Paraone Pita: Financial Review Debate 
Paraone Pita: Financial Review Debate 
[Volume:607;Page:4156] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
 Nga mihi ki a koe; ka mihi ki a koutou nga mema o te Whare nei. 
[ 
Greetings to you; greetings to the members of the House 
.] 
It gives me pleasure to participate in the debate on this bill. From the inception of the debate today we have heard particularly from Government members that this is a Government of growth. If their interpretation of “growth” means for instance that they have increased the health budget by just over 12 percent during the last financial year then why is it that the health needs of New Zealanders are not being met? If we are to talk about growth I say that the needs of the New Zealand public are certainly growing. Yet in spite of the compliments that this Government gives itself the health of New Zealanders is no better. 
Hon John Tamihere 
: Not in New Zealand First. 
PITA PARAONE 
: That member should not worry about it—we will be there and we can fix it. However 63 percent of the vote was set aside to purchase services from district health boards. Yet we have had a number of district health boards ending the year with a deficit. 
Jill Pettis 
: That’s not the first time. Where have you been? 
PITA PARAONE 
: That is right and it is getting worse. I am glad I am not one of those people on hospital waiting lists. The Government might praise itself over the so-called diminishing numbers on hospital waiting lists but they have only come about as a result of the administrative acrobatics imposed on district health boards by the Government through its Minister of Health. 
Bill Gudgeon 
: That’s right. It wiped the waiting lists and told people to go back to their general practitioners. 
PITA PARAONE 
: It will not get any better. The deficit for district health boards was $250 million. If we are going to talk about growth not one member on that side of the House will deny that there will not be growth in that area under this Government. This Government is failing the people of New Zealand. If it wants evidence it should ask those people whose names have been removed from waiting lists—not because they have had their much-needed operations but because of the administrative manoeuvrings imposed by this Government through the Minister of Health. 
People are being referred to Australia to undertake urgent surgery. Although it is a credit that that is being undertaken why do we have to send our people offshore to get much-needed operations? Is it not ironic that today we had a debate on Iraq and people were talking about our relationship with Australia yet we do not support the decision Australia has taken to act with our allies? 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Neither did your party. It voted against. 
PITA PARAONE 
: Be that as it may this Government is sending our people offshore to get the services of that country yet when it comes to the serious issue of defending the rights and democracy of the free world it contradicts that very relationship. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: No. The member has just contradicted what his party voted against. 
PITA PARAONE 
: Never mind that I have made my point. In the area of mental health—and perhaps that member might need its services—there has been under-spending. Why is that? 
Jill Pettis 
: Because not enough staff have been trained. 
PITA PARAONE 
: If the Government is going to talk about growth why does it not increase the number of skilled and trained staff? Nothing has been said about that and nothing has been done about it either. If we are going to talk about growth there is an area where this Government can take credit for growth—growth in the need for trained people in the field of mental health. 
Recently $5 million was allocated to Team New Zealand. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
PITA PARAONE 
: As I was saying earlier the under-spending that occurred in the area of mental health was shameful and this Government must take responsibility for the pain and anguish that some members of the New Zealand public have had to endure through the loss of and harm to loved ones as a consequence of a service being inadequately resourced. In the context of the recent decision by the Government to grant $5 million to a sporting team rather than offering to underwrite that amount I have no doubt that all New Zealanders who require health services could well be asking why similar grants and resources cannot be provided to help them at similar short notice. 
Allied to the whole issue of health is the issue of housing. Again we heard that this Government is about growth. It certainly does not apply that in respect of homeownership. Homeownership rates are falling. Is that what this Government means by growth? In 1991 73.8 percent of New Zealanders owned their own homes. In 2001 that rate had fallen to 67.8 percent. Why is that? Of course it has to be a matter of affordability and it is already predicted that that situation will get worse. I have no doubt that members in the House will agree that the leaky-house syndrome has something to do with the predicted increase in costs for housing. This Government would have us believe that likely causes for the drop in homeownership are later family formation women delaying motherhood— 
Steve Chadwick 
: Is that a bad thing? 
PITA PARAONE 
: —and an increasing number of short-term and casual jobs. A member on the other side of the House asked whether women delaying motherhood is a bad thing. It is not necessarily a bad thing but if one is to use that excuse for the declining rate of homeownership in this country then it is a very poor excuse. Why do women delay becoming mothers? The reason is that they want to go out and work. They want to be able to raise the necessary finance in order to enjoy homeownership. Yet we are led to believe that this is one of the reasons for the decline in homeownership. 
However to the credit of the Acting Minister of Housing there is the admission that the Kiwi dream of owning a home may no longer be true. I say to the Government that the Kiwi dream will remain just that—a dream. What is the Government’s answer? It is to provide New Zealanders with rental housing. Although that answer might have merit it loses its effectiveness if rental housing is provided in areas where there is unlikely to be ready access to employment—for example the Hobsonville site where employment opportunities are at a premium. I suggest again that that will ensure that New Zealanders in that sector of the community—those who are in poor housing and unemployed—will continue to support this Government.