Roy Heather: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Roy Heather: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:618;Page:14356] 
HEATHER ROY (ACT) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of ACT New Zealand to speak to the 2004-05 Vote Health estimates. I recently asked a question of the Minister of Health about the funding for Plunket Line for the forthcoming year 2004-05 and the Minister was not able to answer my question. She was not able to tell me at the time anyway that the Plunket Line funding was actually going to be very dependent on the funding for Healthline because Plunket Line was about to be incorporated into the American-based system of Healthline. In fact it has been contracted to an Australian branch of the 16th biggest company in America. So Plunket Line which like Plunket itself has become a New Zealand icon since its inception in 1994 is really now on its last legs. 
Plunket Line has helped hundreds of thousands of New Zealand families over the last 10 years. At the same time that Plunket services have been progressively withdrawn and made less available to New Zealand families Plunket Line has taken up the slack and has been available in a very timely fashion to young parents and caregivers who are experiencing difficulties with their young families and young children. It was with great sadness yesterday—for the ACT party and for those of us on this side of the House—that we saw a 4-page press release from the Minister of Health telling us of Plunket Line’s demise and trying to put in very positive terms the fact that Healthline would be taking it over. 
We should look back to the 1999 election. Just before the general election the then Leader of the Opposition Helen Clark and the health spokesperson for the Opposition Annette King both lent their support to Plunket Line. Not only did they lend their support to it they backed it to the hilt. They launched a petition gathering 60000 signatures and promised—and many New Zealanders remember this—that under a Labour Government Plunket Line would not close due to a lack of funding. It was one of the credit card pledges—squashed on to that tiny little credit card—and was one of the most important planks for the Labour Government. What do we see today? Five years later we are seeing the demise of Plunket Line and it being absorbed into Healthline. 
 My parliamentary questions have shown that the 0800 number for Plunket Line—the thing that has helped Plunket Line retain its unique identity—is also to go. Members should not listen to the talk about the 0800 number being retained because I have a reply to a parliamentary question that states that as Healthline is rolled out the 0800 number will remain until it is replaced by a single number where callers can choose to receive well-child and parenting advice. 
When people ring Plunket Line they have already chosen whom they want to speak to. They do not want to speak to somebody reading off a computer screen; they want to speak to a Plunket nurse. 
Jill Pettis 
: I managed to bring up my son without ringing anybody except my mother. 
HEATHER ROY 
: Perhaps the member would like to take a call. 
An announcement was made yesterday but it would appear that things are not as rosy as the Minister of Health Annette King tried to make out in her 4-page press release. We know that this would have been a big news item last night had not the Minister of Health refused to speak to Television New Zealand. The reason she refused to be interviewed by Television New Zealand is that the Prime Minister was caught off guard. When she was asked about Plunket Line she did not know what was happening despite the fact that she had made such a song and dance in 1999. The item that was screened about 2 weeks ago is now the subject of an ongoing complaint. So the Minister of Health will not speak to Television New Zealand about Plunket Line because she is very unhappy with the decision to roll it into Healthline. 
Sir Truby King who was responsible almost 100 years ago for the establishment of Plunket to help families would turn in his grave if he knew what had happened—under a Labour Government—to the state of Plunket in this country and now to Plunket Line. Plunket Line is about to be disestablished.