O'Connor Damien: General Debates 
O'Connor Damien: General Debates 
[Volume:617;Page:13324] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Associate Minister of Health) 
: 
 It has been said that some doctors make people well and others make people sick. As Associate Minister of Health I am proud to work alongside Annette King with her outstanding record. Our job is to point out to the country that the National Party is led by someone who would make this country sick. Dr Brash was proud to say that he has had private health insurance for a long time that he is OK and that he does not need to use the public health system. We have to look at what that man may possibly do to lead this country down a path of sickness. In the past National has not shown any ability to lead the public health system in this country to a point where it can deliver on the health needs of New Zealanders. 
I shall quote a philosophical statement from Mr Brash: “Prices in a competitive market are usually a more reliable indicator of where resources should be allocated than political or bureaucratic edict. The problem in the area of health care can be solved through the price mechanism.” He then goes on to be a little uncertain about his knowledge: “I’m certainly not going to step into a political maelstrom which is the health-care debate at least in part because I simply do not know what to suggest or recommend.” Dr Brash would lead this country into sickness. He does not have a clue about what is needed in the health system of this country. The National Party has a record of attempting to privatise some services in the health system. Dr Lynda Scott is on record as saying that she would get rid of the primary health organisations and Don Brash has also said that he would get rid of them. Those members would sell Pharmac and put all the profits into the hands of the international pharmaceutical companies. 
It is very very important that every New Zealander knows where the health system is heading. We have put more money into health than has ever been put into it in the history of this country. We have developed primary health organisations and bolstered the district health boards. We have increased the number of surgical services that are conducted in this country. Dr Brash would put it all back into the hands of the competitive market because he says price signals should determine where health services are needed. Dr Don Brash has not worked out that very few people in this country choose when or where they need to access the health services. Therefore the idea of the market as an indicator is an absolutely bunkum theory. People never know when or where they may need to access the health services. A competitive market situation would destroy this country. 
I shall just point out very briefly some of the good things we have done in rural health which supports the backbone of this country. That is something that we as a Government have appreciated from the time of coming into power in 1999. The rural sector turned its back on the National Party. The rural sector knows that the reintroduction of a competitive market system for health by National would see that party again turn its back on people in the rural areas of this country. We have done numerous things to help and support people in rural New Zealand. We have set up reasonable rostering systems with money being directly injected to help doctors and nurses in rural areas to decrease the pressure they are under. We know that those people have been leaving because the work pressure is intense so we have poured money into that. We put $535 million into the primary health-care strategy. That goes directly to people at the front line so that we can get to them before their problems become chronic and we have to spend thousands of dollars on them every day they are in hospital. We have put more doctors into training—20 more places. That number had not been increased for 20 years. During the 9 years of the previous National Government did it put more doctors into training? No it did not. It did not put one extra doctor into training to address the rising population in this country. We have done that. We have put money directly into the rural general practitioner network to recruit general practitioners for rural New Zealand.