Coleman JonathanHon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): I just want to wrap up by complimenting an excellent set of speeches from the Treasury benches tonight. I mean we have got an excellent health team a great set of very committed people across the Health Committee—actually on both sides of the House—and certainly the chair of the Health Committee is doing a great job in support of the Government's agenda working with his team of very able and committed National Party MPs. We had a set of really deeply anaesthetising speeches from the Opposition tonight. Hon Amy Adams: Did they have a licence to administer those drugs?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: I mean poor old Kevin Hague—yes he was like the personification of Temazepam. But what was really disappointing about that set of speeches was that there was really no policy—no policy there. The only bit of policy we got was from the MP for Manukau East who committed the Labour Government to an instant $4 billion fiscal blowout at its first Budget by saying that it is going to tip in another $1.7 billion straight into the health budget—and then on top of that you are talking about another almost $2.3 billion in its first year. The problem with Labour in its approach to health is that it just does not see health as part of a wider fiscal context. There is no emphasis on accountability; no emphasis on results. Sam Lotu-Iiga my Associate Minister was talking about the money that we put into disability services and I could just hear someone on my left here saying: It's not enough." Then Barbara Stewart from New Zealand First actually had some very good common-sense ideas in her speech—a rare outbreak of common sense from over that side. She also was saying that the money will never be enough. The fact is that no one is ever going to say: "Stop sending dollars into health." but we have to focus on results. Kevin Hague said something about Tony Ryall—all he ever focused on when he assessed a decision was: "Does it lose me votes or does it win me votes?". I think that actually that would be a great thing for the Greens to start trying themselves because actually in the end they are in politics. The wider context is this Government as expressed through these Estimates is providing the resources to fund the services that New Zealanders need in health and the Opposition could not name one service that is not better under a National Government. So everything has improved. The funding for everything has improved. The results for everything have improved. But the wider context is also that we are now taking the social investment approach. So we are not just doing things in isolation. We have got health working in conjunction with housing. We are looking at the effects of what we do in health in terms of the flow of people through the education system and what that means ultimately in terms of social outcomes especially for some of our most vulnerable people when they are coming through into adulthood. The New Zealand health system when you look at it internationally is performing exceedingly well. Under this Government we have maintained Vote Health at 6.5 percent of GDP. It is actually higher than the average—less than 6 percent of GDP—that it was under the Labour Government. Labour members have been saying there is $1.7 billion cut from the health budget—completely untrue. The health budget over time has gone up by over $4 billion. But the key thing is that it is producing better and better results: an extra 50000 operations an extra 110000 appointments per year and an extra 6000-plus doctors and nurses in the system. Meanwhile we are focusing resources on not only our most vulnerable populations but those district health boards (DHB) that have had unique challenges. So if you look at Canterbury we are in the middle of a $1 billion hospital building programme—the biggest ever in New Zealand. So Burwood Hospital is open and you would have seen those fantastic television pictures of very happy patients. The Acute Services building is going up. For the outpatients clinic we signed the contract and announced the tenderer for that last Friday. We are doing Akaroa. We have done that centre in North Canterbury and next on the block we have got the West Coast. It was going to be $68 million but we have bumped that up to $77 million. We are going to have a hospital there that is state of the art. It is going to be connected via telehealth to Christchurch a fantastic resource for the people of the West Coast. And next off the block it is going to be Southern. So for Dunedin Hospital we are going through the Treasury process. Yesterday we announced $11 million for the new intensive care unit. There is good engagement between the commissioners and the doctors and the DHB there to really get those services that people in the south need. The contribution that Jacqui Dean and other southern MPs have made to get that working well is great. So this is a great set of Estimates a great injection of funding but above all a great set of health results for New Zealand.Vote Health agreed to."