Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:640;Page:10101] 
5.  
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: What reports if any has he received on a speech given by chief nursing adviser Mark Jones in Nelson recently and does he consider it to be consistent with the  
Public Service Code of Conduct 
? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Associate Minister of Health) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Health 
: Compliance with the  
Public Service Code of Conduct 
 by individual public servants is of course an employment matter and therefore the responsibility of the Director-General of Health as the chief executive officer of the Ministry of Health. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Is it consistent with the Public Service ethos that after a left-wing diatribe about the benefits of collectivism and the immorality of profit the chief nursing adviser Mark Jones should tell a large group of nurses that they were “vote maximisers” who should spend the next 6 to 8 weeks highlighting the benefits of the Government’s policies; and is it his attitude that the Ministry of Health and its officials are now an extension of the Labour Party’s propaganda arm? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: I am advised that the article is based on a reporter’s notes of a large group discussion. I am unable to comment on the reliability of any of the assertions made. I am advised however that Tony Ryall spoke at the same conference and said nothing of any substance. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Would the Minister agree with Mr Jones’ remarks in his speech that primary health organisations had been provided with a big chunk of public money but some had an immoral ethic and money flowed through to general practitioners’ back pockets; and is it part of the Government’s health strategy to pit nurses against doctors and use them as vote maximisers? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: I am aware that a recent Waikato business school survey has indicated that general practitioner incomes have risen—and I am not opposed to people’s incomes rising. I am also advised however that the Labour-Progressive Government has put a significant sum of money—in excess of $2 billion—into the primary health care system and by 1 July this year will have cut in half the price of going to the doctor for all New Zealanders. I think the House would like to know whether the National Party actually supports that achievement or opposes it. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Is it surprising that we have a climate of continual industrial unrest in the health sector when we have a senior public servant out there urging health workers to become politicised and promoting the Government’s political strategy of using health care workers as “vote maximisers”? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: I understand that under the  
Public Service Code of Conduct 
 public servants should fulfil their lawful obligations to the Government with professionalism and integrity. My understanding is that Mr Jones is a hard-working well-regarded member of the health sector and a dedicated public servant. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Does this Minister these days regard Minister Hodgson as a “vote maximiser” or a “vote minimiser”? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: If I had a choice between Mr Hodgson and the member asking the question in this House at this moment then it would be a no-brainer as to who I would choose. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: How does the Minister think nurses feel when the Government and its apparatchiks view them as vote— 
Hon Members 
: Ha ha! 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: They can laugh but one of your highly paid public servants is doing your propaganda at nurses at the taxpayers’ expense and is telling nurses that the Government’s attitude is that nurses are “vote maximisers” who will spend the next 6 to 8 months doing the Government’s business; that should be stopped. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I am not totally au fait with your vote but I do not think you have any highly paid officials called apparatchiks working for you. Therefore that member should follow the Standing Orders. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I agree. The member has been in this House long enough to know not to pull the Speaker into the debate. 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: In the matter of health there are two “vote maximisers” for this Government. The first is its policies and the amount of funding it has put into the health system. The second is Mr Tony Ryall who is the biggest “vote maximiser” for this Government that I could ever imagine.