Doocey MattMATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): Thank you very much Madam Chair. What an important day to debate the annual reviews for Vote Health and I think nothing typifies Labour's absolute failure in mental health more than the news on the weekend that a mental health patient had waited 94 hours in the emergency department (ED). One doctor reported that it was the longest wait in the history of emergency departments in New Zealand for a mental health patient. Let's be very clear: the Health and Disability Commissioner has called on this Labour Government for a plan. Who would have thought that six years later after $1.9 billion we're getting a record for how long a mental health patient will stay in an emergency department? Why this is important is because as we heard today from the Minister herself $27.5 million was announced a year ago in Budget 2022. As of the end of March no money of that $27.5 million had been spent to date and in the Minister's answer in question time today potentially only about $800000 will be spent by the end of the financial year. That is the important context of the last 12 months of mental health in New Zealand under Labour: no plan and things going backwards. Where did that $1.9 billion go? What's interesting is that in the annual review for the Ministry of Health when we look at question 162 about full-time vacancy rates I would say that the biggest barrier to timely mental health and addiction support in New Zealand today is our mental health and addictions workforce crisis which this Government has had its head in the sand over. It has failed to accept the crisis but it has done little to actually stop the exodus out of our health system. When you look at question 162 for the fulltime-equivalent vacancy rate for psychiatrists in June 2021 it was 33.9. In June 2022—because that is the period we're covering in today's debate—it was 76.3. In the last year of this annual review debate under focus today vacancy rates in psychiatry have increased 125 percent. That is why people are sitting in the ED department for 94 hours. That is why vulnerable Kiwis are sitting on waiting lists. That is why vulnerable Kiwis and their families cannot get the access to the care that they need. Look at the discipline of psychology for this annual review. The full-time vacancy rate for June 2021 to June 2022 has increased from 72 fulltime-equivalents to 114.9 an increase of 58 percent. Registered nurses for mental health: the vacancy rate is 212 for the same period. At the end of this period we're reviewing it is 407—a 91 percent increase in vacancies—and we wonder why people are leaving under the stress of covering multiple roles that are vacant. This is the pressure on our mental health workforce so I want to hear from the Minister today what has gone so wrong. When they announced $1.9 billion for mental health—and let's be frank last Budget they announced another $100 million for workforce pressures. So now we're up to $2 billion but the vacancy rates are increasing. There is no plan. The Health and Disability Commissioner said on the weekend that they wanted to see a plan. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in its first damning report in 2021 said that there was no plan. Why is there no comprehensive plan for the mental health workforce crisis in New Zealand? That is the biggest barrier to timely mental health and addiction support in New Zealand.