O'Connor Damien: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
O'Connor Damien: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:615;Page:10852] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister for Racing) 
: 
 If one ever wanted to hear a classic example of a prejudiced and an ignorant speech from the Tory party then that was it. It exposed the very worst of the values that drive that Tory party and that will keep it in Opposition for years into the future. It is nice to be back in Parliament. We have had a great break over Christmas. My colleagues are enthusiastic about governing this country. I am not sure where the National Party has been—I am not sure where its leader has been—but it does remind me of an old television programme called  
Doctor Who 
. Dr Who was a nondescript person who occasionally would disappear inside a little phone box called a tardis. He would emerge from it somewhere not quite sure where he was not quite sure of what he had to do and not quite sure of the area in which he was appearing. Don Brash disappeared before Christmas as Dr Who—no one knew who he was—and emerged as Dr Brash leader of the National Party. If what we have seen since his emergence is anything to go by I suggest he disappear back into the tardis and come back as Dr Who because this country has been driven into a corner by the kind of ignorance and prejudice that we heard in that speech from Judith Collins just a couple of minutes ago. 
New Zealand is moving ahead. The only people who want to see failure in this country are the National Party MPs because they have nothing else to offer this country. New Zealanders are optimistic in spite of a high exchange rate for the New Zealand dollar. In spite of some other challenges ahead of them they are optimistic about the direction in which we are taking this country. Success for New Zealand does not just happen. Success does not rely solely on markets or ideology. We cannot rely solely on markets and ideology to deliver opportunity to all New Zealanders or to deliver fairness to this country. That experiment failed in the 1990s under the National - ACT - New Zealand First Government. People elected our Government in 1999 to govern and that is what we intend to do for a long time. The ACT party may call that intervention; we call it active management. We consider that guiding this country into the future is worthy of more effort than the laissez-faire ideology shown by the previous National Government. We believe and know that we are prepared to work hard in order to ensure that we have success not only on the sports field which we celebrated last weekend and not only in commerce which we are clearly seeing from our robust economy but also in the areas of social need.Nowhere is that clearer than in the area of health. 
The Nats had a theory for health: they wanted competition. They thought that would deliver. They wanted privatisation and in the end they wanted to destroy the public health system in this country in the stupid belief that all New Zealanders would be better off. Well we have had to pick up the pieces. “One’s health is one’s wealth” may be a corny old phrase but it is just as true now as it was last year and as it was in the 1990s and 1800s. This Government is driven on that philosophy. In spite of growing technology and the demands in the areas of health care we are putting in more money and delivering better services and more equitable access for every New Zealander and we will continue to do that. 
We have a theory that investing in prevention rather than treatment is far better over time. We have a commitment through policy to primary health-care and to access to primary health-care. That means each and every New Zealander when he or she needs support and assistance will get it. When people need to see a practitioner be it a general practitioner or a nurse they will be able to do so and get the help they need. As my colleague the Minister of Health Annette King said we are committed to universal access to a world-class public-health system and we have to remind the public in this country that if the Nats and ACT party get their hands on the tiller again they will again attempt to privatise and commercialise our health system and to destroy the public system that is the backbone of security in this country. 
I would like to run through a few things we have done in health care and a few commitments we have for health care into the future. We have primary health organisations. They are organisations that coordinate primary health-care in the regions to enable people whether they be in Westport Whangarei or Dargaville to get access to primary health-care. Those organisations will mean better support for general practitioners better support for nurses and cheaper and better access for each and every New Zealander into the future. There are 2.5 million New Zealanders enrolled in primary health organisations. They are on the road they are moving ahead and they will be successful. We have committed $3 billion in extra funding to health care since we came into Government. That means that we can increase the spending— 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: Increase the operations? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: —in areas such as operations. I tell Mr Mapp that that is quite right. And we can increase support for rural health initiatives. In fact we can increase care for the elderly up and down this country. We have to invest in facilities that that National Government ran into the ground through its ideology. [ 
Interruption 
] Yes we have to spend money on Auckland Hospital. In fact $657 million has been committed by this Government in a 4-year capital projects programme. In the Capital and Coast District Health Board the sum is $303 million and it is $70 million in Invercargill. 
Investment is not just in the cities but also out in the rural and provincial regions. There is a $27 million redevelopment of Masterton Hospital. That makes a real difference to the rural economies and to the confidence of the primary industries in those areas. We are spending $7.6 million to redevelop Dunstan Hospital a hospital that languished under the previous Government. But this Government has committed to upgrade it and improve access to it and to provide health care to a world-class standard. 
I would like to mention briefly some of the good initiatives in rural health. It is not good enough to say as the previous Government did with regard to education that it provided the services and that it was up to people to get access to those services and to drive their quality. We have taken a more proactive approach as a Government and said that we will ensure quality education and quality health-care and we will ensure that people get access to them. The previous National Government sat back on its hands and let education in some areas drop to deplorable standards. My colleague Trevor Mallard went down to the West Coast where we had a meeting last week and we committed to close five schools. It is a good move because children into the future will have access to more sustainable quality education. National did not have the courage to do that. I applaud the actions of my colleague knowing that he is focused on delivering quality education to rural children—in fact to children right through the provincial and urban centres of this country. 
We are a Government that will be proactive in those areas. We are not prepared to sit back like the poor fools that some National Party members have clearly shown themselves to be and expect the market to deliver quality health-care and quality education to New Zealanders up and down this country. We are committed to assisting and intervening where we see the need regardless of race and regardless of geographical location. This is a Government that knows that equality of opportunity is a cornerstone of this country and that unless we can offer that we are not doing justice to each and every New Zealander.