Blue Jackie: Address in Reply 
Blue Jackie: Address in Reply 
[Volume:628;Page:425] 
Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 I would like to offer my congratulations to the Hon Margaret Wilson on her election as Speaker to Clem Simich on his election as Deputy Speaker and to you on your election as Assistant Speaker. On 7 October 1999 I was in the public gallery listening to the Hon John Banks give his valedictory speech. Little did I know that 6 years on the roles would be reversed and I would be giving my maiden speech in the House and John Banks would be in the public gallery listening to me. Indeed if anyone had suggested this was a possibility I would have thought it totally bizarre. John Banks has been my cheerleader on the sideline and I would like to thank him for that. 
But there are current members of Parliament whom I would also like to thank for being here today. One of them is the Hon Annette King. That may surprise members but I will explain. Although my deliberate path into politics started only a few years ago looking back now I can see that it actually began 13 years ago. It began in 1992 when working as a general practitioner I was asked by Auckland breast surgeon John Harman to train as New Zealand’s first breast physician. Breast physicians are doctors specialising in the diagnosis and follow-up of women’s breast conditions and concerns. John was visionary and charismatic. I had no hesitation in leaving general practice. Together we set up the first truly multidisciplinary breast centre in New Zealand. Over time this model has been reproduced in centres all around New Zealand. History needs to recognise John Harman. By pioneering the multidisciplinary breast centre in New Zealand he has raised the standard of how women with breast problems and concerns are managed and treated in this country. 
I worked hard in my new profession campaigned tirelessly for breast cancer screening and over time built up a solid reputation. But my work as a breast physician was new and it threatened traditional medical models. Very early on it became clear that breast physicians needed to be formally recognised and this was achieved in 1999 with Medical Council recognition. However try as I might—and I tried very very hard—I could not get formal recognition with BreastScreen Aotearoa the national breast-screening programme. I was extremely frustrated. 
John Harman suggested I should attend a Wellington medical women’s conference in July 2001 specifically to lobby Annette King the then Minister of Health who was opening the conference. I even bought a new red jacket to wear so I could be more appealing to Annette King. It did not work. I went to Wellington and as fate would have it also speaking at the conference was Wellington general practitioner Dr Mary English. At the conference dinner that night I spoke with Mary and she introduced me to her husband Bill who happened to be the deputy leader of the National Party. It was a pivotal meeting for me and as a result of my friendship with Mary and Bill I knew I wanted to help in some way. They encouraged me to join the National Party in Auckland. That is when my political life began and it is why I must thank Annette King for giving me the opportunity to meet Bill and Mary English. 
The irony is that breast physicians who have worked in the breast-screening programme since its inception in late 1998 are still not formally recognised. This is quite strange really when we have a critical lack of workforce that threatens the implementation of our programme particularly to the younger woman. Clearly my work is not finished yet. The year 2004 was busy for me. I was elected on to the Auckland District Health Board on the Citizens and Ratepayers Now ticket. Earlier that same year I had been voted on to the National Party northern region list ranking committee and in fact in November 2004 I had been involved in the selection of my colleague Dr Jonathan Coleman for the Northcote seat. 
I had absolutely no intention of standing for Parliament; I was in the business of selecting the candidates. Fate however was to step in and 1 week before Christmas Dr Don Brash approached me at a National Party function and asked me whether I would consider standing. It was a simple question but it floored me. I have the greatest amount of respect and admiration for our leader Dr Don Brash so I went away and thought long and hard over the Christmas break. Like a lot of people I was extremely unhappy at the direction New Zealand was heading in. It was a make or break election for New Zealand and the National Party. I wanted to do what I could whatever it took. I took the plunge and in early 2005 I was selected to stand in Mt Roskill. 
After the initial elation of being selected to stand in Mt Roskill my emotional state alternated between excitement despair and terror—mostly the latter two. Being a novice I anguished about how on earth I could pull a campaign team together and deliver a respectable result against a seasoned and well-respected political opponent Labour MP Phil Goff while not embarrassing or humiliating myself or the party on the way through. Again fate intervened by way of Nick Albrecht who generously agreed to be my campaign manager even though he had his hands full being Maurice Williamson’s campaign manager. My wonderful talented team was quickly formed: Charles and Leigh Hay Ram Rai Ian Andrews Aaron Bhatnagar Gillian Moody Sean Palmer Simon O’Connor David Cooke Gareth Jenkins Surendra Sharma Josh Beddell Malcolm Butler Dale Burden Stephen Sharp and Margaret Voyce who has also joined me in my Wellington office. 
