van Velden BrookeBROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT): Thank you Madam Chair. I would just like to start my contribution today by congratulating the Minister of Health for adopting the ACT Party's amendment to the pae ora legislation. And I note that a few months ago the ACT Party said that there are serious flaws with this legislation with the health reforms and that it ignored a substantial number of New Zealanders. Under Supplementary Order Paper 151 in my name we adopted a rural health strategy to make sure that rural New Zealanders' voices are not overlooked in the health reforms and I'd like to congratulate the Minister for adopting a sensible piece of policy that will make this health reform better because we know that the Government quite often overlooks the needs of rural New Zealanders and I think that is a shame.I'd also like to question what on earth changed the Minister's mind. Was it really the letter that I sent him a few months ago? Or was it the question I put to the Minister in the House a few weeks ago when I said Does he stand by his Government not including a rural health strategy for the approximately 750000 New Zealanders who live rurally or remotely in the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill?" I wonder what the answer was. He said "Yes."—yes—"The Government was pleased to see a wide range of submissions" etc. etc. but it wasn't necessary to have a rural health strategy. So I would put it to this House that if it was not for the ACT Party listening to the needs of rural New Zealanders we would not have a rural health strategy in this bill.Rural New Zealanders are quite often overlooked but the ACT Party constantly is on the road we're constantly out meeting the needs of New Zealanders—listening to the concerns of rural New Zealand. Just recently we've been up and down New Zealand on our Real Change Tour being part of the community listening to cares and concerns and something that's come out which has stuck with me is from people saying that this health reform is unnecessarily divisive it doesn't focus on health needs and it has overlooked a substantive part of New Zealand—rural New Zealand.We know that the Health and Disability System Review identified that people living in small towns and in rural towns can have poorer health outcomes and lower life expectancy. Rural populations were mentioned over 80 times in that health and disability review and yet when it came to the health system reform that this Government put forward they were barely mentioned at all. If it was not for the ACT Party standing up for rural New Zealand we would not be here congratulating the Minister on finally adopting a sensible change. We certainly hope that it will go some way to helping people get more access to midwives to better healthcare to better mental health care and mental health nurses and to better mental health technology—a whole range of systems that can help rural populations. But I would also question why it was that only a few weeks ago the Minister seemed to think that localities were the answer to rural New Zealand's problems. So what is it Mr Little? Is it that the localities have lost your faith or have you really been swayed by the ACT Party's proposition?"