Bond Ria: New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBond Ria: New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 08 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8616. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RIA BOND (NZ First): I am proud to rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak to the New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill. This is because I actually reside in Invercargill in Southland and I am really passionate and proud to say on behalf of New Zealand First that we passionately oppose this bill.I have three main objections to this bill that I would like to talk about today. The first is that this bill is an appalling affront to the southerners’ democratic right to vote for their own health board representatives. Secondly we know very little about the work done by the current commissioners to date but we are expected to take it on trust that they are doing a great job and give them the job until 2019. Thirdly the real culprit for the state of the Southern District Health Board’s fiscal woes is the Government’s terrible population-based funding and the amalgamation of the Southland and Otago district health boards. That has been referred to as a science experiment and we feel that there has been a hidden agenda that will see lead services redirected to Dunedin Hospital and Southland Hospital playing a lesser role.But first what this bill means for democracy in this country. One of the basic principles in this country is the right to vote. It is how I got my job; it is how the Minister of Health got his. In New Zealand First we respect democracy but this bill is an appalling affront to democracy. The Minister wants to play this down as one election but what this really is is another example of this Government putting all the power in the hands of a small unelected few because it believes that it knows better than anybody else and because it thinks it knows better than Southlanders and Otago residents—residents who have been kicked off the waiting list residents like Dave Savage who was a victim of the system and who like many other New Zealanders spread across this country was simply kicked off the list.Southlanders are entitled to a right to vote on who should be managing their local health-care needs. Locals know our regional concerns better. Southerners understand the state of our local district health board. They are not naive to the problems it faces but they want them fixed now more than ever. We oppose this bill because New Zealand First objects to the Government taking the decision-making power away from the people.This bill also is a complete and utter turn-round from what the Minister told southerners in June when he appointed the commissioner. The Minister is quoted in the Otago Daily Times from a press conference he held as saying: “The plan is really for the commissioners to stay on as appointed members of that board and new elected members to come on in at the local body elections.”I cannot understand why this could not still be the case. Why the change of heart? What happened no one knows. It is all cloak and daggers. Why can the elections not go ahead and allow Southlanders on to the board to have their say as well? The irony here is that this bill strips Southland and Otago residents of the right to hold a referendum on the work of the current commissioners—this from the Government that never met a flag referendum it did not like. But when it comes to the vote that actually means something not just a third-term vanity project suddenly these elections are a nuisance that interrupt the process.It has been touted out there that this non - holding of the election will be at a cost saving to the Southern District Health Board of $300000. I ask this Minister: are you serious? Maybe the Minister knows that Southlanders are totally fed up with how slow and secret these changes have been. I am sure that the Government members sitting there across from me have read all the many articles about the uproar opposing this bill.I would like to read a little bit from the Southland Times from what a former board member has actually said. This is what it says: “The move has left former SDHB member Kaye Crowther mortified. She said the axing of next year’s SDHB board election had taken away the opportunity for Otago and Southland residents to have a voice in their health care. The commissioner’s team has achieved little and its reduction of the deficit after six months was ‘peanuts in the grand scheme of things’. The government’s move to axe elections so a commissioner could take control signalled the future for other DHBs she believed. ‘I think it’s the beginning of a process that will change the beginning of the DHB structure.’ Another former SDHB member [Mr] Cook said the Government’s move showed the problems faced by the sacked board were never a quick fix. ‘It wasn’t a whole lot of bad board decisions it was an underlying problem with amalgamation [of the Southland DHB and Otago DHB] which you can’t fix overnight’ … With Southland board members out of the way and no Southlanders on the commissioner’s team this could now happen [Mr] Cook said.” We could see the move away from Southland Hospital giving its lead surgery to Dunedin Hospital.It was also reported in the Otago Daily Times: “SDHB: Was there any choice? Many may view last week’s announcement to extend the term of the commissioner appointed to oversee the Southern District Health Board by three years (bypassing the 2016 local body elections until those in 2019) with shock and outrage.”My second point is the competency of current commissioners. We are told to trust the Government and that the commissioner and her team are doing a stellar job. Well if the commissioner and her team are doing such a wonderful job why can they not run in the election and stand on their own merits? Maybe because we do not know what material changes the commissioners have made to achieve the deficit projection of $35.9 million. For all we know this could just be some creative accounting. We are told the projected deficit was $42 million and now it is $35.9 million but projections are prone to fluctuations. What has the commissioner actually achieved in the past 5 months except rack up $1400 a day which capped her at 3 maximum working days per week? Let us not forget the temporary head of finance for the Southern District Health Board who was being paid more than $10000 in July and August.These are the types of decisions that Southlanders have a right to consider when appointing their district health board representatives. We hold elections for the district health boards just like we do for Parliament as a referendum on job performance. Are the current commissioners doing a good job?Todd Barclay: Yes.RIA BOND: That should be up to the Southland and Otago residents to decide—and Mr Barclay you would not know.I am from Southland and I am yet to see or hear anything that would warrant giving the current commissioner and her deputies a generous salary for another 3 years without any review. The Government’s funding of district health boards is the real culprit as to why the district health board and so many others are struggling to stay fiscally sound. If the current system was actually adequately funded the Southern District Health Board would not be in the mess it is today. In fact neither would the other health boards spread across this country.Maybe that is the vote that we need to be having in this House: how are we going to fund district health boards in this country? The population-based funding formula does not support regional health care. Does the Minister have any idea whether the funding of our district health boards is sufficient or whether district health boards are just not managing their budgets appropriately when New Zealanders are being refused medical treatments for conditions that severely impact on their ability to work and live life productively? It is high time we looked at this funding formula; it is high time for a review. New Zealand First would also like to know from the Minister what the deficit is for the Northland District Health Board in the 2015 financial year because we cannot seem to find it.In conclusion this bill is bad for democracy it is bad for southerners wanting to make sure their health board is working well and working hard and it is bad for the country because it does not address the root problem affecting all district health boards in this country—the funding model. Southland and Otago residents have the right to choose who represents them on their district health boards. The Government may think it knows better but really it is not up to the Government to decide. That Minister and that Government are not God almighty—may they remember that.I question why this Government chooses to pay ridiculous amounts of money to a temporary commissioner and his subcommissioners instead of employing an effective chief executive officer who could work to ensure the district health board serves the region for the long-term success—that is what Southland and Otago people deserve. New Zealand First opposes this bill. It is anti-democratic—Todd Barclay: Put New Zealand first.RIA BOND: —and we would like to put the people of Southland and Otago first. Mr Barclay you might want to try to do that in your office.