Chadwick Steve: General Debate 
Chadwick Steve: General Debate 
[Volume:626;Page:21155] 
STEVE CHADWICK (Labour—Rotorua) 
: 
 What an appalling speech made by National’s spokesperson on health! Again he did not give us one policy. The country is getting agitated with only 16 weeks to go. I ask Dr Hutchison when we will see any policy. I think he needs to talk to Dr Brash—the voice of ignorance narrow political advantage and selfishness. And that is what we will see if heaven forbid National gets traction on the election campaign which is already under way. He believes and he says two different things. He will use any populist tactic in his grasp to try to divert attention from his real plans. 
What underlies all of this? We hated the 1990s. Dr Brash will not declare himself but he has no other option but to go back to the divisive tactics of the 1990s. When will we hear about the promised yet to be delivered tax cuts? When will National be honest with us? Will families see those cuts on their tables by Christmas or will they see a little wee Budget by then? Dr Brash and John Key cannot even agree so there is fat chance we will see either. Families will simply get a lashing of baloney on their Christmas table from a mean old rooster. National’s leader just fails to reach agreement and fails to show leadership. His approach is becoming manifestly clear. We are seeing mean-spirited divisive and yes racist approaches—and all so long overdue. 
We have a poster in our electorate already called the “Orewa billboard” that talks about beaches in our beautiful lakes district. It states “Iwi Kiwi”. Apart from boring the public stupid it is raising heckles in our fair-minded community—a community whose members are inclusive sensible and fair-minded New Zealanders. The Opposition again by putting up that billboard in Rotorua shows that it does not understand tatou tatou—we together. We do at home. The billboard is going down like a lead balloon. 
Let us go to the tax cut bribes. The Opposition will stoop to anything to show a point of difference just for power. It is hungry and greed for power. Dr Brash has been known to say: “We can win if we play our cards right.” Politics is not about a card game; it is about real policies. National is getting desperate and it is getting low. At a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Rotorua John Key played off the tertiary sector and the chief executive officer of our polytech institute came out and said: “Stop being dirty and playing politics with the tertiary sector. It is damaging to the good work we’re doing in our community getting second-chance learners rolling back into education.” 
I want to talk about the $1.9 billion that we know those proposed tax cuts will cost. What will that mean for Rotorua? It will mean that we will not have our sewage subsidisation scheme or safe drinking water schemes that we will not have the Sustainable Farming Fund and that there will not be any long-term funding commitment to restore the health of our lakes—and I will tell our community that because it really cares about the well-being of the lakes in our district. 
I go now from the health of our lakes to the health of our people. If those proposed tax cuts are to strip out $1.6 billion what will go? Maori primary health organisations will go. Dr Brash has been recorded as asking why we even need Maori doctors. He does not even understand about reducing inequalities in health. Well we do and we are proud of our targeted spending in health. Primary health roll-out will stop—simply stop. Dr Brash does not even understand what a primary health organisation is. Why does Dr Hutchison not take him aside and give him a decent speaking to? What about aged-care funding? Oh yes the Opposition is promising lashings of money to aged care. How will it afford it with those tax cuts and that loss in revenue? “Be afraid.” I say to those people over 50 in our community “Be very very afraid.” Not only will superannuation be affected but so will health services.