to attract nurses and even claimed that health systems in New South Wales and Victoria virtually collapsed during the pandemic.
Mr Little was responding to parliamentary questions in writing.
National Dr Shane Reti asked the minister what impact Australian global health workforce attraction campaigns were having on New Zealand's nursing shortage.
"That remains to be seen, and of course New Zealanders going to Australia go in with their eyes open and they know that when they go to work in Australia, they don't have the same rights to residency as Australians get working here," said Mr Little, adding they also have lesser rights when it comes to accessing support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
"Anybody going from New Zealand to work in Australia do not have the same education rights for their children as would happen in New Zealand, and there are a range of other conditions that makes Australia a challenging place to secure a workforce," he said.
In the strangest part of his response, Mr Little said health systems in Australia and particularly New South Wales and Victoria "were in fact overwhelmed by COVID."
Mr Little did not provide any evidence in support of his claim.