Curran Clare: Crown Entities Reform Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Curran Clare: Crown Entities Reform Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 22 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2255. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South) 
: 
 Labour members on this side of the House do have a number of concerns about this bill the Crown Entities Reform Bill and certainly not just to do with the item that the previous speaker Jami-Lee Ross discussed. I would like to refer my comments to Part 2 of the bill around the disestablishment of the Mental Health Commission. This bill is aimed at what it says is amalgamating “the functions of a number of existing agencies to achieve gains in financial efficiencies effectiveness and future viability of agencies.” What we contend is that with regards to the downgrading the diminishing of the Mental Health Commission and its functions it is not effective at all. It is not effective that this bill will actually diminish its functions and diminish its role. I want to address that as being a wrong priority and a false economy because it is an example of how saving money will result in more problems down the track and will result in worse outcomes for people. As my colleague Iain Lees-Galloway said earlier this is a vulnerable part of the community where mental health is treated as the poor cousin and not given the attention that it deserves.  
We certainly support high-quality public services that are delivered in the most efficient and effective way but what we are seeing here with this particular proposal is certainly not going to be that. There will not be efficiencies and we have seen a number of examples of that. I just wanted to mention as a clear example of that the Housing New Zealand Corporation which introduced its “Smarter. Faster. Fairer.” 0800 system which not only cut 70 jobs but is actually as we speak resulting in worse outcomes for people who are being badly affected.  
 I have got a case in Dunedin right now of a young family in a State house who had their fireplace taken away a month ago. It still has not been replaced. There are three small children in that household. One of them has been hospitalised with bronchiolitis which is a disease of poverty and all the mother can do is ring the 0800 number to try to find out when the contractor is coming back to fix that fireplace. She is having to use electric heaters and spend money on power she cannot afford because Housing New Zealand Corporation has an 0800 number. You tell me how that is smarter faster and fairer.  
Disestablishing the Mental Health Commission simply will not adequately reflect the Mental Health Commission’s present functions. We are also concerned that the blueprint funding roll-out which did not meet the roll-out target in the last 2 years will be further reduced. We consider that it is turning what was a proactive approach that the commission applied to its auditing and advisory functions into a reactive function which is well suited to the Health and Disability Commissioner’s complaints resolution process but will not reflect the proactive response and the proactive role that the commission has played in the past.  
I did not sit on the select committee that heard this bill but I have read the submissions. I have read submissions from the New Zealand Drug Foundation the National Council of Women the Public Service Association and the Mental Health Foundation which have all opposed this part of the bill.