Williams Poto: New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Poto: New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 10 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10940. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]POTO WILLIAMS (Labour—Christchurch East): There is nothing quite like issues around health to get to the public’s emotions and get the public stirred up. In this country we have an expectation of a level of health care. There is no doubt that over the last few years there have been some systemic failures within the Southern District Health Board. But they have not necessarily been the fault of the board. The board has had to deal with some pretty big gnarly issues. The amalgamation of a couple of boards is certainly not going to be an easy task to manage to cope with considering we have already heard tonight that there are issues around differences in funding bases for one area as opposed to another area. But health is at the heart of what we see as a good democracy—good access easy access to decent health-care. It is no wonder that there are a range of views across the Chamber about how that should be achieved.When I sat in on some of the submissions—there were half a dozen or a few more—there were a couple of submissions that talked about our absolute commitment to ensure that there are good outcomes for Māori. One of the submissions was made by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. Their concern was that they did not believe that under the provisions of the Treaty of Waitangi their ability to have full access to good health-care and well-being was fully acknowledged under the role of the imposed commissioner. They were seeking some redress around this. We talked about it throughout the select committee and even the report that came back to the House talked about the discussion we had had. It was fairly clear that that is not within the scope of the bill but it was an important aspect that we felt needed to have some acknowledgment. This is why I raise it today.One of the suggestions that came up in the select committee was with regard to the ability to appoint deputy commissioners and whether it would be an opportunity to consider appointing a deputy commissioner to cover off the concerns of Ngāi Tahu around significant involvement for the rūnanga in the work of the commissioner as they were working through these particular issues. I know that in our report back to the House we said that that is not within the scope. But it is certainly something that I think we should consider given that there were significant concerns raised by Ngāi Tahu about our obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi.The other concern that came through loud and clear from the submitters was about transparency. In most of the submissions what people were concerned about was their ability to not only participate and contribute to the discussion but actually to hear about the decisions and the decision-making process that were happening with the commission and the deputy commissioners. It is very clear that the people of the region are wanting a say in how the review and the work of the commissioners occurs because they are in such a serious state—because we are in the position of having to disband the board and appoint commissioners.It has raised the level of concern within the community and obviously it has raised the expectation of the community that they will be able to participate fully within that environment. Rather than being dismissive of that it would be a useful thing if the Minister could talk about opportunities to ensure that those voices are heard and that there is a significant opportunity for the people of the Southland catchment area for the district health board to feel that they are able to take some comfort in the process.The last point I want to make is something that my colleague Dr David Clark touched on and that was about the ability to ensure that the considerable capital works programme goes on. There is no doubt that the hospital in Dunedin is seriously overdue for its rebuild. There has been a long period of time when maintenance has not been undertaken to the standard and the building may not actually be fit for purpose any longer. I am hopeful and perhaps the Minister can answer this question that that may become part of the work that the commissioner does to ensure that that work is scoped properly and that the considerable works programme that needs to occur is fully considered.Just on a final note I agree that the amendment that has been put up by the Hon Annette King actually makes a lot of sense. It does make a lot of sense to ensure that we give the appointed commissioners the time to do their work. However when the work is done we should not be beholden to the fact that the elections have been cancelled as opposed to postponed to ensure that we get back to full democracy as quickly as possible. It would be an important point to consider—changing the word from “cancellation” to “postponement”. It is a simple amendment. But it makes a lot of sense in terms of the ability to ensure that timeliness in terms of democracy is returned to the people of Southland.