Coleman JonathanGENERAL DEBATEHon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. Barbecue at Phil Goff's" has gone down in New Zealand political folklore as a euphemism for a coup plotting meeting and boy does the Labour Party need such a get-together just now because it is in an absolute dire strait. But the problem for it is that Phil Goff has pulled down the hood on his barbecue wheeled it away and quite frankly these days he is far more interested in spending time with National Government Cabinet Ministers than with his previous colleagues. The real question is with the Labour Party in the state that it is where it will be having the 2016 equivalent of the barbecue at Phil Goff's. I do not know. It might be the DJ mega-mix session at Jacinda Ardern's; that is a possibility. It will not be the Chinese takeaway at Phil Twyford's. But my money really—I tell you—is probably on the mid-afternoon nap at Grant Robertson's and I do not know how far that is going to get them.In his valedictory speech you will notice that Phil Goff spent a lot of time praising the Roger Douglas years. He was not too keen to talk about the current Labour Party. He was very much aligned I think with Nick Leggett and his comments that in 8 years in Opposition the Labour Party does not have anything to show. Those guys are in real trouble because when you have got Andrew Little getting advice from Helen Clark that "You know son you've got to get back to the centre." and he is saying "Well that's actually meaningless and a little bit hollow." and when you have got Vernon Small saying "Well that response sounds strangely intense and odd." you know that those people over there will be looking for a place for a barbecue pretty soon and they know it is going to be urgent.Literally and metaphorically for Andrew Little it is going to be interesting to see what is on the barbecue for 2016. When you stand back and look at the big picture as the Minister of Finance was saying earlier you know there are only three other countries in the world that are in New Zealand's position. You have got to look at that helicopter view. I mean wage is growing far faster than inflation. Wage is up 25 percent over the last 8 years compared with inflation of about 12 percent cumulatively. You have got unemployment continuing to drop and you have got the books in balance. I mean that is an amazing position to be in—a future track of 3.5 to 4 percent growth for out-years depending on whom you listen to giving the Government options over what happens with those surpluses. So when you look at the state of the public services and what we have focused on there is a lot to celebrate.The health system is running fantastically. There has been a great injection of $560 million in the Budget and we have record levels of expenditure—$16.1 billion. We are doing more elective surgery than ever before. We have raised those electives by about 60000 a year from around 120000 to 180000. We have raised the availability of appointments by 110000 from 430000 to 540000. I was talking today in the House about what has happened in terms of those free GP visits for under 13s. There are far fewer people going to emergency departments as a result of that. Our young people are staying out of hospital and they are staying well for longer. This is very much aligned with the health strategy. We have heard about housing—in my electorate of Northcote there is a fantastic redevelopment of the Northcote town centre where 400 State houses are going to be replaced by 1200 affordable houses. That is the sort of progress that we are getting. We have had great house building projects in Christchurch we have heard about Tāmaki and we have got land for 30000 new dwellings across Auckland. Real progress is being made.Really innovative steps are being taken by the Minister of Education to raise standards to get the education system moving. The Minister for Social Development Anne Tolley is continuing to get people off benefits and back into work. We are focusing on the things that really matter for people. When you look at the choices that the electorates are going to face in 2017 there is going to be a real clear difference there for them. There are going to be these 8 years—9 years by that stage—of clear achievement focusing on the things that are important to New Zealanders: the economy law and order health and education. Meanwhile what will those on the other side have to show for their 9 years in Opposition? Very little. We have not heard any policy from them and no new ideas. All we hear are these rumours of dissent and how they would like to remove Andrew Little but of course with their crazy constitutional arrangements they have got absolutely no chance of ever achieving that. Christmas 2016—where is the barbecue going to be? It will be interesting."