5. Question No. 5—FinanceHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 5—Finance5. Hon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by all of the Government's decisions statements and actions in relation to his portfolio?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Yes in the context in which they were made and undertaken. Hon Amy Adams: Why when Budget 2019 allocated $15.2 billion of new operating spending over four years couldn't he find enough funding in the Budget to ensure that Pharmac's funding at least kept pace with inflation? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As has been traversed in the House last week Pharmac did receive an increase in funding. In this Budget in the health area based on the evidence mental health received a massive injection of funding after being neglected for many many years. The overall health budget has received a significant increase. On this side of the House—as I said in answer to the last question—we can't make up for nine years of neglect in one year or even two years but we're making a good start.Hon Amy Adams: How can he say that he's used evidence and expert advice to tell us where we could make the greatest difference to the wellbeing of New Zealanders" when the Government has chosen to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into fees-free tertiary at the expense of giving Pharmac enough money to keep pace with inflation?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The premise of that member's question is incorrect. Money that supports education money that supports health and money that supports housing are all part of the Budget; one is not at the expense of the other. What we're doing is actually making up for the enormous under-investment of the previous Government.Hon Amy Adams: How does he think the refusal to even keep Pharmac funding in line with population growth has affected the wellbeing of New Zealanders like 14-year-old Stella Beswick two-year-old Otis Porter or Bella Guybay's four-year-old daughter who are all waiting desperately for the funding of lifesaving medicines that are funded in almost every other OECD country?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As the member well knows and as with the time she was in Government Pharmac make those decisions. We now spend nearly a billion dollars on the Pharmac budget and we will continue to invest in that. But we will also continue to invest in the areas which the last Government completely ignored—such as mental health—because that is what New Zealanders asked us to do.Hon Amy Adams: How does he respond then to Troy Elliott whose wife is suffering from serious breast cancer and has said that New Zealand's medicines funding is starting to make us look like a Third World country and that "this Government has to wake up; we're going backwards."?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I understand that for any family that is going through a situation where they have a family member with cancer that is traumatic. What we know in this country is that Pharmac makes the decisions about what drugs it invests in. In terms of the latter part of that quote I respectfully say that New Zealand is actually now going forward positively as a country to make sure that everybody shares in prosperity.Hon Amy Adams: Why was spending $7 million on Artists in Schools a higher wellbeing priority than the mere $6.5 million needed to reinstate cochlear implant funding that his Government cut in last year's Budget?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Again the member is not reflecting the Budget process that she knows well. These things are not trade-offs against one another. We are creating an environment in which we're investing in wellbeing across all sectors of the economy. In the health sector this Government has a record that is far superior to that Government."