Lees-Galloway Iain: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:5568] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 Late last night as we were getting deep into the debate in the darkness of Wednesday night there was a scene that was almost like one from a horror film. Over where Mr Garrett is sitting a hole in the ground opened up. It was not there to swallow Mr Garrett much as I am sure he wishes it would at the moment. From that hole in the ground from out of the crypt came the Hon Sir Roger Douglas. He came out with his old mantra from the 1980s: “Privatise privatise privatise.” He levelled the accusation at what he called “socialised” health—Fox News’ favourite phrase: “socialised” health. If one can get oneself on TV and get one’s issue out there on  
Close Up 
 on  
Campbell Live 
 or on a similar programme one can get funding from the health system. That he said was the problem with “socialised” health. Unnervingly I find myself slightly agreeing with Sir Roger— 
Grant Robertson 
: It won’t last. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: It will not last. 
The problem is not “socialised” health; the problem is the way this Government spends its health money. With this Government it is about getting on TV it is about populist decisions and it is about putting money into things that have no evidence base whatsoever and do not have the support of the medical fraternity but do have the support of votes. It is all about buying votes. 
Where have we seen some examples of this? Dr Blue has just said how proud she was of the decision to undermine Pharmac—an independent body set up to ensure that politicians could not use the health dollar in this way—and fund a 12-month course of Herceptin. The Government quite callously and shamelessly used the emotions of women suffering from breast cancer and of the families of women suffering from breast cancer. It used the health dollar to buy votes and to undermine an organisation like Pharmac. I am sure the health Minister Tony Ryall would have liked to bully Pharmac in the same way he bullied the MidCentral District Health Board but he could not. He is not allowed to by legislation and long may that last. Instead of coming along with a “bully knows best” approach he managed to undermine Pharmac by directly funding something that was really a Pharmac decision. 
We have seen it time and time again. Take PlunketLine. Stopping the funding for PlunketLine was not a decision that the Labour Government took lightly; it went through a very robust open and competitive tendering process—something that the members on the opposite side of the Chamber usually say is the best way to go about a funding process. It was robust it was open and it was transparent and this Government came in shamelessly using the brand of PlunketLine and shamelessly buying votes with the health dollar. This is not a sign that the Government is about finding efficient and productive ways to make the most of the health dollar; this simply says that the Government is looking for ways to buy as many votes as it possibly can. 
Another area where we have seen this is in the shift away from primary health and public health and into the hospitals. Why? Because the Government wants to find some short-term numbers. The Government has no interest whatsoever in improving health quality and health outcomes for New Zealanders over 20 years or being able to look back in 20 years’ time and see how many people it has managed to keep out of hospital. No it wants to get them into hospital and then in 3 years’ time it can point to the number of elective surgeries it has done. It does not matter what the case weighting was! It does not have to be brain surgery. It could be ingrown toenails for all the Government cares. The Government just wants to get the numbers. The Government wants to show off those numbers and make itself look as good as possible in 2011. 
This issue has been raised by Rahui Katene. She is in the Chamber this afternoon and I am very pleased she is here. She gave a long list of concerns that the Maori Party has about the way the health dollar is being spent. She said she was concerned about the loss of Fruit in Schools she was concerned about prevention in terms of public health and she was concerned that health funding would not be protected during the recession. She said that this was the most important time to protect health funding. I say to Ms Katene that Labour members could not agree with her more; we could not agree more with what Ms Katene said. We strongly desire that the Maori Party members find it in themselves to vote against the Vote Health estimates when the question is put shortly. Ms Katene made some very valid points and I cannot understand how the Maori Party can possibly support this Budget given all the points that she made. She made an excellent speech and I was very pleased to be in the Chamber to hear it. 
That is looking back. We need to look forward as well. I have in my hands a very important document—it is a pity that I am out of time. 
Vote agreed to.