Chadwick Steve: Budget Debate 
Chadwick Steve: Budget Debate 
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STEVE CHADWICK (Labour—Rotorua) 
: 
 At least the previous speaker had some policy compared with the lack of policy announced by the National Party spokesperson. He is 23rd on the National Party list so perhaps health is not a high priority for the Opposition—as has already been manifested. 
This Budget that I will speak about is a fair responsible and inclusive Budget not a “What’s in it for me?” Budget. That is the disturbing trend we find as we go around the country; we find that those who can well afford cost of living expenses are saying there is nothing in that Budget for them. They ask only what is in it for them. But when I go to my electorate and to the ordinary people I meet on an everyday basis I find they are very happy with the increases relating to health education and services for their families. I have never heard them ask me: “What’s in this Budget for me?”. They know we have built on superannuation certainty; they know we are building on the Working for Families package for relief; and they know we are now turning to developing a culture of savings for the future of this country. 
As a health spokesperson on the Health Committee I am delighted with the aspects of health spending in this Budget. We will hit an unprecedented level of spending in health of $9.68 billion. That is 20 percent of Government spending the largest sum ever and it will deliver more services than ever. The Minister gave us item after item of services that will increase under this Government—not of cuts like those we suffered in the 1990s under that mean former National Government. 
We are giving security and confidence to all New Zealanders about the quality of and access to the health service in New Zealand. As Dr Bengoa of the World Health Organization said just this month New Zealand is in the first division in primary health care. If National ever came back to office we would be playing relegation matches in the third division. It would be worse than I could ever bear. 
As a result of 6 years’ leadership in health we have delivered huge health gains for this country. We have had one Minister of Health not the five Ministers whom I had to work with as a health manager in children’s and women’s health. We had five Ministers in 9 years who played with us who tampered with us and who told us we had to manage to the red line all in the name of profit-driven services. They drove boards to actual despair—boards that had to return a profit on investment in the health spend when patients were seen as relative-value units and not people in need of a health service. People were sheer commodities in an economic game of health policy. We have returned community confidence in the health service and that confidence is showing in surveys the Minister has alluded to. 
We are hearing some interesting words from the Opposition about burgeoning bureaucracy costs and we will hear more of that. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Absolutely! 
STEVE CHADWICK 
: Well it is rubbish. In the Lakes District Health Board that I know well bureaucracy accounted for 11 percent of costs in 1999; that figure is now down to 6.4 percent. Let us look at that bureaucracy that so-called burgeoning bureaucracy. Opposition members have forgotten about the Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit and about the former Health Funding Authority. Let us measure apples with apples if we are talking about bureaucracy in health. 
In relation to the ability to fund those National Party tax cuts of $1.6 billion which will have to be found from somewhere we have to ask: what is going to go? How will those cuts be “re-prioritised” as Dr Brash referred to? “There will be just a simple little re-prioritisation of the health service.”! Well they are cuts and members should not forget that they are cuts. New Zealanders will not forget it. With the help of this Budget there will be 3300 more nurses. Will those nurses be cut—and their wages with them? No? There will be 1000 extra medical staff 1250 non-clinical staff helping to service patients’ needs and 398 social workers. 
If we found that $1.6 billion to fund tax cuts the entire early childhood education budget for 2 years would have to be cut out of the Budget. That sum is the entire vote for early childhood education for 2 years. It would be gone—gone by lunchtime. Those would not be minor changes at the margin; Dr Brash said he would need a major slash-and-burn approach. There is no free tax-cut. 
What else will go? I am hearing about mergers of district health boards again. I was on a working-party when the Lakeland Health Crown health enterprise was told by the former Minister Mr English to merge with the health provider in Whakatane. We worked and we spent thousands of dollars on investigating a merger but it would not work. Why would it not work? The communities of interest were different and the merger did not stack up economically. So that demand went very very quiet. But I am hearing the Opposition come up with—zip! Nothing! There is no reference to policy and when we are 16 weeks from going to the polls it is a disgrace. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: Oh is it? 
STEVE CHADWICK 
: Yes it is about that much. Mergers are looming again and they will be enforced just as they were imposed on us in the 1990s. We do not forget that and neither do health managers or doctors and nurses in the profession. The primary health organisation structure is really strong. I was at a meeting along with the Prime Minister with 300 Grey Power members in Kawerau last week. She got a standing ovation with regard to the cost of going to a doctor and the cost of prescriptions. In Kawerau 300 old people will not forget. We have 77 primary health organisations with 3.8 million New Zealanders enrolled who love the low cost of going to a doctor. I warn Dr Brash not to take that away from them. 
What else might go? The meningococcal B vaccine which is being rolled out at present—will that be suddenly stopped because it is not significant? 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: No we’ll do it properly. 
STEVE CHADWICK 
: Well we do not know; we have not heard any policy I tell Dr Smith—another “Dr” in the slash-and-burn game. Will smoking cessation programmes go? I know how poorly the Opposition supported the Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill but New Zealand support for a smoke-free environment is growing rapidly now with 42 percent of the public saying they like that legislation and with more and more joining their ranks every day. 
 What about other health and wellness initiatives such as nutrition and physical activity programmes? Will they be gone for a wee trot or gone by Christmas? Health professionals need to think very carefully and they need to remember the pathetic wage increases they received in 9 years and the constant stoppages in our sector from that cruel Employment Contracts Act regime. There was no such thing as fair bargaining. 
What about the Hands Around Our Hospitals campaign and the campaign to save our public health service? There was no workforce development plan no training and escalating student fees. There were no scholarships and bonding for doctors. When we came into Government there were run-down cancer services—with shortages of staff and capital—that were a disgrace. 
We want to be fair responsible and inclusive. That includes valuing our workers in the health sector and bringing them with us—not alienating them. We do not want to see any more of the “What’s in it for me?” syndrome that Opposition parties seem to suffer from. 
I am proud about the increases in funding in this Budget for aged care home-based services and disability support. Young disabled who are sitting in rest homes with the elderly can now be properly supported in some dignity which is something that is being very well received. Mental health funding with $22 million going into increasing and escalating the implementation of the blueprint for mental health is a very exciting initiative. 
We will get there. This Budget is not just about cataracts hips and knees—which is what the Opposition still thinks health is all about—it is about wellness of our community and it is about having confidence that the health service that people need will be there when they need it and that people will be given high-quality health services.