Doocey Matt; O'Connor Greg; Verrall AyeshaMATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): Thank you very much Mr Speaker for the opportunity to talk on behalf of the National Party in this Budget debate. And I want to start with the interesting event last week—wasn't it interesting that TVNZ 1 Kantar poll? Who would have thought a Government after their Budget got no bounce in the poll? I would say—Erica Stanford: They went backwards.MATT DOOCEY: They did go backwards Erica Stanford. I would say that is unprecedented. And it speaks volumes to how on that side of the House the Government side they think they're connected to New Zealanders but really they are just in the beltway of Wellington. And what was also interesting about last week was a news item that said Te Whatu Ora—or Health New Zealand—was going to write to 30000 Kiwis who are waiting on the surgery list to ask them if they still need their surgery just in case just magically their surgery needs have disappeared. Thirty thousand Kiwis are going to be written to by Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand to ask if they still need their surgery. The reason I raise that is to contrast what's happening at the moment in the UK: the Labour Party in England is actually advocating to fund the private sector to pick up capacity to reduce surgery waiting lists in the UK. And why is that important? Because every funding announcement comes with an opportunity cost. So they can stand on their side of the House and crow that they've removed co-payments so well-to-do and wealthy people don't have to pay their $5 for their prescription but the cost that comes at is $620 million. I challenge any Government MP to go out and talk to Kiwis and say Right you've got $620 million. What would you like to prioritise?" And I guarantee you no Kiwi says "Get rid of the co-payment". They would say there's a range of issues in the health system that you should prioritise for that $620 million like reducing the surgery wait-list. So Kiwis when you're out over the next six months talking to your Labour MP—that's if you can find them because they're missing in action at the moment—and asking why you can't get on the wait-list it's because they prioritised getting rid of the co-payment for wealthy people over thousands of Kiwis on a surgery wait-list. Who in their right mind would have prioritised that for over $600 million of vital health system funding? And that also comes on the back of another event that happened a couple of weeks ago. A mental health patient waited in the emergency department (ED) for 94 hours—four days. A doctor at the time in the Auckland ED described it as the longest ever wait in ED history. And what was in the Budget for patients like that gridlocked in ED? Nothing. In fact what was even more of a kick in the guts was that in the last Budget in 2022 the Government announced $100 million for mental health and $27.5 million of that was for crisis respite beds that might have prevented that vulnerable Kiwi waiting four days in ED. And do you know how much of that $27.5 million had been spent by March? Zero—absolute zero. And what was interesting was that the Health and Disability Commissioner at the time of the reporting of that vulnerable Kiwi stuck in ED in crisis for four days called on the Government for a plan. Who would have thought that a Government that came in to power six years ago promising to transform the mental health system would be called on by the Health and Disability Commissioner for a plan in mental health. Two years ago the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in their first damning report—which found that despite the $1.9 billion for mental health the Labour Government had made no material improvement—also called for a plan. Here we are six years in. So it's not surprising that in this Budget mental health was hardly mentioned. In the old days the $1.9 billion was like a trophy; they paraded it around. They don't mention it much these days a bit like a millstone around their neck a bit like the 40-odd recommendations from their mental health inquiry just quietly shelved away. And what's concerning today in the UK as well which has come out through The Guardian is that the police in the UK have said to the health services in England that they are no longer going to respond to mental health crisis call-outs unless there is life at risk. We're no different over here. The Canterbury police have said that 55 percent of their work is responding to mental health crisis call-outs. Where was the acknowledgment of that in Budget 2023? Because the history of the mental health co-response services is that under the last National Government in Budget 2017 Bill English announced $100 million for mental health social investment projects. One of them was the mental health co-response service to pair up mental health professionals to go out with police to mental health crisis call-outs. Labour came in after promising to transform the mental health system and cut that—the first thing they did in 2018.There you had the last National Government Bill English giving $100 million for social investment to go into co-response services to make sure that when vulnerable Kiwis ring up in their time of need for a health response they don't get the criminal justice response that's happening today. The last National Government was actually ahead of its time. They were ahead of the curve. This Government's come in they cancelled the funding and every Budget we wait for them to reprioritise that funding again for co-response services and in this Budget they didn't deliver. Here we go: 55 percent of police time is taken up with mental health crisis calls. There was nothing in this Budget for them. So they can talk a big game about mental health but here we have it once again—Budget 2023 was about waving the white flag in mental health. The biggest barrier to timely mental health and addiction support in New Zealand is the mental health workforce crisis. There was nothing in the Budget to address that. And so you know it's time for a Government to move on when they run out of ideas. These guys are absolutely bereft of ideas in mental health and in health. And their only—or their biggest—flagship policy was to remove the co-payment a $5 co-payment for well-off Kiwis. And then they crow "Oh I've spoken to a pharmacist who's really supportive of this". Well I'm not surprised they're really supportive of this. This helps their business model.They got rolled by private business. Think of where you could have prioritised $620 million in the health system and I guarantee you Kiwis would have come up with a better option than this. So I'm not surprised that the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission is calling for a mental health plan six years in from this Labour Government and that the Health and Disability Commissioner is calling for a plan six years in from this Government. We actually have no plan in mental health. What's very interesting is the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission will release their next report into mental health tomorrow. I guarantee what it's going to show just like written parliamentary questions are going to show—skyrocketing vacancy rates in our mental health workforce and a drop in the number of people accessing services. The mental health inquiry found an indicative target; we needed to increase access from 5 percent to potentially 20 percent of the population—$1.9 billion. We've made no difference under Labour.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Mr Doocey. Just before I take the next call can I just compliment the member on speaking without notes. There's been a lot of members who are reading speeches so it's encouraged that members actually stand up and speak without notes. So I'll compliment the member on that—to bear no relationship to what was in the speech I might add.Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Minister of Health): I move That this debate be now adjourned.Motion agreed to.Debate interrupted.DEPUTY SPEAKER: This debate is adjourned and is set down for resumption next sitting day. Members the time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m."