Chadwick Steve: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Chadwick Steve: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:621;Page:16597] 
2.  
STEVE CHADWICK (Labour—Rotorua) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: How will the recently announced Cancer Control Council help to address the burden of cancer in New Zealand? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 The council has been established in response to the cancer task force recommendation to bring together under an independent body oversight monitoring collaboration and leadership in cancer prevention treatment services and research. The key tasks for the council will be to monitor and review implementation of the Cancer Control Strategy and report annually to Parliament; provide independent strategic advice to the Minister of Health the Director-General of Health district health boards and non-governmental organisations on matters related to cancer control; foster collaboration and cooperation between bodies involved in cancer control; and foster and support best practice in an evidence-based approach to improvements in the effectiveness of cancer control. 
Steve Chadwick 
: What has been the response to the announcement of the Cancer Control Council? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: The Cancer Society said today that the establishment of a dedicated independent council is a major achievement for all of those who are concerned about the consequences of cancer in our society. The New Zealand Cancer Control Trust described the council as a significant and critical milestone and added that these initiatives reflect the Government’s recognition of the significance of cancer and its commitment to taking a long-term coordinated approach to addressing the devastating impact of cancer in New Zealand. I thank both those groups for their cooperation and for the constructive approach they have taken in helping us to establish the council itself. 
Judith Collins 
: Will the Cancer Control Council investigate the possibility of a private cancer treatment facility being established in New Zealand or will patients still be forced to head to Australia for treatment as happened to 171 patients last year? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: The Cancer Control Council will have the ability to look at anything that is put before it. However it will probably find what others have found—that when one sets up a private facility for the treatment of cancer one has to staff it and where will the staff come from? For a decade the 1990s we never trained enough staff. 
Barbara Stewart 
: Is it not a fact that the only way to increase capacity to deal with the demand for cancer treatment in New Zealand is to address the staff shortages that have been cited continually as the key component in New Zealand’s disastrous ability to cope with this devastating illness—not introduce yet another layer of bureaucracy? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I need to inform the member that this council is not a layer of bureaucracy but something that was asked for by the Cancer Society of New Zealand the Cancer Control Trust non-governmental organisations and the New Zealand community in general following the disaster of the National Cervical Screening Programme which showed there was a need for an independent group to have oversight of cancer control. So it is not another layer of bureaucracy; it is the Government’s response to a need identified by the community itself. 
Bernie Ogilvy 
: Does the Minister agree that one of the first priorities of the Cancer Control Council should be to lobby the Minister of Research Science and Technology to boost funding for the hamstrung Health Research Council—the largest funder of cancer research—in light of recent reports that indicate that New Zealand’s expenditure on health research has declined to a point where we are seriously lagging behind international standards? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: It will probably not be necessary for the council to do that. I think the Minister has that matter in hand.