O'Connor Simon: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Simon: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 28 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:2981. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SIMON O’CONNOR (National—Tāmaki):What an excellent word the member opposite finished on—“overdone”. I think that fully expresses what we have heard from the Opposition tonight. I want to primarily talk about health but one thing I want to note following an earlier tirade against Work and Income and as someone who worked in the Ministry of Social Development and for many years prior in the community is that I want to say thank you to those people particularly within the Ministry of Social Development who day after day tirelessly go out and serve their people and community. I heard that from the Minister Anne Tolley but I just wanted to add my own voice to that. So thank you for all that you do to serve other Kiwis in this country.I want to turn to health though. I think we have some very good news stories there. Although it is not news coming out of the Government I noticed as I was coming down to the Chamber that there was a breakthrough by the Malaghan Institute which I think is symbolic of the great work that our Kiwi health providers and scientists are doing. They have actually worked out a way to deal with something like hookworm. I know it is not the most exciting topic but it is something that affects a billion of the poorest people. Here in New Zealand based out of Wellington the Malaghan Institute has worked out a way to create an immune response to hookworm. Again it is a small thing in and of itself but this has been led by Kiwi scientists and Kiwi medical people and I think it just provides a good context of how New Zealand leads the way not only in immunological research but also in health.We heard from Minister Lotu-Iiga earlier some very good statistics that have come out of the Ministry of Health in general and I think that is pretty fantastic. You know a health budget of $15.6 billion—huge. We now know that 94 percent of 8-month-olds are fully immunised. We are going to reach the target of 95 percent by the end of this year. Just a comparison: when we took over Government in 2007 shamefully only 67 percent of young people were immunised. But if I can just step away from the broad big numbers I just want to reflect on some of the good news stories we heard out of the district health boards in particular that came before our select committee. Obviously there are too many district health boards to review every year so we take a sample but the Health Committee has been very hard at work and some of the themes within health that came to me were first and foremost around financial improvement. No one shies away from the fact that times are always tough and every group wants more money from the Government but we saw in the district health boards financial improvement. A quick and good example is the likes of the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board which has actually moved from a deficit of about $2.9 million 2 years ago to now a surplus of $4.4 million—I think a really good example.We had the Northland District Health Board come before us and I think that its good news story amongst others was just how it is investing in new infrastructure. And although I am proudly the MP for Tāmaki I am originally a Whangarei boy; I know the hospital well. The investment it is making there particularly in maternity wards and services is really impressive.Turning back to Auckland although it is not my district health board—I am going to talk about the Waitematā District Health Board—we are hearing about life expectancy. A number of district health boards touched on this and it came up in the reviews—it is increasing for New Zealanders. In Waitematā as one example the average life expectancy is now 85.1 years. So it is 3 years higher than in most of the rest of the country. In fact it is even higher for Māori in Waitematā in terms of their growth as well—they are 4 years above the national average. Again good news.We heard a lot about mental health services. That was a question that was raised quite often. I turn therefore to the Capital and Coast District Health Board. We heard from it and from the Hutt Valley District Health Board and the Wairarapa District Health Board all three together. And I note that my colleague here Alastair Scott from that electorate would know this but the district health boards there have launched a new integrated mental health system. Its message is “New service no boundaries” and it is I think a marvellous example of how three district health boards work together.Other things came through around oral health—and I think it is particularly actually through Barbara Stewart from New Zealand First to give her credit. District health boards one after the other know the importance of fluoride. I occasionally get in my electorate people who ignore the science but the science is clear and the district health boards are clear: fluoride in water makes a difference. It is the same around immunisation: immunise your children. That is a simple key message; there are no excuses or YouTube videos that can impress upon me any difference. And therefore to move on to that look at the Southern District Health Board whose immunisation rates exceed the national target and I think that is a wonderful result for the Southern District Health Board.Reports noted.