Dr Shane Reti says he was "stating the obvious" when he commented on the Australian Labor Party's (ALP) nursing policy, but won't be responding to Australian journalists again while an election campaign is ongoing across the ditch.
"I would probably do something different if I was to reflect on it," Dr Reti told reporters on Tuesday afternoon. "But going forward, I won't be taking questions from Australian journalists just at this time."
National leader Christopher Luxon said that his MP's remarks were "mundane" but Dr Reti understands it was "unwise" to comment on Australian domestic matters so close to an election.
Given the close relationship between the two countries, New Zealand politicians typically avoid commenting on Australian political parties' policies while an election campaign is underway. The Prime Minister's Office wouldn't comment to overseas media, given that convention.
Dr Reti, National's health spokesperson and one of the party's most senior MPs, told ABC on Monday that an ALP policy would have a "negative impact" on New Zealand.
Labor, which is campaigning to be the party in government after the May 21 election, has pledged to have registered nurses in aged care facilities 24/7. But its leader, Anthony Albanese, concedes that means finding more nurses to practice in Australia.
Dr Reti told ABC the policy could lead to more Kiwi nurses crossing the ditch as Australia may look at importing skilled labour to fill their nursing shortage.
"I think any jurisdiction who thinks the answer to their nursing crisis is New Zealand's nursing crisis is going to be a challenge for us," Dr Reti said on Tuesday.
"I was stating the obvious, but what I won't be doing is taking inquiries from Australian media while they are in campaign time."
He said, in hindsight, he should have given Luxon a heads up about his comments.
Luxon, who earlier said he was unaware of Dr Reti's comments, said on Tuesday afternoon that he had taken time to get up to speed with what his MP had been saying.
"His statements that he was making around nurses was a mundane set of comments, but actually talking to the Australian journalist was a mistake and was unwise," he said.
"We have had that chat and he understands it's unwise and it was a mistake and he shouldn't of talked to an Australian journalist in the middle of an election campaign."
While Australia looks for its own way to fill nursing gaps, New Zealand is also facing a shortage which is "beyond crisis", according to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO).
It says "older nurses are retiring in droves", while others are changing careers and there are too few entering the workforce. Border closures during the pandemic haven't helped and many nurses have been off recently with Omicron.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists this year, ahead of the Omicron outbreak, said to match Australia per capita, New Zealand needs 12,000 nurses.
Health Minister Andrew Little said New Zealand has "a large number of vacancies that we're trying to fill and we're working on our labour market policies to do that".
"One of the reasons for the pay equity claims, and hoping to get that sorted eventually, is exactly to give our registered nurses a pay boost so that we are more competitive internationally. That'll make a big difference."
A pay equity settlement was revealed last Friday, but nurses have expressed disappointment that new rates won't be back paid to the end of 2019, as they say was earlier agreed to.
