Robertson Grant: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Robertson Grant: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:670;Page:16599] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 Yesterday when John Key spoke in Parliament he told us that a society is judged on how it protects the vulnerable. It perhaps will not surprise members in the House that he did not get the quote quite right. The quote comes from an American politician named Hubert Humphrey who said that the test of the morality of a society was the way in which it looked after those in the dawn of life the twilight of life and the shadows of life. If we put the National Government’s record to that test in just one sector of our society the health sector we can see a total failure by the National Government. We can look at those in the dawn of life the young. Today in question time I raised with Tony Ryall whether it is acceptable for someone living on the Kapiti coast to have to spend 20 percent of the weekly family grocery bill on a visit for after-hours treatment for their daughter’s cut lip. Is that acceptable? 
Hon Nanaia Mahuta 
: How much? 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: Twenty percent of that family’s weekly grocery bill was spent on one visit for after-hours care and this was from a Government that said that under-sixes and the treatment of our young children would be a priority. So those in the dawn of life are not receiving the kind of treatment in the health sector that we would expect. 
Research last year told us that there were 2000 more admissions of children to hospital in 2009 than there were in 2007. That is 2000 extra admissions to hospital for diseases of which many would have been preventable if the Government were prepared to invest in primary health care if the Government were prepared to invest in the well-being of our young people. The fact that we have rheumatic fever in New Zealand at all is a disgrace. We need investment in those who are in the dawn of life because that is a test of the morality of the Government but we have seen that this Government is failing that test. Again we see it with the cuts to early childhood education as well. Young people are being left behind in the health system because Mr Ryall is obsessed by his focus on elective surgery. He is obsessed by looking good in front of this House when it comes to the health sector but the reality for some like that young family on the Kapiti coast is that the health costs they are facing end up putting them and other families in a situation where it is a choice between food on the table or health treatment. 
Well in this country we do have choices. That Government has choices and it has chosen to give tax cuts weighted towards the top 10 percent of earners. The Government could have made a choice to invest in health and education and to ensure that care for under-sixes could be free for people all around New Zealand but it made a choice to give those tax cuts to the highest-income earners. 
If we take Hubert Humphrey’s quote further we may consider those in the twilight of life the elderly. The record on elder care in the health sector from this Government is appalling. I could not believe that in a country like New Zealand I would have a constituent come to me about her 92-year-old father a World War II veteran who had had his home-help hours cut over the phone. This man has hearing difficulties and sight difficulties but his home-help hours were cut over the phone. That is not the kind of New Zealand I want to live in. I want to live in a New Zealand where we look after each other and where we make a priority of looking after one another not a priority of rewarding the top 10 percent of earners with a tax cut that they did not need. So those in the twilight of life have not been treated well by this Government. 
What about those in the shadows of life? I take that to mean people for instance who are receiving care under the mental health system. What kind of treatment have they seen from this Government? There have been cuts to funding right around New Zealand for mental health. Here in my own area the Capital and Coast District Health Board in Wellington has cut mental health funding over the last 2 years. That means that two community clinics in Wellington city will close this year—two mental health community clinics will close this year. It means that right across the health sector non-governmental organisations that provide vital support to people in our community are losing money. 
An organisation like the Phobic Trust of New Zealand run by a wonderful woman named Marcia Read who has been lauded by parties on both sides of this House is losing a funding contract here in Wellington to support people with phobic disorders. Is that the kind of country that has a good morality? That is the kind of message the Government is sending. It is failing the test of looking after the vulnerable. It is failing the moral test of a Government to look after its citizens in the dawn of life the twilight of life and the shadows of life. That is a shame upon this Government and it is more evident in the health sector than anywhere else. It is a question of priorities. 
The Government has already said that it will cut the spending allowance in the next Budget down to $800 million of extra spending. If the health budget stands still it will take up $600 million of that $800 million—if it stands still. Actually that is still not enough. In fact over the 4-year Budget cycle that the Government likes to do its Budget on there will be a $750 million hole in the health budget. One whole year’s worth of new health spending will have gone across those 4 years. That will inevitably lead to more service cuts. It will inevitably lead to more pressure on district health boards not to provide those services to the young to the elderly and to those patients in mental health. That is not good enough because the kind of country that I want to live in is one where we invest in health and education. It is one where we actually make the choice to say that we will look after our fellow citizens to enable them to achieve their potential whoever they are and wherever they are from. 
Instead we have a message from John Key that he cares more about the private insurers who will benefit from the privatisation of accident compensation the top 10 percent of income earners and the foreign investors who will get hold of our State assets than he does about ordinary New Zealanders. The message to New Zealanders is that John Key does not care about them. He cares about all of those other people—the foreign investors and the overseas-run insurance companies—because that is where the value is going in New Zealand today. That is the value that has been put on this. It is the accountant’s view: the cost of everything and the value of nothing. That is the message that is coming out of John Key. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Hey! 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: Not all accountants I tell Mr Mallard. 
From a Labour point of view we want to focus on investing in our future in this term because it is vitally important when the people of New Zealand see the choices being made by the National Government that they know there are other choices that can be made and that they know it is possible to invest in our future through a relentless focus on children. I totally reject what Heather Roy said in this House today. Annette King is bringing forward a programme on investing in the early years that will make a fundamental difference to the future of New Zealand. It is not about putting an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff as the Government have done with boot camps; it is about building those fences at the top to allow young children to flourish wherever they are and whatever families they are born into. That is an investment in our future and yes it will take resources to do that. It will absolutely take resources to do that but resources are better spent there than on tax cuts to the top 10 percent of income earners. Resources are far better spent on investing in health and education. 
If we want to invest in our future then we need a fairer tax system. We need a system where people pay their fair share. It is not about punishing people for success; it is about encouraging success for everybody by ensuring everybody pays a fair share as part of a fair tax system. It is about having a monetary policy that supports exporters and that actually says we want export growth. Where was the message on export growth in the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday? It was just words and no action on that issue. 
On this side of the House we know that when the Prime Minister comes here to make a statement he should be setting out a vision. He should be setting out his vision for the future of New Zealand. What we got yesterday was a directionless statement. The Prime Minister is all map and no compass. He has all the polling and all the focus groups but he has no idea where he wants to take New Zealand. He has no vision for the future of this country. This year Labour will be presenting a positive vision about investing in our future and investing in our young people in contrast with National members who see the cost of everything and the value of nothing.