Walker HamishHAMISH WALKER (National—Clutha-Southland): I just want to start by acknowledging Sir Bill English. It's the first day we've rejoined come back to Parliament after Bill was knighted as a Sir. Bill being the previous MP for Clutha-Southland gave me some reasonably good advice. He said Hamish listen 80 percent of the time; talk 20 percent of the time."—something the Government on the other side there could learn.I just want to talk about the Budget debate. I want to talk about two things in particular. One is what is happening in health services in my electorate Clutha-Southland which is a wonderful electorate. It's got roughly 2 percent of the population yet we produce close to 15 percent of the country's GDP and judging by this Budget this Government simply doesn't care about the regions. Mr Jones over there—of your billion-dollar growth fund $62 million has gone to Northland; the remaining $42 million has gone to the rest of New Zealand. In Clutha-Southland we have got $250000 out of a total $104 million that's been allocated so far and Mr King up your way it's $62 million.I just want to talk about this Government's campaign messaging last year: "We are going to increase health and we are going to look after rural New Zealand." If we talk about health over the next four years there's been an increase of $3.2 billion; over the next year roughly $782 million. Last year National increased health by just under $900 million and this year we were planning to by around about $932 million. So an increase this year of $782 million compared to what we were planning—$932 million—doesn't really stack up with the messaging last year does it? Over the next four years an increase of $3.2 billion; National had pledged to increase it by $3.9 billion. Why is that? The man I mentioned at the start of my speech Sir Bill English—in 2008 we were hit by a huge global financial crisis and we had the Christchurch earthquake. He managed to steer us through those tough times without cutting any services.If we take Clutha-Southland I just want to talk about our services just for a couple of moments. Let's look at health services for example. Several months ago it started for me after I saw the Minister of Health Dr David Clark. He appointed a Dunedin Hospital rebuild advisory panel. What do you know? There's no one from Southland and rural Otago on that panel; they're all from Dunedin and they have North Island consultants. That's when it started to go wrong.Then I sort of started to question: "Why doesn't this Government care about the region? Why doesn't it care about Clutha-Southland?" And what do you know? All of a sudden the Lumsden maternity hospital which is bang-smack in the middle of Southland is facing right now—it's been a birthing unit for decades a very successful birthing unit—being downgraded. Why? Because this Government doesn't give a toss about the regions.For anyone that doesn't know Southland Lumsden is literally the heart—it's right in the middle. Hundreds of babies have been born there and this is like the glue of the community. If you downgrade this wonderful facility it's like ripping the heart out of Clutha-Southland.I was there six or seven weeks ago on a Friday afternoon meeting a lovely couple from Queenstown. They're in their mid-20s. They were very excited. She gave birth that morning. She drove from Queenstown driving through to Invercargill—a 2- to 2½-hour drive—to give birth. Anyone that knows the area Five Rivers—and baby had started to come—knows that Invercargill from there is about an hour and a half. Luckily they got 15 20 minutes down the road. They made it to Lumsden and within five minutes baby was born. Now if that facility wasn't there this baby without a doubt would have been born on the side of the road.I just want to highlight a letter and I just want to highlight the good works. People like Sarah Stokes who's a midwife there has been doing an amazing job along with the board of directors. They are fighting. I started a petition; we had 5100 signatures presented to the Minister of Health. We had a protest march through the streets of Lumsden; we had 300 or 400 people turn up. This is what the centre means to the people of Clutha-Southland. So every day for the last month the directors have been sending emails to the Prime Minister and phoning her office and she's not even acknowledging them. I just want to read out a letter from them: "Dear Jacinda I am writing to you with regards to the proposal which has been put forward to downgrade the Lumsden Maternity Centre. If Lumsden Maternity Centre is closed I believe there is a huge risk that babies will be born on the side of the road. I've been fortunate enough to be able to use the facility for my births and six weeks ago I gave birth to our second son at Lumsden following a quick labour. We left our house at 7.27 p.m. and I drove towards Lumsden. With favourable road conditions our estimated travel time was 40 minutes. My husband had tried to time my contractions during the drive but he gave up as we had travelled five kilometres and he had counted six contractions all with less than a minute between the next one starting. An un-forecast tail wind reduced our travel time to 33 minutes and when we arrived at Lumsden there was nothing to do but give a wee push and our beautiful baby was born at 8.15 p.m. "As my first birth was also very quick I'd been warned to make haste the second time round but I really struggle to see how I could have left for a birthing facility any earlier than I did and had Lumsden not been available there is every possibility that I would have had to deliver my beautiful baby on the floor of my husband's dirty Hilux somewhere in rural northern Southland. Our closest staffed ambulance is 45 minutes' drive away. As I haemorrhaged during the birth of my first child there is every chance that I could have been left to deliver on the side of the road and bleed out while I waited for emergency services to attend me. Closing Lumsden Maternity Centre will achieve nothing but endanger the lives of our most vulnerable for a grand total sum of $370000 per annum. I'm disappointed that the Minister of Health is not concerned about this matter and that requests to meet with trustees of the Lumsden Maternity Centre have been declined." This is just absolutely disgraceful. What this Government is doing is basically degrading women to give birth on the side of the road.While we're talking about health services in my electorate just over the border in Waitaki Jacquie Dean's electorate is the Roxburgh children's camp. Now if you care about the most vulnerable children—some of these children have been sexually abused physically abused emotionally abused. This is a wonderful centre. I spoke to a boy three or four weeks ago who is now 20 or 21 and he said to me that the reason why he's still here is the fact that he got to use that centre numerous times. Before using that centre he had no confidence he couldn't make friends. After he used the centre it was just enough to give him a wee bit of confidence. Now the fact that I have a problem with this is that just a few months later along came the rescue helicopter base bid. A couple of months ago it was said to us "Well if a mother's giving birth in Te Ānau they can just catch the chopper from Te Ānau to Invercargill." What do you know? The Te Ānau rescue helicopter base is now on the chopping block as well. If you truly care about rural New Zealand don't—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Don't bring me into the debate.HAMISH WALKER: Sorry.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): You were going very well.HAMISH WALKER: Oh thank you. If you truly care about rural New Zealand now is not the time to cut health services such as the Te Ānau rescue helicopter base the Lumsden maternity hospital and the Roxburgh children's camp which looks after the most vulnerable. We saw $600000 be gutted just a few months ago from the Rural Health Alliance yet they're quite happy to go and give $2.8 billion to some of our most fortunate people—those are students who are so fortunate they get to go and study at university. Now I did the maths: $2.8 billion for students would keep roughly 2100 Lumsden maternity centres home. So at the moment it's all a bit much for my electorate. The people of Clutha-Southland are actually wondering what they need to do to get a meeting with the Minister of Health or actually be acknowledged by people like the Prime Minister. It's an absolute disgrace. I hope the Government take a look at themselves in the mirror. If you rip the heart out of Lumsden by degrading the Lumsden maternity hospital you will see mothers give birth on the side of the road."