My extraordinary thanks must go to my family who are here today. My husband David Miller is an exceptional man who has unconditionally supported me throughout my career with the wisdom of knowing when to steer a wide berth and when to haul me in when I get out of line. I would like to acknowledge my two beautiful daughters Jessie and Paddy my mother Doris McHale a strong woman and a loving mother who grew up in the Depression and who would have gone far if she had had the educational opportunities and my father-in-law Austin Miller who—incredibly at the age of 75—is still working full time. I would also like to honour my late father Stuart Aitken Strang Blue who served in World War II as an army major and dentist in the Middle East. They are all here today. I am so proud of them all. Also here today is my twin sister Robyn Blue my niece Ruth Egermayer and her aunt Vera Egermayer who is New Zealand’s honorary consul in the Czech Republic. I would like to thank other family and friends who have travelled to be here today and those who are listening over the airwaves. 
I have worked for over 20 years in the private health sector with the past 13 years being spent in the breast cancer field. I would like to share some thoughts. Breast cancer is a major public issue. Its incidence is increasing in both developed and developing countries. Why is this? It is clear that total oestrogen exposure over a lifetime is implicated in breast cancer development. This links reproductive dietary lifestyle and environmental factors together. All of those factors either increase levels of oestrogen or affect the way it is metabolised in the body. There are some things we cannot change such as age of menarche and menopause. There are other factors that will depend on individual choice and opportunity such as when a woman decides to have a family or how many children she has. However there are some things that we do have control over and can modify—that is diet lifestyle and environmental factors. That is where we must focus our efforts if we are ever to hope to get control over this disease. 
Using the scientific evidence available a targeted programme to reduce breast cancer risk is needed urgently. It is really about getting New Zealanders healthy exercising maintaining a healthy weight having a moderate intake of alcohol eating a diet low in animal fat and making healthy choices in food. That basic programme will also form a central strategy to tackle other public health enemies such as diabetes cardiovascular disease obesity and other cancers. However specific to breast cancer development is the effect of long-term hormone replacement therapy use and there is a growing body of evidence supporting the influence of foreign oestrogens which are found in some herbicides chemicals and pharmaceuticals. 
But in the here and now we face an increase in the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer. Although a public health strategy will help in the medium to long term it will not help women right now. What we need right now is an effective national breast cancer screening programme which means solving our serious workforce issues and understanding the extent of our problem. It requires a comprehensive national database and timely access to appropriate treatments. Those goals along with the formation of a national consumer advocacy group were the objectives of the Breast Cancer Advocacy Coalition which was formed in November 2004 and represents 12 key breast cancer organisations. 
Access to more effective breast cancer chemotherapy treatments and revolutionary drugs such as Herceptin which has been shown to markedly reduce breast cancer recurrence must be opened up. These lifesaving drugs are expensive and New Zealand is Third World when it comes to access to new effective drugs. The economic growth that would have been kick-started by National’s tax policy has been lost. Only wealthy countries can afford to pay their health workforces well and invest in infrastructure new drugs and technologies. Tragically New Zealanders will have to wait 3 more long years. 
I mentioned earlier the need for a focused public health strategy to get New Zealanders healthy. Changing behaviour will not be easy but it can be done. It must be done—we do not have an option. Fight the Obesity Epidemic is one of the organisations leading the way. Its members have just launched a petition to be presented to Parliament later this year. I predict that public support and the will for change will be massive. The experts on that team are warning that social marketing and education alone will not change behaviour. There also needs to be a change in the regulatory framework. I have worked in the public health sector for over 20 years and I would like to make a plug for it. It is a resource that is ready willing and able to help. The private health sector by necessity has had to be competitive efficient cost-conscious consumer focused and profitable. The public health sector despite having billions of dollars poured into it has become bloated overly bureaucratic and bogged down with ever-expanding waiting lists. 
We are losing precious medical staff overseas. We cannot compete with international medical salaries—that is a fact of life. Boosting the private health sector would entice many of our health professionals back. Many specialists have a part-time private practice to support their public practice and that would encourage doctors to settle back in New Zealand particularly in the provinces where there is a desperate shortage. By encouraging utilisation of the private health sector the burden on the struggling public sector will lessen. Encouragement could be by way of a tax incentive for those who elect to have private health insurance. 
The National Party has given me the important shadow portfolio of liaison with women’s groups. I am absolutely committed to this task. In the 21st century it is not acceptable that violence towards women and children an ever-increasing gender pay gap and under-representation of women in many professions still exist. 
In conclusion I am enormously honoured and proud to be here representing the people of New Zealand. I have no idea where this particular path is leading me but I would like to assure Parliament and the people of New Zealand that I will serve them with integrity and to the very best of my ability.