��һ�ǿ�����

Slightly ironic, don’t you think, that on the day people up and down the country are turning up at work and school wearing their gumboots for Gumboot Friday, we’ve got Lifeline saying it can’t keep running on the smell of an oily rag and has to cut back on services. 

Which means no one answering the phone or replying to text messages between midnight and 7am. 

Call them then and you’ll get a message saying you’ve reached them out of hours and to call back later. 

Which is not how Lifeline has done things for the past 60-odd years. It’s become known, hasn’t it, as a 24/7 option for people needing help on the mental health front night and day. 

And you’ve got to say that if a service has lasted more than 60 years and gets the number of calls for help that it gets and genuinely helps the number of people that it helps, then they know what they’re doing and what they’re doing is valuable and needed. 

Needed not just 17 hours a day, but needed 24 hours a day. And the numbers show it. 

In the year to June, Lifeline responded to more than 40,000 calls, 182,000 text messages, and created 4736 safety plans for people in need. 

Break that down and that’s about 110 phone calls every day, 365 days a year. About 500 text messages every day, 365 days a year. And, on average, that’s 12 safety plans written for people every day of the year. 

It’s the 12 safety plans every day that shows why Lifeline is such gold. Because, when someone is at the point of needing a safety plan, they are really desperate aren’t they? 

Shaun Greaves is chief executive of Presbyterian Support Northern, which runs Lifeline. He’s saying today: “Lifeline saves lives every week and remains a critical frontline service New Zealand's suicide prevention network. 

“Without immediate government support, Lifeline’s ability to deliver the critical service New Zealand desperately needs is a serious concern.” 

So, let’s say the Government did come to Lifeline’s rescue – how much would the taxpayer be up for? 

Two million dollars a year. That’s the funding gap that is forcing Lifeline to cut back on services and ditch its overnight operation. 

This is at the same time as the Government, through Tourism NZ, is spending $6 million getting the Michelin Star people to come over here to eat at our fancy restaurants and see if they're worthy of being ranked up there with the best restaurants in the world. 

The Government spending $6 million on restaurant reviewers and not spending $2 million on Lifeline is nothing short of moral bankruptcy. 

Part of the problem is NZ First and its non-negotiables, because it said before the last election that it would fund Mike King’s Gumboot Friday. That’s why Winston Peters was crowing after last year’s Budget when Gumboot Friday was given $24 million in funding. 

Which really must stick in Lifeline’s craw when you consider the difference $2 million would make to its service, let alone the difference it would make to the people who need Lifeline. 

Especially the people who need it between midnight and 7am, but whose calls and messages won’t be responded to. 

“You’ve reached us out of hours” is the last thing Lifeline wants to be saying to people. And it’s the last thing desperate people need to hear. 

But, unless the Government does something, that’s what’s going to happen.