Cunliffe David: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Cunliffe David: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:647;Page:15974] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Health) 
: 
 What a well-timed intervention from that new member! As it happens only a week or so ago I did a full tour of the Waitemata District Health Board not wearing my hat as a local MP but wearing a ministerial hat. I can tell that member that I saw plenty of evidence of the investment that this Government has made. 
If that member cared to get his hands dirty to go back and see the Mason Clinic in its new form to go and see the splendid new Waiatarau mental health care facility on the Lincoln Road campus to spend some time in the new high-dependency unit at North Shore Hospital and to look at the investment now going into the emergency centre at that hospital where a new station is being built to take the overflow and if he bothered to read the new data on vacancy rates that show that the district health board consistently managed down vacancies over the last 3 years he would not be making the kind of prattle that is frankly indicting him as the same kind of lightweight MP as Ann Hartley was about whom the people of Northcote are now asking: “Where the hell is Ann Hartley when you need a decent MP?”. That is what they are saying. So that member is going to have a very interesting time in the polls I think. 
The best he could do was to try to throw personal insults about where people live as if he is not part of a party whose leader was registered to vote in Helensville but lived in St Stephens Avenue Parnell. At least I am only 10 minutes from my electorate office; he has to virtually catch an international flight to get to his. He is all the way across the other side of the harbour. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: He is not a Chardonnay socialist! 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: Would this by chance be the same John Key who on his DVD—which is not authorised anyway—over the sound of violin music playing tells us about how he was a poor kid from nowhere who grew up in a State house then devoted his professional life to making it harder for other poor kids to get a State house? 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: I raise a point of order Madam Chairperson. I cannot see what this has to do with the financial review of the Waitemata District Health Board. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: Speaking to the point of order I think a rebuttal is fair when the member himself raised the issue of the Minister’s domicile. The pot cannot be calling the kettle black. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: In actual fact a number of people on both sides have gone off the topic in both the first speech and in reply. I would ask the Minister now to come back to the topic. This is about the Waitemata District Health Board. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: Fair enough. To take account of the pressure on the emergency centre at North Shore Hospital some 70 additional beds are in the process of being put together through a combination of an expansion of a ward on the Waitakere campus and additional beds on the North Shore campus. I am confident that that is going to alleviate the kind of problem we had last winter with very high presentation rates. The new cardiac unit at North Shore Hospital and the new high-dependency unit will make a significant contribution to that. I think it is fair to say that the Ministry of Health has given the district health board a clear message that we expect the winter flow to be well managed and that we look forward to seeing proposals from it as to what further measures it can take that will ensure it is well positioned. 
But I would remind the member that I am advised by the member for New Lynn formerly the member for Titirangi that before 1999 which is when this Government came to office all that existed on the Lincoln Road campus was the run-down building known as the Snelgar Building and a few prefabs. It was this Government that invested some $70 million in upgrading Waitakere’s hospital facilities. There are new facilities there—the new maternity unit the new out-patients unit the new general unit and of course the new mental health units. So I think the member should visit the area and acquaint himself more thoroughly with the district health board before he makes speeches in the House that are without foundation. 
This district health board’s area has one of the fastest-growing populations in the country. It has a higher than average rate of high-needs individuals from both the Pasifika and the migrant communities as well as an about average rate of Maori participants in its boundaries. It has a very high rate of primary health organisation enrolment with some very competent primary health organisations. It is fortunate to draw upon a community that has extensive and well-integrated community networks and therefore has a strong array of non-governmental organisations that provide community support. For that reason it was the site of the Government’s Wellbeing Summit conference and has in many respects provided a leadership role in sharing best practice around the country in relation to primary health care. 
I should say that the Mason Clinic in west Auckland which is administered by that district health board is a world leader in forensic mental health care and of its first 100 patients I am told there was no recidivism on discharge. That is a truly astounding—astounding—achievement. 
Report noted.