Ryall Tony: General Debate 
Ryall Tony: General Debate 
[Volume:641;Page:10920] 
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 I am sure that everybody in the House saw the irony of that tarnished Minister Annette King talking about a double standard—that Minister who could not come and deliver her truthful version of events to the House if she tripped over herself to try to get it here. Let us ask about her truthful standards and her performance in this House. This is a Minister who through bluff and blunder destroyed the public health system in New Zealand. She has taken this health system to a state where we no longer have a Government that trusts or respects our health professionals. The Government is deciding whether health professionals can have cheese on toast! That is what this Government is doing. Now the Government is deciding whether our health professionals can have a big chocolate bar. That is how it values and trusts our health service. 
The ultimate irony from Annette King was when she said: “What about the National Party and its despicable slur on the top cop in Wellington?”. Well what about the Prime Minister’s lies about— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member knows that he cannot allege that another member is lying. The member will desist. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: What about the Prime Minister’s stories totally inconsistent with the facts on Peter Doone? What about that slur which this Prime Minister cannot answer about? The Government opposite is on its last legs. We know that. We have been in a Government in its eighth and ninth years and we know what it is like. 
If only the Government knew who we are meeting with this afternoon. If only the Government knew which of its friends we are meeting with this afternoon. Week after week the Government’s friends are coming to talk to the National Party because the Government’s friends know that in less than a year it will be this side of the House that will be providing leadership to the future of the country of New Zealand. It will be John Key providing that leadership. It is a leadership that will contrast completely with Helen Clark. 
How can she get up in the House and question John Key when she had so many stories about what she was doing in the back of the car at 140 kilometres an hour on the Canterbury Plains when she had so many stories about that painting—did she paint it or did she not paint it—and when she had so many stories about the serviette with the Beehive picture? This is a Prime Minister who time and time again cannot be relied upon to tell the full story. How dare she try to say that John Key is not honest? The Prime Minister is really describing herself when she tries to make those allegations against John Key which this Government is so desperate to do. 
Members should look at the Government’s appalling behaviour. This is a Government that is on its last legs. When there is speculation about Maryan Street and Shane Jones going into Cabinet as the answer to the Government’s problems we know it really is on its last legs. What about question time today? Was there one Government policy idea today? There was not one—and the Government goes on about us? Was there one positive announcement that will actually get people into their own homes? There were none whatsoever. Was there any Government announcement about how interest rates will get under control? There was not one. 
Was there one Government announcement about what it will do about an 83-year-old woman who sat on a hospital trolley in North Shore Hospital for 4 days under fluorescent lights with a broken hip and no food drink or pain relief? What did Pete Hodgson say about that? He said: “Oh I don’t know anything about it.” That is what he said—“I don’t know anything about it.” He is the Minister of Health and he should be reading the jolly papers. That story was reported in the papers. The daughter told about the pain her mother suffered. And what is this Government doing? It is happy that an 83-year-old woman can lie on a trolley under fluorescent lights for 4 days with no respite at all. 
What about the older retired woman in Tauranga who had to pay $15000 for her own hip replacement because she was not sick enough to qualify for an operation? Even though she was in interminable pain the Government did nothing. The Government did nothing about that. These people are being forced to pay for their own operations. We have a health system that is falling apart. The health system has $5 billion extra and fewer people are getting care. If a person breaks his or her leg in Greymouth today do members know where that person will go to get treated? It will be Blenheim! That is what we get under this Labour Government: a charity hospital operating under a Labour Government.