8. Health Equipment—Surgical MeshCHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green) to the Associate Minister of HealthHealth Equipment—Surgical Mesh8. CHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green) to the Associate Minister of Health: What restrictions on surgical mesh has the Government made in order to protect women's health?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Associate Minister of Health): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. The Government has welcomed moves by Medsafe to limit the supply of surgical mesh products as they are used in transvaginal surgeries. Specifically Medsafe has written to surgical mesh suppliers advising them that if they cannot prove the safety of their products within 45 days they will no longer be available for use in those transvaginal surgeries. Hundreds of women have experienced debilitating pain as a result of complications from the use of surgical mesh in these surgeries and we are glad to be acting to protect women's health.Chlöe Swarbrick: Is the Minister aware of any previous recommendations about the use of surgical mesh?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Yes I am. In 2015 ACC undertook an analysis of surgical injuries resulting from the use of mesh and that report recommended a full evidence-based review of the safety of the product which unfortunately the Government of the time failed to act upon. This Government is committed to acting on women's health issues and not ignoring them.Chlöe Swarbrick: Does the Minister agree with Mesh Down Under advocacy group member Charlotte Korte when she said in the Dominion Post today that the news was like an early Christmas present. We have been campaigning for so long and the previous Government did nothing"?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Yes I do agree with her. This Government is committed to ensuring that women's voices are heard in the health system and that their concerns are not ignored. As Associate Minister of Health I have specific delegations for women's health and it is my intention to ensure women are well treated in our health system. I'm here to listen to women and act on their health concerns.Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: Has the Government started any work on the surgical mesh register which was promised during the election campaign?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: The announcement today is just the first step in ensuring that all products that are used are as safe as they can be and fit for purpose.Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked a very direct question: have they started work; yes or no?Mr SPEAKER: I'm considering how to react to the member's point of order. The member started with quite a good point of order and then he asked for something that you can't ask for and that's a yes or no answer. The Standing Orders clearly rule it out. I am going to ask the Minister however—we'll go back to the first part of the point of order.Hon Tracey Martin: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: No we're going to deal with this one first. We'll go back to the first part of the point of order and I will ask the Minister to address that.Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Thank you Mr Speaker. I would let that member know and reassure him that this Government is taking steps to ensure that surgical mesh as it is used is safe and that if it is not safe it won't be used. So it depends on the results of the steps that have been taken today whether or not the register is needed.Hon Tracey Martin: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Can a Minister of the Crown be held accountable for an election campaign because that was what the member asked?Mr SPEAKER: I listened very carefully to the questions that were asked and I think that the original answer to I think the first or second supplementary broadened it out wide enough for that to be considered.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Things are travelling along quite well today except that you did rule out a question from the Hon Jonathan Coleman when he was talking to the Hon David Clark asking for effectively an opinion. Yet in this latest question we've had Ms Swarbrick ask a question of the Hon Julie Anne Genter: if she agreed. That seems to me to be a little inconsistent.Mr SPEAKER: I thank the member for his view. In my view there is a difference between an unrelated quote in a magazine for which there's no responsibility and a comment on an announcement that a Minister has made in the last 24 hours. The Lancet comment on an unrelated matter compared with a comment on a specific announcement that the Minister is responsible for are different.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It's very interesting that you can make that analysis so quickly given that The Lancet article was not able to be tabled in the House.Mr SPEAKER: Sorry I relied on the quote from it from your colleague.Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. As I explained to you The Lancet comment directly related to and mentioned the Prime Minister and health and Marxist ideology.Mr SPEAKER: Thank you Mr Coleman—and that adds what?"