King AnnetteHon ANNETTE KING (Labour—Rongotai): Can I begin by saying to the chair of the Health Committee that the Speaker would not have given this debate if it did not have substance. One of the remarks of Mr O'Connor was: There is not a lot of substance to this debate." Well it had to be urgent it had to have responsibility of the Minister and it needed to be serious enough and that is why there is a debate on this issue.I have to say that I am astounded by the Minister of Health's speech because he believes that the health issues facing New Zealand are beltway issues. That shows a Government out of touch and out of favour because if it was in touch it would know that health issues will be an election issue because they affect families in all walks of life. People are affected by what happens in the health sector.I have to say it is a sad day. It is a sad day that we once again have to raise the incompetence of the Ministry of Health particularly the incompetence of the senior management of the Ministry of Health. I feel sorry for the staff who work at the Ministry of Health—not those in senior management but those who graft away every day trying to do their best. I feel sorry for those who are working in the health sector and face the incompetence that has come out of this ministry under the leadership that it has. And it is not new. I have been raising these issues for over 4 years. I have raised them with the State Services Commissioner I have raised them with the Minister of Health at the select committee and I have raised them in this House because there is a pattern here of incompetence. You only need to see what is happening to the confidence of those who work in the health sector. Their confidence is shot. Their confidence in the ability of this ministry and this Minister to lead the health portfolio is shot.I have to say that when you see a district health board (DHB) like the Canterbury DHB calling for the resignation of the Director-General of Health that is unprecedented. I cannot recall a DHB ever calling for the Director-General of Health's resignation. Now the Minister might say "Unfair to pick on a public servant." but this was a mistake made by the head of a department that has a portfolio of billions of dollars and this is a major mistake. But it is not the first. The first—well there have been many. But let us just remind this House of the mistake made over the funding of the Ministry of Health's building where the director-general did not inform his Minister that they did not have the money they said they had for refurbishment. That was hidden from the Minister for months. I have to say that this Minister has been given poor advice this Minister has been misled and it is fair to say that there have even been lies to the Minister.We now have the lowest morale we have seen in any Government department in New Zealand because of this poor leadership. The Minister says: "Well I don't believe he needs to resign." How can he say a $38 million blunder was just an administration error? It has also today been called a minor technical error but it is not minor to the DHBs that have been on the receiving end of the $38 million blunder. Simon O'Connor called it an accounting error. Well the director-general was an accountant. If they cannot do their figures over there there is something seriously wrong.So where is the accountability? Why has the Minister not asked the director-general to resign? He said he could not recall whether the director-general offered his resignation or whether he asked for it which shows to me that this issue is not being taken seriously by the Minister at all. He needs to say "Be gone." because this sector is far too important for us to have such incompetence at the leadership of it.Health I have to say is going to hell on this Minister's watch. This Government does not like to hear it but the shortfall in health is impacting in mental health in primary care in access to elective surgery and in NGOs that are waiting for funding that they have not had for years. This is a serious debate. I am just so sorry that it has not been taken seriously by this Government."