Verrall AyeshaHon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Labour): Mr Speaker a question often asked in politics is whether a matter is a cock-up or a conspiracy. Well the Government's efforts to blame Health New Zealand budget overspends on others has the unique distinction of being both. It had all the hallmarks of a conspiracy: a crisis manufactured from a growing deficit a Prime Minister and health Minister at the podium speaking to a slanderous Cabinet paper a long cast of alleged villains but 24 hours later the Government's efforts at spin have not stood up to basic scrutiny. Their poorly executed conspiracy has morphed into a cock-up; here's three reasons why. Firstly they allege that growth in back-office staff is the reason for the overspend but its really hiring more nurses and paying them what they're worth. That's what Margie Apa Chief Executive of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand said yesterday at a press conference. She said that In relation to better than expected international recruitment and improved retention after COVID." she said "We found ourselves actually over-correcting much faster than we had expected." New Zealand's new health commissioner Lester Levy said yesterday "We pay nurses what they deserve." Yes pay equity for nurses is what they deserve. They deserve the pay rise that is why they're being retained in our health system more. As we traversed in the House yesterday Dr Reti blamed growing middle management over the last six years for overspends in Te Whatu Ora. Well that shows how—that's farcical. It shows how financially illiterate he must be. Changes in back-office staff that happened over six years could cause a budget blow-out in March of this year—is totally ridiculous. These are desperate attempts to fit the facts to their narrative about back-office spending and it is just not true. Their attempt at a manufactured crisis just shows their financial illiteracy.The second reason: they knew that they needed to fund the health system more but they decided not to. The kicker is that this Government knew it before Budget '24 was passed. They knew that the allocation was going to be insufficient well ahead of Budget day and they did nothing to address it. That's why the health system is in the position it's in. On 1 March this year those of us diligently sitting in the Health Committee heard from Te Whatu Ora about their budget troubles. We knew then well before the ink was dry on the Budget. We knew that the costs calculated in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU) were insufficient to meet this year's pressures in the health system. The Minister had plenty of time to act before Budget day but ignored this important information from officials. This situation this manufactured crisis goes back to the bad decisions this Government has made. They went to the election with a tax plan that didn't add up they made poor choices and this underfunding of our health system is all on them. And they keep waving about Labour's fiscal plan. I just want to point out to you that what's not in dispute is what PREFU said. That's not what's in dispute. What's in dispute is what the Government did when the situation changed and Labour was not in a situation where we had an unfunded tax plan and we would have had much more room to move and I could confidently say we wouldn't be in the position the Government is now in.The third thing is that this Government hopes this whole performance will be a justification for their cost cutting. But Kiwis have seen right through it. The New Zealand people can see what they hear in the news every day from front-line workers about the cuts that are already happening on the front line: nurses being told that vacancies they have can no longer be filled; vacancies that are on the Te Whatu Ora website just being removed; people finding out that their maternity leave can no longer be filled; Whangārei Hospital saying the emergency department is routinely overwhelmed; nurses going on the record saying it's routinely in code black; nurses and graduates not being able to get work in our public hospital system because they cannot find the budget to employ them anymore.Hon Kieran McAnulty: Shameful.Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: Absolutely shameful. Our public hospital system is where they should be trained. People can see this and it doesn't make sense to say that there is bloat in our hospital system; there is underfunding and this Government had an opportunity to do something about it and then it chose not to.This Government is taking New Zealand backwards. They are scrambling to blame their incompetence on anyone else. They are casting blame far and wide. Their small-minded managerialism just sees them change the governance arrangements but they won't fundamentally fix the problems. I take responsibility for Health New Zealand hiring more nurses; when will this Government take responsibility for its decisions?"