Coleman Jonathan: Official Information (Openness of District Health Boards New Zealand) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Coleman Jonathan: Official Information (Openness of District Health Boards New Zealand) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:641;Page:11189] 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (National—Northcote) 
: 
 This second reading of the Official Information (Openness of District Health Boards New Zealand) Amendment Bill really marks a great victory for all those who are keen on increased transparency and accountability in our health system. I commend my colleague Dr Jackie Blue for bringing this bill before the House. It is something that has been sorely needed. 
I totally disagree with what the Minister of Health has said about transparency in the health system. The fact is that if he could have got away with it he would have ignored this bill. There should have been a Government bill long long ago because District Health Boards New Zealand has been a great vehicle for covering up what is really happening in health in New Zealand. I tell members that when people make an Official Information Act request to those 21 district health boards so often they are told that District Health Boards New Zealand will be handling the matter. But then people find out that that organisation is not subject to the Official Information Act. Like so many other areas under this Government District Health Boards New Zealand has been a mechanism for covering things up and sweeping them under the table. If we look at the speech made by the Minister in the first reading we see that he had reservations about this bill and could not guarantee he would be supporting it beyond the select committee consideration. So this bill is a great victory for transparency today. It is a back-down for the Labour Government and I would say that if it could have got away with it the Government would not want District Health Boards New Zealand to be subject to the Official Information Act under its watch. 
Sue Moroney 
: Rubbish! 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Members opposite mutter and shake their heads because they know it is true. There has been a heck of a lot to cover up in the health system under this Government. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: We do not need this legislation. It has been done. 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: It has been done and we do not need this legislation but that is only because of the pressure that Dr Jackie Blue has put on the Government. Those members knew they were on a hiding to nothing. They knew they could not get up in this House and continue to say that they had reservations. The Governor-General signed the Order in Council and now we are lucky enough that District Health Boards New Zealand will be subject to the Official Information Act. 
This Government has been in power for 8 years. People should see the issues in health that the Government has been trying to cover up in that time. They should see the big cover-ups on waiting-list culls on people not getting access to the cancer treatment they need. Members opposite know that it is true; they have their heads down— 
Martin Gallagher 
: Tell us about the tobacco lobby. 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: That is classic. That useless member for Hamilton West can only start getting personal. He can only talk about an irrelevant issue! That sort of thing has been the theme of this Government. It is losing on the issues and its members get personal. We saw it in the House last week and are seeing it again now. Martin Gallagher would not have the horsepower in his brain to debate this issue seriously. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Tell us about the effects of tobacco. 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: All he can do is get up and trade insults. He will get them back. He is shaking his head. Let us hear from him after this speech. 
There has been a big cover-up in health under this Government. It duped so many people who voted for it in 1999 2002 and 2005 by telling them that the health system will look after them from the cradle to the grave that all their medical needs will be met. Those members know and the Minister knows—it has been a nightmare for him—that in the New Zealand health system now people have to be more and more sick to get an operation. They all know this because it is absolutely true. People are not getting the operations they need in New Zealand hospitals. 
Sue Moroney 
: Bring on the tax cuts and the spending cuts. 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: There they go; they are not arguing the point. They have a totally irrelevant argument again. People cannot get the operations they need. If they have a basic surgical condition they will not get an operation in a New Zealand hospital. If they need something acute done at an emergency department it will not be done. We know that. 
I challenge the Minister to come up to North Shore Hospital and go through the emergency department. He knows how bad it is. He knows they are stacking people on trolleys in the car-park and in the corridors and people cannot get through. North Shore City is one of the wealthiest cities in New Zealand yet it has the worst emergency department. That must be due to nothing more than gross mismanagement. The Minister knows it and Labour members have no come-back on this issue. The fact is that under the Labour Government health has been grossly mismanaged. The Government managed to cover it up until about 18 months ago when we really started to get access— 
Martin Gallagher 
: How many Ministers of Health did National go thorough? 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: The member can shake his head but he knows that it is absolutely true. He knows that it will see him kicked out of Parliament at the next election. The Government covered it up for so long—the waiting-list debacle the culls the fact that people could not get cancer treatment. It has been an absolute disgrace and it has been from people who believe in social justice and access to free health-care at the point of delivery. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: Who took away the workforce planning that had been the hallmark of the 1980s? 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: They know. All they can do is get personal again. They are on a hiding to nothing now in health. How bad does a centre-left Government have to be to lose on health? That is the ultimate indictment—that Labour is losing the battle. Actually the Minister is a pretty gracious guy when he is outside the House but he knows that he has failed in this portfolio. If members want to know about cover-ups in health then we have to talk yet again about Lake Alice Hospital. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: Talk about Jenny Shipley and Bill Birch. We know what they did.  
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Let us live in the present. A lot of members on the other side are living in the past. What about the Cabinet cover-up in respect of Lake Alice Hospital? What about the 87 second-round claimants who received $35000 each? The Cabinet Ministers’ heads have gone down now because they were in that room when that decision was taken to lop that payment off. They thought they could keep it secret. It was only by chance that it was found out that $3 million had been basically confiscated from 87 of the most vulnerable people in New Zealand society. It was a total cover-up and it came to light purely by chance. That is an example of the lack of openness in the whole area of health care under this Government. The Minister has told me the Government is going to sort it out. Well it is still not sorted out. I would say that in the spirit of openness and transparency it is time it was settled. 
We can see there really is a need for this bill because if there is a structure this Government can use to sweep anything under the carpet it will do it. District Health Boards New Zealand has been a great structure for the Government in that regard. This is a great day of victory for those in favour of more transparency and openness of Government. I commend my colleague Dr Jackie Blue once again. It is great that we are not having to vote on this bill that the matter has been signed off by the Governor-General. We look forward to getting more information under the Official Information Act about the failings of this Government in the area of health now that District Health Boards New Zealand is subject to it.