Opinion: We need our Coromandel rescue helicopter back

An older BK117, which is one of the rescue helicopters servicing the Coromandel, at Cathedral Cove.

Give us our rescue helicopter back.

That's the message that's being sent from more than 46,000 people who have signed Stephan Bosman's petition calling on the current Government to reverse its policy decision that saw our local service taken away last summer.

The 46,339 signatures represent the anger, the frustration and the sense of betrayal of local Coromandel people and visitors alike.

They speak volumes about the passion, energy and hard work of the volunteers who organised it and helped collect signatures from all around our region.

I say thank you for your efforts and thank you for stepping up to help fight for a much-needed and valued first-response rescue helicopter service for the Coromandel peninsula.

The decision to remove the helicopter was a Government policy decision.

It is not about funding. It's about a decision from Government to reprioritise service contracts they have with the various rescue helicopter service providers around New Zealand.

Those new terms are administered by the Ministry of Health and ACC but agreed and signed off by the current Government, including Health Minister David Clark (now the lowest-ranked Minister in Jacinda Ardern's Cabinet following his multiple breaches of his own ministry's Covid-19 lockdown rules).

The contract terms make it impossible for the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust to base a machine in Whitianga to service the needs of people on and around the Coromandel peninsula.

In short, this "caring and kind" Labour-led Government has prioritised Aucklanders ahead of Coromandel people.

Having a chopper and crew based here has been considered so important that only a few years ago, more than a million dollars was raised in short order from around our region to build a purpose-designed hangar and accommodation facility at the Whitianga airfield.

Last summer for the first time in 12 years no rescue helicopter was based in the Coromandel over the summer holiday peak visitor period.

Not having a dedicated machine here means we are a lower priority when emergencies strike.

We have a rugged and geographically challenging local environment.

Our age demographic here in the Coromandel is highly weighted to people aged 65 years and older, and of course during the summer months and at long weekends we host visitors in the tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands.

It was an honour to be the first person to sign Stephan's petition when he launched it at the hangar in January.

It's an even greater honour to have now formally received it from him along with more than 46,000 other signatures.

This week I will deliver it to Parliament.