Lees-Galloway Iain: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:660;Page:8915] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 When the Prime Minister delivered his speech last Tuesday he was at great pains to insist and to convince us that he had a plan. Every Government member who has got up and spoken since then in this debate has insisted to us that they have a plan and that John Key has a plan. 
Tim Macindoe 
: We do have a plan. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Well where is this plan? Where is the plan? This plan is more secret than the activities of the SAS. We know more about what Willie Apiata is doing in Kabul than what the Prime Minister is doing for New Zealanders. There is no plan. That is becoming more and more apparent. If there was a plan if the Government was serious about doing something for this country then the plan would be about relieving unemployment. A few weeks ago we saw some stunning statistics. I think John Key and the Government were actually quite taken aback at just how much the unemployment rate has gone up in this country since they came to Government. 
Kelvin Davis 
: That’s 15.4 percent of Maori. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: That is right. In my electorate of Palmerston North the unemployment rate is now at 8.2 percent. That does not sound an awful lot next to 15 percent of Maori but it is very high for our region. It is higher than the national average and it is very unusual for our region to pop up above the national average. So where was John Key when the unemployment rate was rising? Where was his plan? What was he doing? Well he was probably talking to himself in the mirror congratulating himself on being voted the sexiest politician by a condom company. But that is kind of appropriate is it not? Because he was not brought in to lead; he was brought in to be the smiling waving acceptable face of the National Party. He smiles and he waves as jobs get cut—jobs like frontline services at MidCentral District Health Board in my electorate and jobs like delivering diabetes intervention and support services. 
When it comes to health care this Government does not have a clue. There is an old saying—it is common sense it is a bit clichéd but a lot of common sense sayings are—that prevention is better than cure. But prevention is well and truly out of fashion with this Government. Any programme that teaches people to take control of their health and to take control of their lives has been cut. Healthy Eating - Healthy Action has been cut. Fruit is out; pies are in. Targets to reduce obesity to maintain good oral health and to vigilantly monitor the mental health of our communities were all cut—every single one. Prevention is out of fashion with this Government. What do we get instead? Surgery is what the Government is focused on. When it comes to obesity what is the latest plan? Stomach stapling gastric bands gastric bypass whatever we want to call it the answer is the same and that is basically to take no personal responsibility. The Government is not going to help people take any personal responsibility it is not going to help people out but maybe if they are lucky it might offer surgery further down the track. 
Why is the Government so obsessed with surgery and this curative instead of preventative approach to healthcare? Well it is easy to measure. That is why. It is not looking for ways to improve New Zealand’s health it is not looking to improve population health but it is looking for things that are easy to measure—waiting times for example. I have not met a single clinician who thinks that emergency department waiting times are what we should be focusing on but they are easy to measure. Immunisation is actually quite a good thing. Thank goodness immunisation is easy to measure because the Government has stuck with it. Smoking cessation again is easy to measure. It is not the best approach; we should be preventing people from taking up smoking. But with smoking cessation we can tick the box give an extra piece of paper to the nurses doctors and the front-line healthcare workers and say they have done their bit on smoking cessation. 
The House knows that I have an interest in preventive strategies on tobacco. One of those areas that I have an interest in is tobacco displays. Scotland has recently banned tobacco displays the UK has banned tobacco displays Canada has banned tobacco displays and yet for some reason we continue to drag our feet in this country. Why? Because it is a difficult-to-measure preventive measure for trying to deal with long-term health issues. It is actually Tariana Turia’s preferred approach. She is the Minister responsible for tobacco control in this Government who does not get a say obviously; her preferred approach is down the gurgler as long as Tony Ryall is in charge. 
The other area we have been talking a lot about in trying to prevent people from taking up smoking is tax. Now would it not be ironic if this Government’s first move to try and curb smoking rates in this country was to increase tax? This from the Government that absolutely rock-solid promised not to increase GST before the election. Whoops there is another broken promise. But hang on; the Government did say that it would not have to increase GST if it was doing a half-decent job. So finally an admission from John Key that he is not actually doing a half-decent job. I think we should actually explore the issue of taxation as a tobacco-control method. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
Debate interrupted.