Street Maryan: General Debate 
Street Maryan: General Debate 
[Volume:642;Page:11791] 
MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 I have absolutely no interest in responding to the inane the fatuous and the superficial comments from the Opposition. The two contributions to the debate that we have heard from the Opposition—from Mr Key and from Mr Power—demonstrate that National still has a vacuum where its policy ought to be. This Labour-led Government is keen on and committed to getting on with the business of governing which is something that that party in Opposition has no collective memory of and will have no chance of doing. We are keen to advance our policies and the innovations that continue to promote well-being and to advance the living standards of New Zealanders all over the country. 
I want to talk particularly about health. I want to draw attention in the very few minutes I have to some of the things that have been the standout gains in the last few years in the Labour-led Government and to some of the things that have happened in the last month alone that demonstrate how this Government is going forward and progressing in order to make things better for New Zealanders. 
Let me identify a few key points. First of all since 1999 since we have been in Government there have been an additional 4000 nurses an additional 1400 medical personnel and an additional 675 allied health professionals. We have provided a historic pay increase—some $549 million over 4 years—to build and maintain our workforce of nurses. We have undertaken the single largest hospital building programme in living memory with 28 new public hospitals from Kaitaia to Invercargill. Over $2.2 billion has already been committed. When completed that will add another 22 new operating theatres. 
We have undertaken the largest mass immunisation campaign in New Zealand’s history and lowered the number of new cases of meningococcal B by 57 percent. We have halved average doctors’ fees and that matters to New Zealand families. We have reduced the cost of medicines to no more than $3 per prescription item and that matters to New Zealand families. We have provided 7500 extra cataract operations. We have provided another 10000 extra hip and knee replacement procedures. We have provided an additional 10000 New Zealanders a year with elective surgery costing $200 million over 4 years. 
The Opposition has gone very quiet because it knows these things are true. Opposition members will not tell us whether they would maintain the same level of commitment and financing of the health portfolio that allows these advances to be made for New Zealanders. They will not commit to that because they know that their real policy which they have not released to the public consists of public health spending cuts. In fact they go on about it all the time. It is the only thing they have put up by way of health policy—that there would be cuts to expenditure in the health budget. That is what they promise and that is what we can guarantee they will deliver should they ever unfortunately be in the position to do so. 
I also point out that in the last month alone the Government has made a couple of announcements and advanced a couple of policies that indicate we are still on the case. This Government will not rest. It will continue to improve things for New Zealanders and New Zealand families. Making doctors’ visits free for under-6-year-olds matters to New Zealand families. We have introduced before-school checks for 4 and 5-year-olds so that any problems for those kids can be identified and sorted out before they start school. Those are two major things just in the last month that identify this Government’s onward push to ensure that we are improving the lot of families and New Zealanders. This Government is eager to get on and do the business. We will not be distracted from that by fatuous contributions from the Opposition that contain no policy.