Coleman JonathanHon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): There has never been a better time to be a New Zealander. This is a country moving nicely towards the top of its game: confident internationally competitive outward looking and looking to build on the foundations of 9 great years of achievement and growth. The economic settings are right and it is vital that the country continues to move forward.Unrelentingly positive." might be an election slogan for some but on this side of the House it is about the culture and the mind-set that has carried us through some of the toughest times in New Zealand's history. It got us back on our feet after the global financial crisis it got people back into jobs it got us back to surplus and it meant we were able to tackle the natural disasters that the country was faced with. The challenge now is to sustain that growth build the growth and act for the people most under pressure. It is still a fragile and a difficult world out there economically.Voters want stability they want leadership they want that proven track record. They are wary of political parties that cannot manage themselves. The country needs planners not plotters. It needs parties focused on the issues that matter to the electorate. Getting ready for Government takes hard work. You need to get around the sector. You need to produce the discussion documents. And I tell you what when the work has been done the evidence is plain to see. So where are the Opposition discussion documents? Where are the policies informed by years of hard slog? They are nowhere to be seen. They are grabbing stuff off the shelf. They are pulling stuff out of David Parker's brain and serving it up as the complete product. Hon Simon Bridges: It's like scrambled eggs!Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: It is. It is like an omelette: scrambled eggs and nothing backed by substance. So I am not surprised because they have just not got their act into gear.I am very proud to be the Minister of Health in this Bill English - led Government. This is a portfolio that really matters to New Zealanders because the health system touches pretty much everyone across the country in any given year. It is really interesting to have a comparison of the records of National and Labour over the past 18 years. What did Labour do around first specialist assessments? It cut 30000 patients off waiting lists. Meanwhile we have increased first specialist assessments by 150000 per year—a rise of 37 percent compared with 2008. If you look at emergency departments (EDs) I well remember as MP for Northcote going to North Shore Hospital and seeing people waiting on trolleys under the harsh fluorescent lights. We brought in that emergency department target: everyone in and out of the ED in 6 hours. And do you know what? That has saved 700 lives per year. There is the research to back it so these are not just arbitrary political targets; these are targets that have made a real difference to the quality of care and that have literally saved lives.What happened with elective surgery under Labour? There was a minimum minimal increase in elective discharges. Under National we have made elective surgery a priority. We have set that target of a 4000 uplift per year and we have increased elective surgeries by 40 percent—by 50000 operations per year since 2008. Going to your GP: what did Labour do to increase access to general practice? Nothing. It did zero. It took a National Government to bring in free under-13s GP visits and prescriptions benefiting 700000 children. Cancer care: what did Labour do? It sent 700 people to Australia for basic care. We took a structured approach with our $63 million cancer plan which has seen the international gold standard set as the target: everyone treated within 62 days after the first serious suspicion of cancer. What did Labour do on bowel screening? Nothing. We are now rolling out a comprehensive programme. What did it do on pay equity? Zero. We have delivered a pay equity settlement that is going to benefit 55000 of the hardest-working people in New Zealand. What did Labour do on immunisation? It had Third World levels—67 percent. Under National the target of 95 percent of 8-month-olds—we are reaching that target. A serious achievement.So you can see that this Government is delivering for New Zealanders. We are getting on with the decisions that make a difference to the lives and quality of life of citizens across the country. In the end when you look at what people will weigh up on 23 September that is what is going to count."