Wall Louisa: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWall Louisa: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 01 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9250. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa):Kia ora e Te Māngai o Te Whare tuatahi aroha ki te whānau o Dr Ranginui Walker moe mai rā e te rangatira.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. Firstly empathy to the family of Dr Ranginui Walker. Sleep esteemed one.]I am actually really pleased to take a call in the debate on the Prime Minister’s statement and I really want to focus on two points that he made. The first was that he said there will be a $17 billion hole in the economy—so the Government is already anticipating that our revenue will be short $17 billion. The other point that he made which I just find incredible was that in spite of that this Government is 100 percent focused on tax cuts.The fact that it is 100 percent focused on tax cuts as part of its fiscal strategy got me thinking about what that means. What that actually means is that there will be spending cuts and as such there will be service cuts. So I was thinking about the services that will be cut because of the Government’s obsession within that context to give tax cuts to the people they have traditionally given them to—wealthy New Zealanders who quite frankly do not need them. So what does that do to undermine our public service: the provision of hospital services social services—services that New Zealanders need actually to keep them healthy and to keep them well.I found it really interesting at the beginning of the year on 9 January actually that there was quite a big write-up and media focus on the rheumatic fever prevention programme in South Auckland which is now is in its fifth year. It is actually a $45 million investment because this Government rather than provide houses so people did not get sick actually said: “What we’ll do instead is we’ll go and test the kids.” So they are working in 61 South Auckland schools and last year 20000 cases of group A streptococcus were detected through that programme. That is incredibly commendable because what that meant is those kids could get antibiotics. Why? Because if we could prevent group A streptococcus turning into something else—that is rheumatic fever—then that was the Government’s solution to addressing this whole issue of poverty and the lack of quality housing provision in South Auckland.So I was incredibly surprised to see on 9 January this year that the funding that Counties Manukau District Health Board is receiving for this programme is going to be cut by 50 percent. On 1 July 50 percent of that $9 million annual investment will go so it is the district health board’s responsibility to keep funding that programme that has proved effective and has found 20000 children who need access to antibiotics to stop them from getting rheumatic fever. Wow!The Counties Manukau District Health Board is one of all district health boards around the country except for the Southern District Health Board or one of the boards in the south that does not have to cut funding. But actually Counties Manukau District Health Board is part of the $138 million—what would I call it? The hospitals are being directed to save money—$138 million—this year. Counties Manukau District Health Board has to save $20 million. So not only does it have to save $20 million it is also going to lose $4.5 million for an initiative that this Government has been trumpeting and has been very proud about because it is stopping South Auckland kids from getting rheumatic fever. Those are the challenges and those are some of the decisions that it has made because of the obsession of this Government to cuttaxes.It has meant cuts in mental health services in Canterbury and I know that my colleague Denise Roche talked about this earlier. Within the context of the increased need of people in Christchurch calling out for help—we know that the helplines for young people have been oversubscribed for 5 years—what has the Government decided to do? It is going to cut funding for mental health services in Canterbury. It is ludicrous. It is ridiculous. We are supposed to govern in the best interests of all New Zealanders and meet their needs—and this Government supposedly has put Canterbury as a big priority—but actually its obsession with tax cuts means that it is cutting funding for rheumatic fever it is cutting funding for mental health services it has cut funding for Women’s Refuge and actually the list could go on and on and on.I think that this Budget actually is a dark day—Hon Members: It’s not a Budget.LOUISA WALL: The Prime Minister’s priorities which actually will translate through to the Budget will be incredibly interesting to see. Kia ora.