Logie Jan: New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 08 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8619. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green): I rise to take a short call as the second speaker for the Green Party on the New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill. We have just heard from Jacqui Dean the previous speaker on behalf of the Government about the need to focus on the needs of the community and on what is good for patients and I think this is where we seem to have a disagreement in perception with this Government. The Government seems to be telling us that it understands from Wellington the needs of communities and patients better than locally elected representatives could.That is the view that we have heard again and again from this Government in relation to Environment Canterbury where just as surprisingly the Government’s needs represents its vision of an irrigation-heavy economy as opposed to the identified needs of the local community. We have heard it again from this Government in terms of the Auckland transitional authority plans where the Government thinks it can appoint the commissioners and that it would be more appropriate to do so than have the Auckland Council do that and we are seeing this again here.The Green Party supported the initial appointment of commissioners in the Southern District Health Board. As has already been pointed out my colleague Kevin Hague had been raising concerns for over a year before the Government took action around some of the financial challenges that were being experienced by that district health board. However I have not heard any argument from the Government about either why mid-term elections would not be possible or—as has already been pointed out as signalled by the Minister initially—why that commissioner could not continue the job alongside locally elected board members. I would like to hear an argument against that.I am from Invercargill. I still have family down south and I have worked at Otago University at the medical school. The people whom I know are absolutely capable of providing fantastic leadership and accountability and representing their community. Although the commissioner may be doing a good job the people I know would also do a fabulous job. It seems to me that this Government again and again underestimates the knowledge and the ability of people in our local communities. That is not the Green Party vision. We do not believe that Wellington and people in this House have a better idea of the needs of local communities than the local communities themselves. If this bill does pass we will be putting up an amendment for there to be interim mid-term elections and we certainly will be listening very carefully to find the arguments about why a commission alongside a locally elected board is not possible.I would also just like to echo some of the other concerns that have been raised in the House regarding the population-based funding model and its impact particularly on Southland Otago and Dunedin where we have remoter populations. That model does not seem to be working so well. Otago and Dunedin in particular separately from the remote needs has one of our most prestigious medical schools and the fact that Dunedin Hospital has lost accreditation for training in several areas is a real problem for us as a country. That medical school is critically important for us as a country and we need to ensure that that knowledge that is based in Otago and that the local oversight are there to be able to do credit to the importance of that institution and the health needs of those communities. So it is unfortunate that the Green Party is not able to support this bill.