Coleman Jonathan: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Coleman Jonathan: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:661;Page:9476] 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Associate Minister of Health) 
: 
 It is quite clear that one of the reasons the last Government was thrown out of office was that the public no longer trusted it to manage the health service. That is absolutely true. That is what happened. Over 9 years the previous Government failed to deliver elective surgery and failed to make a difference overall to service provision for New Zealanders and it was found out. 
You know it is very interesting; that member just got up and talked about the new language of the health sector. Well I have a document here published under the previous Labour Government that talks about programmes being reprioritised during the Vote Health October 2008 reprioritisation. Of course that was not a cut; it was a reprioritisation! So when that Government took $10 million from the interim funding pool for people with disabling chronic medical conditions oh no that was not a cut; that was a reprioritisation! I think that it is very very difficult for that member there Ruth Dyson to speak with any credibility in this Chamber on matters of health when she is so badly— 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: We didn’t cut services. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: She says they did not cut services. They took— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: And that Minister brought in changes in immigration policy— 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: And now this member wants to talk about immigration and not health; it has got too hot for them. Quite frankly I tell members there is no credibility. Ruth Dyson brought up the matter of the old people of Invercargill. We inherited a massive problem left behind by that previous Government but we have put a lot of new money into Otago and Southland—$28 million. The fact is that because of that previous Government’s mismanagement we are in the situation where we have to make some real changes. This is not a new problem because I can tell members that when Minister Hodgson was faced with this very issue back in 2006 I note that he took pretty similar action. He wrote at that time to Chester Borrows when faced with making changes to the household management services for 304 elderly people under Whanganui District Health Board and said “DHBs are expected to provide services within the limits of their budgets. Whanganui DHB as well as other DHBs must prioritise which services to fund. As a consequence 304 people assessed as low-need will no longer receive household management services funded by Whanganui DHB.” So that is exactly what the previous Government did. Apparently it was absolutely— 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: Every one of them had an assessment. Tell the truth for a change—tell the truth. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: You see she is saying now that I am not telling the truth. We cannot get any more truthful than this letter from Pete Hodgson. That member there Ruth Dyson is having to resort to unparliamentary language because she has been completely caught out. She has had to get personal on this stuff; she has no credibility on health. Labour members had 9 years to handle it and they failed. So if all they can do is come in here at question time or in debate and say “Oh you guys are doing exactly what we did but now it is a cut and when we did it it was a reprioritisation.” it is no wonder they lost the last election. I think personally that they need new people here. They need a new spokesperson on health— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. It is a relatively simple point of order. This is I understand a narrow debate unless there has been a reinterpretation of it to talk about things that are general political issues and not related. I think I have been in the Chamber for probably 3 minutes but have not heard reference to a particular item under review. It seems to me that the debate seems to be certainly outside what used to be allowed in it. If we are allowed to have something very general the Opposition would support that. But if that were the new ruling from here on in I am not entirely sure that the Minister of Education would support it. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: In response to that I tell members that it is a somewhat difficult issue for me to contain everybody exactly inside the rails. But I think that by and large the debate has been pretty much on track. Although the Minister did not often refer to the financial reviews regarding health he did spend some time responding to some comments made by the Hon Ruth Dyson. But I think the reminder is timely. I wish we could keep this debate tightly constrained but both sides have erred somewhat—well it is more than sides; the whole spectrum of the Committee has been involved. But it is a timely reminder. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Of course it is an old technique that if one is losing the debate one tries to break it up. But we are used to that sort of thing. That member Trevor Mallard is one who should be leaving as well. If members would like to discuss the financial review aspects— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Put a cigar in your hand. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: You see he is getting personal. They are losing; these guys are losing: they are losing with the public they are losing in the Chamber. Mr Mallard is another who definitely should be going. But we are quite happy to have him here because the more he talks the better it gets for us. 
I tell members that $536 million of new money is going into health. There is more money going into health than ever before. There is more elective surgery being done— 
Hon Members 
: Oh rubbish. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: There is; those members cannot deny it. We have put more money into health than any other Government in the past and we are delivering services: 12 months’ treatment with Herceptin and more elective surgery than ever before. Quite frankly I tell members the public wanted a focus on the services they needed and they are getting that. The public are happy. The big reasons for which this Government was elected were to manage the economy to make people feel safer at home to get the health service right and of course to deliver on national standards in education. We have made some promises; we are firmly delivering on them. When we look at what else has happened we can see that we have firmly tackled the workforce crisis which is probably the biggest single aspect of the health care system that needs fixing. We are making more places available. We have introduced a voluntary bonding scheme. We are focusing on getting the money directed to the services that the public need and that will be our overwhelming emphasis.