ACT's Paul Henry's details plan for 'world-class,' multi-billion dollar cancer centre

The ACT Party is promising to roll out new candidate Paul Henry's pledge for a dedicated cancer centre in Auckland and Christchurch.

Henry called it "New Zealand’s Starship for Cancer, the country’s first purpose-built comprehensive cancer centre" which would combine clinical care, complex surgery, radiation oncology, genomics, diagnostics, clinical trials and research.

He called it an aspirational policy, "but it is realistic and practical", with capital costs estimated at $2 bilion. Henry has left the door open for a major donor at a "transformation" level to potentially have hospital naming rights.

"Comprehensive cancer centres are the gold standard internationally because they bring researchers, clinicians, universities, private providers and philanthropists together with world-class treatment, technology and clinical trials. They also help attract and retain the best oncologists, surgeons and scientists," Henry says.

"If New Zealand cannot offer that environment, Australia and other countries will."

During his candidacy announcement, Henry said he wanted to build a world-class cancer hospital costing multiple billions of dollars.

"I think you could easily get a group of wealthy New Zealanders to stump up with about $10 billion, the rest of it we would borrow," he said. 

Under ACT's policy, it would be funded via public-private partnership financing, donations, existing Crown health investment, and other private capital.

"The indicative capital requirement is around $2b, with the final cost determined through the detailed business-case process," he said.

Henry said ACT would create a foundation "to unlock extraordinary generosity", giving major donors naming rights in parts of the centre "including, for a transformational contribution, potentially a hospital itself."

“The recently introduced $33,333 cap on the tax benefits available for charitable donations will be removed for all charitable giving. If New Zealanders want to give $1 million, $10 million or more to cancer care, medical research or other causes, the tax system should encourage that generosity, not impose an arbitrary ceiling on it."