Brown Peter: General Debates 
Brown Peter: General Debates 
[Volume:612;Page:8981] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 When I came to the House this afternoon for question time I had in my hand something I had picked up from my in-tray out of interest. I did not intend to raise the issue at all but then I heard the Prime Minister in an answer to a question from my leader the Rt Hon Winston Peters guarantee that people waiting for elective surgery would not wait more than 6 months. I knew that to be untrue and untrue in the specific case of Mrs Grimsdell. 
Mrs Grimsdell is in her early 70s and lives in Auckland in the Prime Minister’s electorate. She has been waiting for years for a hip operation. In early May this year out of desperation her husband contacted my office. Up until that time she had dealt with the Hon Annette King and the Prime Minister’s electorate office. She went for pre-surgery assessment on 12 August with a view to having surgery on 28 August. She passed most of the pre-surgery assessment but a diligent doctor—I commend that doctor and have no doubt that the Grimsdells do too—picked up what has been termed a slight heart murmur. Since that time Mrs Grimsdell has been cleared of that heart murmur but there has been no contact whatsoever. She was told there and then that she had been cleared and they are sitting there waiting and Mrs Grimsdell is in agony. It is some weeks now since she has been cleared. For the Prime Minister to come down as she did and say that Mrs Grimsdell is waiting because she is currently subject to a slight heart murmur is not true. The Minister shakes her head I think in agreement with me? 
Hon Annette King 
: No. 
PETER BROWN 
: Oh she disagrees. 
Hon Annette King 
: I disagree and I will table it in a moment. 
PETER BROWN 
: Okay I welcome that news. My understanding—and I have checked subsequently—is that she has been cleared of a heart murmur by the technician who examined her and she is still waiting. [ 
Interruption 
] Mr Benson-Pope should take a breath and listen. This is about a New Zealander whom we should be caring for. It is somewhat ironic that within 30 to 40 minutes of me raising the question in the House the Grimsdells got a telephone call from an official in the health industry. I do not know what that official said—I am not privy to the phone call and I have not had a report on it—but I gather that the Grimsdells have found it to be quite encouraging. 
Jim Peters 
: She was lucky. 
PETER BROWN 
: She appears to be lucky. 
Hon Annette King 
: A bit of honest work. 
PETER BROWN 
: Is the member accusing me of lying? 
Hon Annette King 
: I was talking to someone over here. Just carry on with your speech. 
PETER BROWN 
: They live in the Prime Minister’s electorate. They have knocked on the door of the Prime Minister’s electorate office I understand on several occasions. Nothing at all has happened as a result of that. They clearly came to New Zealand First because they knew that if anybody could fix it we could. Within 30 minutes of me putting a question in the House we are getting some action. 
Hon Annette King 
: No the member is not. He is just talking rubbish. 
PETER BROWN 
: I say to members sitting over there who have smugly dismissed this as some sort of confidence trick on behalf of the Grimsdells— [ 
Interruption 
] “Crank” I think the Minister said. [ 
Interruption 
] Does Mr Benson-Pope think that the Grimsdells are living in the gutter? Does he think that waiting 2½ years is not long enough? I say that is far too long. It is far too long when the Prime Minister comes down here and tells us that the Government will guarantee a 6-month maximum.