ACT MP Todd Stephenson says he is still committed to finding adequate public healthcare solutions for the region, a topic he was happy to discuss while passing through Alexandra yesterday as part of his winter tour.

Todd, who is touring on the ACT bus, started the nationwide tour in Invercargill on Monday.

He met up with former ACT MP Gerry Eckhoff who remembered the inaugural ‘mobile’ tour of the country 20 years ago when he was involved with the party.

“It’s so good to see the bus back,” he said, while waiting to talk with Todd about the ongoing rates issues across the Central Otago district.

Todd is a list MP and has eight portfolios including health, and recently teamed up with Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan and Queenstown Lakes Mayor Glyn Lewers, who wrote a joint letter to Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora asking for solutions on adequate public local health care.

ACT Party MP Todd Stephenson (left) catches up with former ACT MP Gerry Eckhoff during the Alexandra leg of his nationwide tour. PHOTO: The Central APP

Both councils have been advocating regularly to the Government about lack of investment in local provision of publicly funding health services and are concerned there has been insufficient progress.

“It’s about understanding what the private sector is trying to do and what is happening in the public sector too. We need to have the whole picture,” Todd said.

Mayor Tim has long pushed for an inland hospital in Cromwell as a centralised hospital that met the needs of the whole area, bringing both public and private health providers together.

Now on their way to Dunedin and Christchurch, Todd and his ACT team of four have been meeting with small businesses and rural enterprises and encouraging people to tell them what challenges they face.

“We just wanted to get out of Wellington and talk to people,” he said.