Woodhouse MichaelHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. As the Minister said the National Party did support this bill at first reading and it will continue to do so through its remaining stages. I firstly want to acknowledge the Government in its reasonable adjustment to the report-back date for the Health Committee. This was a bill that was introduced at first reading and while I wasn't present for the first reading debate I am aware that the shadow Leader of the House asked for an extra week in order that there be a very speedy—but at least something of a more thorough process—and the Government benches agreed to that. So that did enable the Health Committee to do its job I think very well. There were only a small number of submissions and the Minister has articulated the two main concerns as reported back by the Health Committee: that is the obvious loss of the democratic process and that's not one that I think anybody in this House would take lightly. We have some precedent for that and certainly the previous Government needed to take steps of a similar nature at the Southern District Health Board. I would suggest that the response from the Dunedin-based Opposition spokesperson for health at that time will be identical to the response from the Dunedin-based Opposition spokesperson at this time and that is: we understand the circumstances that lead to what is a loss of the democratic process and the people's right to choose its representatives on the district health board but there are some occasions when that is necessary and appropriate and I think the Waikato situation has reached the threshold for such action being taken. Karen Poutasi—Dr Poutasi—is a very experienced both clinician and health service manager and it will be for her and the commissioner's team to drill into the circumstances that led to the difficulties that are facing the Waikato District Health Board both from a clinical and a financial perspective. I would make the opposition that a threshold for intervention has now been reached and met and the Minister has taken action. It is of serious concern that that is a threshold that is being met and exceeded by a number of the district health boards around the country and so it will be a challenge for the Minister and his Government to be consistent in their approach to the circumstances that would give rise to some kind of intervention. It will also be an important task I think for the commissioner to lift the bonnet on the issues and find out where indeed things are going wrong because one of the things that I think is a feature of the district health board process—and let's bear in mind that the governance of these organisations is a very difficult thing requiring a high level of skill not only from the election process but from the ministerial appointments to augment that process. There has been quite a bit of reflection on whether or not these very complex sometimes billion-dollar - plus organisations actually have the right level of governance. But when things go awry when clinical and financial milestones aren't met it can be extremely difficult for Ministers for the ministry and even for the board to understand exactly what's going on. I think it's a feature of our district health boards that may well be within the terms of reference the scope of the review that the Minister has embarked on through Heather Simpson. I also note in passing that the Canterbury District Health Board now has a Crown monitor and indeed one could argue that the threshold for the appointment of a commissioner there has been comfortably exceeded except that the circumstances are different; the governance in place is different. But it will also be I think not only necessary but crucial to understand why things are changing so rapidly there and I'll resist the temptation to go toe-to-toe with the Minister as I have for the last weeks and months about why that might be the case and who's to blame. What I would say is that the appointment there of Dr Lester Levy is an excellent appointment. Dr Levy is someone who's been known to me for the 25 years that I've been involved in the health sector and I find him to be an excellent health service manager. If anybody can provide detailed intelligence to the Minister I think it's him but he will have his hands full. Now that said I would encourage the Minister on behalf of the people of the Waikato to require the commission to be even more upfront than would otherwise be the case. They have had to watch from the sidelines while an escalating issue has unfolded for reasons which I won't go over again here. But one of the things we owe to the public of the Waikato is a clear and transparent understanding of what is going to happen what has happened and what will happen in the future. I'm sure that given the right direction from the Minister Dr Poutasi will do that. When we take away a democratic process we need to replace it with something that that region can have confidence in. So I would encourage the Minister to continue and to improve the transparent nature of the reporting not only back to him but also to the people of the Waikato. But with those words we will be supporting this bill.