Street Maryan: General Debate 
Street Maryan: General Debate 
[Volume:678;Page:905] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 Unfortunately that meticulously read speech from the member who has just resumed her seat Jacqui Dean is not sufficient to gain favour amongst the farming community with the National Party any more. The farming community is so out of sorts with the National Party because of the Crafar farm sales. 
Jacqui Dean 
: No a long time. 
Hon MARYAN STREET 
: Well if that party over there does not know about it then it should do some research of its own because it is blindingly obvious to the rest of us. 
Yesterday the Controller and Auditor-General released the results of the 2010-11 audits of district health boards and that is what I want to turn my attention to today. One of the points that the Auditor-General made in her report was that in 2010-11 $417.3 million of new money was given to the district health boards—$417.3 million—and that was up on the 2009-10 year. The fact that in 2011-12 as the Minister of Health said in the House last week the district health boards got $350 million worth of new money—$350 million as opposed to the $417 million the year before—indicates this Government’s trajectory in the health sector. That is a trajectory that presumes cuts and what we are seeing now are the inevitable results of a pushing down of the funding that goes to the district health boards. As the district health boards get screwed down tighter and tighter with their budgetary constraints they are going to be cutting into front-line and clinical services. The more the Minister protests about that the more one can see that it is apparent that that is going to be the upshot of the Budget. 
If we have a look it is clear from figures that have been released already and also what is widely known out in the district health board sector that the total new money for the health budget coming up in the Budget to be released in May is somewhere between $320 million and $350 million. That is total new money in the Health vote—total new money. In the Auditor-General’s report she makes it very clear that 75 percent of Vote Health goes to the district health boards—75 percent. So if we are generous even and say that perhaps the new money that is coming out of the Budget this year in Vote Health is going to be $350 million then 75 percent of that is $262.5 million. So we had $417 million in the 2010-11 year $350 million of new money to district health boards in the 2011-12 year and now they are staring down the barrel of $262 million in the 2012-13 year. 
This progressive slashing of the health budget is eating into clinical positions. If we have a look at some of the district health boards that have reported recently that they are having difficulties we know that Waikato District Health Board is looking to save $25 million in the next financial year—$25 million—and it knows that it is going to come out of front-line clinical services. One of the things that the Minister is requiring of the district health boards next year is that they absorb KiwiSaver. Instead of that being taken out of the Crown account as it has been until this coming financial year the district health boards are going to have to absorb that. In the case of Waikato District Health Board alone that is a $3.2 million impost. Add on to that minimal salary increases as we have just seen the New Zealand Nurses Organisation sign up to and what we are seeing is serious cuts that are bound to happen in clinical positions. This is the theme of this Government in health: cuts cuts and more cuts.