"The funding requested from the Rural Health Alliance is a pittance when compared to other wasteful spending by this Government. It clearly illustrates their lack of thought for rural New Zealand.
"Defining the term 'rurality' is a vital step in ensuring rural communities are adequately resourced by government in vital services such as healthcare, and the bulk of this work has been done by organisations such as the Rural Health Alliance in the past few years.
"The ongoing work done by this organisation is immensely important and the support of my petition from more than 600 people highlights this.
"I strongly urge the Government to re-evaluate their decisions and give rural communities the support they deserve, and adequately resource these organisations so that this incredibly important work can continue to be done."