Wong Pansy: Standards and Conformance Bill — In Committee 
Wong Pansy: Standards and Conformance Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:634;Page:5402] 
PANSY WONG (National) 
: 
 The Labour Government is not only failing to live up to and set the standard but it is also consistent in not caring about other people’s money. Let us look at Part 2 which is about—fair enough—amalgamating accreditation bodies to make one body so that organisations can now receive accreditation under this new organisation called the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand. But we are not talking about more compliance costs; we are talking about more actual costs to those organisations. 
I particularly want to challenge some of the other parties that supported this bill like New Zealand First and United Future in relation to the organisation called Health and Disability Auditing New Zealand. It is not just any organisation; it actually accredits services. It is a designated auditing agency approved by the Director-General of Health to audit all service areas under the Health and Disability Service. Under its existing accreditation which is from International Accreditation New Zealand the fee cost is $18915 for 3 years. I wonder whether my colleagues would like to take a guess at how many times that fee will increase when the organisation switches to accreditation under the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand? 
Hon Members 
: Tell us. 
PANSY WONG 
: Five is too modest—10 times! The fee will be $155823 which is 10 times the previous fee. I am not too sure what benefit it will buy for that organisation. Anyway a member of the organisation raised that point with the Ministry of Economic Development which once again said that he should not worry; it was a Government department and it was there to help. So the ministry talked to the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand and said that maybe it should review its fee structure as it seemed a bit high and that overnight there had been a tenfold increase. So the ministry came back with a counteroffer. Can members guess how much it was? 
Kate Wilkinson 
: Nine times. 
PANSY WONG 
: No not quite that much. It actually reduced it for 2 years by $20000. So from the original increase in fee which was about $137000 the increase will go down to $110000. What can be gained overnight by an accreditation fee increase of $110000? 
Dr Jackie Blue 
: Hope. 
PANSY WONG 
: Dr Jackie Blue is on the Health Committee. She can tell me how much $110000 could purchase for us in terms of any operations. How many people could be put back on the waiting list that was culled? 
I would like the Minister to take a call. I think that having a one-standard accreditation agency is a sound concept but how do we justify the cost? We are not even talking about compliance costs—some of the organisations involved are providers of the health service. Overnight Health and Disability Auditing New Zealand will have to pay an additional $110000 simply to get accredited. I want the Minister to take a call and say what additional advantage will be offered to those health service providers that can now get an audit from that very reputable organisation Health and Disability Auditing New Zealand. 
I think we need to take these issues seriously. This bill is not just about increasing compliance costs that people will have to adhere to; it is actually about increasing overnight by $110000—by 10 times—the cost for an organisation that is already accredited appointed and approved by the Director-General of Health. If that organisation is doing such a bad job we should ask the director-general about it but if he felt confident to appoint that agency what is the justification for it suddenly to incur a $110000 additional cost? 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Clem Simich) 
: Before I call the next speaker I will deal with another issue. The previous two votes should have been announced as “Ayes: 66; Noes: 51”. So both votes will be altered accordingly. Thank you.