Pillay Lynne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Pillay Lynne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:623;Page:18753] 
8.  
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour—Waitakere) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: What reports has she received about the reaction of Waitakere people to the opening of the new secondary hospital in Waitakere last Saturday? 
Dail Jones 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. There was something in the question that was not there. Perhaps she could read the question again? There was no reference to the Waitakere people in the question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member is correct. The member will read the question again. 
Lynne Pillay 
: What reports has she received about the opening of the new secondary hospital in Waitakere last Saturday? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 People from the community told me they were very pleased indeed. Our decision in 2001 means that for the first time this important and rapidly growing community has its own secondary hospital fulfilling a dream that the community has nurtured for 40 years. Many people toured the hospital after the opening ceremony and took part in a day of community celebration and it was a similar reaction to that of people in Waikato Thames Wairarapa Tauranga Invercargill and other centres where this Government has initiated new or refurbished hospitals. I was very pleased to see National MP John Key at the opening and I know that he thoroughly enjoyed himself. It must have been a relief from the misery he faces in his caucus every week. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I had the fortune or the misfortune of being able to see the length of that ministerial answer because the Minister held the paper to the side. Now she made a number of statements. First of all she said that she knew John Key enjoyed himself. Now how could she know that? It is totally irrelevant and a total waste of time. Then she assumed something else about National’s caucus which probably is true but she should not be allowed to say it. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member is laughing at his own point of order. 
Lynne Pillay 
: Since this Government came into office what has happened to the phenomenon of local communities joining hands around their threatened hospital buildings? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: There is no longer any need for local communities to join hands. This Government is committed to rebuilding the hospital infrastructure of New Zealand from large communities to ones as small as Murchison. The Government has shown that commitment by its large investment in public hospital infrastructure the biggest investment we have seen in over a generation. Throughout the 1990s I have to tell members it was very common to see people joining hands around their beleaguered hospitals to try to save them from closure. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I seek the leave of the House to table the headlines in the  
Nelson Mail 
 of the community in Nelson holding hands to try to save their hospital. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that. Is there any objection? There is. 
Lynne Pillay 
: How does this Government’s investment in infrastructure compare with say the 1990s? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Over the last 5 years this Government has committed more than $1 billion to rebuilding and refurbishing public hospitals from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island. This compares with the abysmal record of the National Government in the previous 8 years where it spent just over a hundred miserable dollars on hospital infrastructure. In 5 years this Government has allocated 10 times as much as National spent in 8 years and our record which I will show the House speaks for itself. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister can show a document like that. Members on that side of the House have done so too. I allowed it to be shown and then it cannot be shown again. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I seek leave to table this extremely good graph which shows the investment that this Government has put into hospital infrastructure. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Is there any objection to that document being tabled? There is. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I can certainly speak for the National Party in saying to the Minister that if she can assure us that she coloured it in herself we will let her table it. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I no longer need to colour in my colouring book but suggest that the member keeps doing his. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Neither comment was a point of order as the members both know.