O'Connor Damien: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
O'Connor Damien: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:627;Page:22134] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Associate Minister of Health) 
: 
 I take the opportunity to acknowledge the work of my colleague Annette King and to provide the nation with one good reason to vote this Government back in—that is its performance on health. 
I encourage National members to read the newspapers occasionally and find out the facts. The  
New Zealand Herald 
 ran a report the other day stating that reduced hospital admissions in south Auckland may be an early sign that the pouring of millions of dollars into primary health care is indeed making a difference. That is a great sign. The National Party has criticised us time and time again for putting money into primary health care but we have done that on the basis that prevention is better than cure. If National were to get anywhere near the levers of power again this country would revert to a market-driven blindly ideological health system. Its members believe that the market will deliver to everyone and that a competitive system will deliver to each and every New Zealander. If New Zealand ever has to face again the disastrous experiment that was tried in the 1990s then the health of each and every New Zealander will slip backwards—except for those who are wealthy enough to buy into their own private health system. People such as Mr David Carter Mr Nick Smith and Mr Power who get nice big fat salaries will be able to buy their own health care. 
The least we can do is ask the National Party for its alternative health policy. There is silence. The newspaper quotes Dr Hutchison as saying that National is not planning to unveil its health policy for several weeks so he could speak only in principle. Quite frankly I did not know National had any principles. That is an oxymoron. We will be watching very closely. 
New Zealanders know be they general practitioners the elderly or the parents of young children that the money this Government is spending on primary health care is making a real difference. There were general practitioners who were sceptical. They were not very enthusiastic about primary health organisations. On my travels up and down the country and around rural areas I have asked general practitioners upfront what they think about their primary health organisation. They have said they were a little wary at the start but now see the real value starting to flow through—not only in better health-care for their patients not only in better support for the general practitioners themselves but in the fact that the organisations are working for each and every community. [ 
Interruption 
] 
If Nick Smith showed a little more support for the primary health organisation in Nelson and if some of his Tory mates would not try to undermine it then I am sure we would make a whole lot more progress in Nelson as well. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Why have 50 percent Maori on the PHO board? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I am not going to say much more. The member asks why we have Maori on primary health organisation boards. Do members know the horrible reality for a Maori adult living in New Zealand—in Nelson as well? Do members know how many fewer years a Maori adult male in New Zealand—including in Nick Smith’s electorate—lives? They do not. The fact is that the average lifespan of an adult Maori male in Hawke’s Bay is 11 years shorter than that of a Pakeha. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Keep talking about it. It is costing you votes. They see it as PC crap. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: The one thing about New Zealanders is they are fair-minded. When they hear the facts—that if one is a Maori one lives on average 11 years less than a Pakeha does they know something has to be done. 
Hon David Carter 
: Why put 50 percent of them on the board? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: Mr Carter does not want them on the board either because he will not look after Maori; neither will Nick Smith. They will not acknowledge the reality that through the 1990s the National Government’s competitive-driven privatisation attempts in the health system led to greater disparities in health status and greater disparities in access to health services but over the last 6 years Labour has worked very hard to close that gap. 
I am not going to say too much more other than to say we are very proud of our huge investment in health care. Annette King has worked hard to extract the money from Michael Cullen. We have endorsed that. We are going to spend that money to provide a public health system that is available to each and every New Zealander regardless of one’s wealth regardless of what school one went to—I say to Mr Carter—and regardless of where one lives. Because that is a basic tenet of the New Zealand way of life and Labour is proud of it.