Little Andrew: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLittle Andrew: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 01 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9201. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he have confidence in his Minister of Health given the Minister’s statement regarding funding of Keytruda that Pharmac “haven’t got the money at the moment … that’s the issue”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes.Andrew Little: Why did he cut health funding in four of his seven Budgets—a total of $1.7 billion—denying Kiwis access to modern medicines like Keytruda?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Given that health funding has gone from $11.8 billion to $15.9 billion in the time that I have been Prime Minister it is not hard to see why the New Zealand public does not take the Leader of the Opposition seriously when he gets up and just makes it up and it is plain wrong.Andrew Little: How on earth can the Prime Minister possibly say that when his own Minister said on radio this morning that Pharmac “haven’t got the money at the moment … that’s the issue”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The member needs to read the supplementary questions that they write for him before he comes to the House. What he actually said in his previous question was that health funding had been cutin three Budgets when it had not. Of course if Pharmac has more money by definition it can fund more drugs. I am quite confident that under this Government Pharmac will get more money. And I am quite confident that at the moment Pharmac is undertaking complex commercial negotiations looking at melanoma drugs.Andrew Little: Given there is no effective front-line treatment for advanced melanoma currently funded will he tell the cancer sufferers here today why there is money for flag referendums but nothing that is going to help save lives?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: At the moment the Government funds about $800 million a year into Pharmac of which about $131 million goes into cancer treatment. This is a Government that has increased that expenditure andwill I have no doubt increase it again. One thing we do knowabout Keytruda though is that it is effective for one in three patients who take it; two out of three do not. There are other drugs on the market and other drugs that potentially might be more effective and at the moment Pharmac is in the process of complex negotiations to sort out which one might be best.Andrew Little: Is he serious in his answer that New Zealanders desperate for this front-line drug might have to wait for the Budget? Knowing that one New Zealander a day is dying from melanoma that is another 90 people who will give up their lives while they wait for this Government to do something.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The Government is working through the process with Pharmac and I think that is the right way to go. I might simply make the point that actually putting Keytruda and the issue of melanoma to one side there are also a great many other drugs that are unfunded for which other New Zealanders are dying. So in the end it is an allocation of resources. The Government is putting in more money and it will continue to put in more money.Andrew Little: Can he not see that those New Zealanders who are suffering from melanoma and are desperate for treatment cannot put that aside and can he respond to the woman suffering from melanoma whom I spoke to today who said: “New Zealanders don’t have time for him to piss about on this issue.”?Mr SPEAKER: Order!Rt Hon JOHN KEY: In fairness—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will let the Prime Minister address the question.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: In fairness if one looks at the health system under a National-led Government not only has its funding increased by more than $4 billion but also the amount of elective surgical operations has increased dramatically the state of the district health boards has increased dramatically the amount of money going into cancer drugs has increased and the amount of money going into Pharmac has increased. We live in a world where there will be more and new biological drugs that will come along and they will put even more pressure on future Governments. We have a system that we work through but we are quite conscious of that and we are putting in more money. I just say that we have enormous sympathy with the issues of those individuals at the moment but there are also other drugs and other issues that get less profile as well. If the member wants to be fair he should list all of those but then also he should stop asking for money in certain areas and say he wants it all directed to Pharmac. But that is not actually the policy that Andrew Little is talking about.Andrew Little: In view of the statements by the Minister of Health this morning that he has great sympathy for those suffering from melanoma if they have no treatment is that all that melanoma sufferers in New Zealand can hope for now—sympathy from National Party Ministers?Hon Annette King: Yeah good question.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well actually no it is not a very good question because if the member were listening he would hear this response: (a) there is more money going into Pharmac; (b) Pharmac is going through complex negotiations; and (c) over time I am confident that we will get these things. At the start of this year Andrew Little got up and told New Zealanders the most important thing was that youngsters got more money towards a student loan that is already 70 or 80 percent paid by the taxpayers of New Zealand. He did not get up and say: “More money for Keytruda.” He did not get up and say: “More money for other drugs.” He got up and said that students who get 80 percent of their funding already paid for by the taxpayer who earn more money than the average wage—they are his No. 1—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The question—[Interruption] Order! The answer to that question was too long.Andrew Little: How on earth can he as Prime Minister plan for tax cuts while Kiwis are dying because of a lack of treatment for melanoma?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The member will need to wait for Budget 2016 to see what the priorities are. Under a National-led Government the health system of New Zealand is run well. Under Annette King I would have my head down in shame at the way she ran the health system in New Zealand. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I do not want to specifically mention by name the people who are interjecting too much.Hon Annette King: Yeah well if you bring me into it.Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member has been in it all afternoon actually.