Salesa JennyJENNY SALESA (Labour—Manukau East): This National Government has failed to give the Health Sector the funding that it needs in Budget 2017. District Health Boards (DHBs) needed up to $650 million per year in additional support just to cover their current costs but they received only just over $400 million which leaves them with a shortfall of $211 million. There is unmet need for at least 60000 people who are needing elective surgery and what the DHBs have to do is they have to actually go and find the extra funds to make sure that folks get their elective surgeries.Let us just look at some of the examples across the country of where we see that DHBs are currently underfunded. Look at what the junior doctors have done over the last couple of years or so—they went on strike three times because they were working such long hours. They were telling us that one of the main reasons why they were working such long hours is because of the under-resourcing that they were actually experiencing over at the DHBs. Just a couple of months ago the Waikato DHB sent out a note saying that only if you are experiencing a life and death - type situation should you be allowing new patients to be enrolled. In the last couple of days in the Southern DHB several patients have had surgeries delayed multiple times and one 68-year-old father who had been waiting—and had his surgery delayed four different times—died before his surgery was even performed.This is not a sign of DHBs and a health system that is well funded. Yes we hear the honourable Minister going on about millions and millions of dollars going into the health system but why is it that we have so many complaints from people from right across New Zealand that they are not getting the services that they need—500000 people not being able to afford to see their GPs and the unfolding crisis in mental health? We know that mental health is in crisis. This is something you cannot just put a bandage on and a Labour Government would make mental health a priority.I want to talk about our young people. Just 2 weeks ago I attended an event over in Auckland where over 10 high schools came together. The theme was love and these high school students were asked to utilise spoken word dance drama and multimedia to express this word. They were really really good at doing all of this drama and multimedia but what really hit me was that what most of these high schools from across Auckland were actually doing in terms of their spoken word and drama was focused on one issue: suicide. It is so sad to see so many of our young people even when they are actually doing a drama on a word called love" focus on suicide. Why? Because our suicide rate is so high. One in six New Zealanders will be diagnosed with a mental health problem in their lifetime and we know that there has been a 60 percent increase in accessing mental health. However since this National Government came into power in 2008 there has been only a 28 percent increase going into mental health services although we have seen an increase of 60 percent in terms of accessing mental health services.This is unsustainable. This is a Government that has failed to recognise mental health as a big issue; to address our youth suicide rate being one of the highest in the OECD; or actually to fund health services in general to an adequate level. I heard one of the speakers from the other side talking about the increase in funding for mental health but what he did not actually say is that most of the millions that the current Government in its Budget is saying is going to mental health is actually going to the DHBs—the DHBs that are going to be short by $211 million. They are going to be asked to find the extra millions to fund mental health services. They are already underfunded. Where are they going to find that extra funding to make up for this Government's underfunding of health services? Thank you."