Henare Peeni: New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHenare Peeni: New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 08 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8621. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PEENI HENARE (Labour—Tāmaki Makaurau): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā tātou katoa. If indeed the member who just resumed his seat Todd Barclay has talked about time and space it is clear that according to his assertions he has given a lot of time to going around and meeting these people. Now he is suggesting that he give them a bit of space—space to fix the wrongdoing that has happened under the watch of his Government.I doubt very much that in fact the member Todd Barclay has actually toured the entire region of the Southern District Health Board. I guess that he has probably kept within his own little patch. But just for the advice of the House the estimated resident population of the Southern District Health Board area is just over 300000 people. It is a land area of just over 60000 square kilometres and it is considered the largest of the district health board regions in New Zealand. I doubt very much whether the member who just resumed his seat has covered all of that area and canvassed all of those people whom the Southern District Health Board is there to serve.It has already been mentioned in this House not just in relation to the Southern District Health Board that health is a big issue across our country. I pick up the point of the member Clare Curran who has already pointed out that all of the people who come into her electorate offices have already mentioned that health is the biggest issue. For most of those who come through it is either health or housing: “h” and “h”—health and housing. One of the sad things with a bill like this is that it will remove the community’s voice in appointing the people to best represent them in appointing a district health board that reflects the people who live within the catchment area of the Southern District Health Board.It has already been mentioned and I want to echo the point that it does seem to be a suspended state of democracy. This is not something new given that in recent times this particular Government has put the country through this state several times in my time here in this House. Just recently we have pushed through under urgency a series of legislation that I am sure the wider population the people of New Zealand would relish the opportunity to be able to provide submissions on to a select committee. They would relish the opportunity to have their voice heard on the issues that are affecting them. This legislation is another case of that voice being taken away.But I say to the people who fall into the catchment of the Southern District Health Board do not fear. Although this bill may take away their rights to an election of the district health board there is another important election coming up in 2017 and I hope that their voice is heard. That one will tell this Government that what it has done in its time while managing the Southern District Health Board has failed. It will send a clear signal to this Government that we cannot tolerate the demise of and the reduction in services—in particular health services—in our regions.My colleagues have already talked about the hospital. They have talked about how the people of Dunedin and the people of Otago deserve a hospital that is state of the art. They deserve a hospital that provides to them the services that they need to be healthy to be wealthy and to be wise. They deserve a hospital that will see them when they need to be seen. They deserve a hospital where when they walk in they do not fear any secondary illnesses that may come because of the poor state of the hospital.They deserve all of these things and it is sad that the state of the Southern District Health Board has fallen this way. It is sad and it is also sad that this Government has ignored this problem for some time now. It has been raised with the Government by many members—not only on this side of the House but I am sure by a few on that side—but sadly their cries their pleas their kōrero and their statements have been ignored. Now we are left here to deal with a serious problem a problem that has seen the deficit blow out to over nearly $40 million and a problem that has seen millions and millions of dollars poured into this particular health board to make sure that it falls under the $40 million deficit mark. That cannot be tolerated. We want to see that money go to the places where it needs to go. It needs to go to the places where our people are able to receive the services that they deserve and the services that they require.What does this erosion of the democratic process do? What it does is it erodes the trust that people have in the institutions of this land. In this particular case it is the Southern District Health Board. In other cases it also falls down to this august institution and that is a concern. It is a concern because as we see there are low levels of participation across the country when voting whether it is in a silly flag referendum or whether it is in the actual general election. We are seeing a drop in numbers. I ask myself why it is like this. Clearly from what I hear when I am out talking to the people in the good constituency of Tāmaki Makaurau it is because they do not have faith in the system that is here to serve them. We are going to see a repeat of this here on this particular bill by removing the democratic rights of the people who fall within the catchment of the Southern District Health Board. They will be taken away stripped away until 2019.How many people I ask will suffer between now and then? How many further services will see a drop in funding or potentially be cut between now and then? Although we are talking about some of the major centres within the Southern District Health Board I wonder what it means for the more remote regions within this particular catchment area of the Southern District Health Board.All of these questions—I wonder can they be solved by one person? Can they be solved by one person who if we give more power to that person can make sure that the people within this area will receive the services they require? I question whether or not that person in this particular time frame will be able to tidy up what has happened. We have already come through 8 years of this particular Government and the problem has got worse.There still remain many questions from this side of the House. All of this said we do support the bill which will go forward to the select committee. We hope that more and more people from the Southern District Health Board catchment area will make submissions. I note too that in the departmental disclosure statement it talks about the cost savings that will happen when you do not have to have an election. It says it costs approximately $300000 to run an election for membership on the district health board. I wonder whether at the time that was supposed to be given to elections—the one that is being proposed to be taken away—this Government will say: “Well done. We’ve saved $300000.” The Government will have saved $300000 by taking away democratic rights.In conclusion I want to just repeat what I said earlier: do not fear because there is another important vote coming up before 2019. It is in 2017. I hope the people who fall within the Southern District Health Board catchment area make their voices heard make their voices known and stand up for the rights that they deserve from a responsible and caring health sector that makes sure their health requirements are met. Kia ora.