Woodhouse MichaelHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): If there was any metaphor for the confusion of the Government and the Minister of Health it was in that Minister's intervention where he said that the previous Government had set up the review of the National Oracle Solution and then in the next breath he said he'd set up the review of the Oracle Solution. Well I know what the answer is; he was right the second time. He did. He then declared a conflict of interest—where a company is 100 percent owner of the organisation that is the subject of the review declaring the conflict of interest is simply not enough.But it's been really interesting to listen to the contributions of the Government members on the annual review debate because the theme of this has been of a previous Government—heartless mean-spirited knows the value of the dollar but not of the importance of its investment and actually I will refute that. I will refute that because the previous Government in the worst of times supported people. They raised income support. They supported the people of Canterbury. They created nearly a quarter of a million jobs in the last two years of that administration. In that time of that Government wages went up at twice the rate of inflation. The minimum wage for which I was responsible went up by even more. If that's heartless and mean-spirited that's a moniker I'll wear with pride.But the confusion of the Minister I think is symblomatic of his panic at the profligate promises that he made in Opposition that he cannot keep. Now the Health Committee heard from the combined Auckland district health boards (DHBs) in annual review and it is very concerning the revelations that are coming out about the state of the building at Middlemore Hospital. But I ask colleagues: what was it that the select committee heard from the combined Auckland district health boards in that annual review about the state of that building?Hon Members: Silence. Nothing.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Not a whisper. Not a murmur. Not a dicky-bird was said by the members that came there and said This is the situation facing our district health boards." In the northern regional district health board's long-term plan—no mention. In the Counties Manukau District Health Board annual plan there is mention of $17 million being required which they got to fix the Scott building and the Minister has had to top that up to the tune of $11.5 million. He announced that I think on about 21 March this year—appropriate.But we've since had this extraordinary hyperbole about the state of the asset stock because of three very concerning buildings in Auckland. Well we know and we heard through the annual reviews Vote Health is $16.8 billion and I think there are other reasons why the Minister is panicking. It's probably more to do with the fact that he has brought back onto the Crown balance sheet the $1.4 billion commitment that the previous Government made for the rebuild of Dunedin Hospital. It's because of the huge expectations that he has left the health workforce and in particular our fantastic nurses the 50000-odd of them who work in the public sector and have very very elevated expectations for a pay increase that the Minister sought to address in November when he told the DHBs to bump the offer up.The reason we are now hearing stories about greater deficits in DHBs this year is a direct result of the Minister's own failed attempt to settle the New Zealand Nurses Organisation's pay negotiations and we haven't even started with junior doctors with senior doctors with allied health professionals—all of whom have had their pay expectations talked up by the Minister of Health the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister and they're backing out of those commitments at 100 miles an hour and seeking to blame the previous Government.Well as Dr Yang mentioned I have looked at deficits over a longitudinal period. In the nine years of the fourth Labour Government there was over $600 million worth of deficits. Not including inflation the combined deficits of the Key - English Government were 6 percent lower than that. We are going to see them go up and up not because of anything the previous Government did or did not do but because that Minister and that Government have made promises they can't keep."