Hodgson Pete: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Hodgson Pete: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:631;Page:3079] 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) 
: 
 I would like to thank Dr Jackie Blue for her contribution on the role of breast physicians. There are some things I would like to understand about that and I wonder whether she and I might not share a conversation in the near future. I would like to understand some of the subtleties better. 
I am so pleased we won the last election. It was fought around whether this country was to go forward with a bunch of tax cuts worth $11 billion over 4 years or whether we were to invest in more services and better education and give more attention to our nation’s infrastructure. It was fought around whether we were to build a nation or whether we were to have tax cuts we could not afford. Members can notice how I can listen—how we all can listen—to 25 minutes of drivel from the National Party without interrupting and how 25 seconds into my speech Tony Ryall has got himself blathering like a Gatling gun. All he can do is try to talk people down. That is the sort of guy he is. Members can notice that the National Party did not speak about mental health or about older New Zealanders wanting to stay longer in their own homes. It did not acknowledge that mental health funding has doubled under this Government. Boy are we proud of that! Boy have we got some way to go yet! But that is really significant progress. 
Members can notice the amount of money that has flowed through district health boards to help older New Zealanders stay in their own homes longer and to go to rest homes later or temporarily or for the most part not at all. That sort of money has doubled since the change of Government. Members can notice how the primary health care strategy will be rolled out one more step on 1 July this year and will be rolled out in its entirety on 1 July next year and how by 1 July this year there will be an investment of $540 million near enough into the primary health care strategy. 
Darren Hughes 
: National says it isn’t enough. 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: National does not know what to say. National wants to have tax cuts; and if it wants to have tax cuts then it cannot afford a primary health care strategy. The primary health care strategy is the largest single change in the way we have delivered health systems since probably 1950. It is a remarkable change and I want to pay tribute to those very many people in the primary health care sector and the Ministry of Health—policy makers and practitioners alike—who have contributed to the design and roll-out of that remarkable strategy. 
 I wonder why in 25 minutes we did not hear about one new hospital being built even though 22 new hospitals have been built or are in the process of being built. So there is an investment in the infrastructure of this country; but in 25 minutes members opposite could not get anywhere near it. There was no mention of the biggest vaccination programme in New Zealand’s history—not a mention. The number of children dying from meningococcal disease has already dropped by 57 percent and will drop further. That is a remarkable achievement. 
What National did talk about was Pharmac which is an interesting thing to pick on because Pharmac is an exercise in cost-effectiveness. If we had no Pharmac—if we had no reference pricing—there would be an increase in our health budget of $700 million for which we would get nothing. So let us be careful when we start to criticise Pharmac although I think the future for pharmaceutical purchasing will have to change somewhat. I noticed that Tony Ryall in his last 5 minutes which we could have done without spent all of his time as he has in his interjections ever since— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the Minister because I am conscious of the time but I remind members on my left to look at Speaker’s ruling 57/3. Running commentaries are out of order. If members want to make a speech they should take a call. 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: All that Tony Ryall could do was make an ad hominem attack. Has he not got something better to offer than a personal attack? 
Actually there is one point on which I agree with various National Party members—that is we should not be putting people into a booking system for first specialist assessment then not seeing them. We should not do that. The extent to which people are returned to general practitioners represents in my view a failure of the system. I do not think that that should happen. I think 10000 is too many. I think 15000 is too many. We have had that number for years—it is not recent—but what is really interesting is that to offer a bit of perspective 450000 New Zealanders do see a specialist in the public system each year. So 10000 or 15000 people do not and I do not think that that is good enough—I do not think district health boards are managing their front doors well enough—but 10000 or 15000 out of 450000 is not total failure either. It is a few percent and for those 10000 or 15000 New Zealanders I do not think it is at all satisfactory. That is where I agree with National members and that is why the letters have been going out saying: “Please manage your front door better.” 
The same story goes for people who have been put on a booking system for a surgical procedure. We think that 7000 or 8000 is too many but it is also the case that 107000 do get their surgery so there is a bit of perspective. 
What do we know about what National members said that was wrong? Well most of what they said was wrong. They said there are fewer elective procedures—wrong. They said there are fewer surgical procedures—wrong. They said that under Annette King the deficits went up—they went down. Pretty much everything National members had to say that was an apparent fact was wrong. Even the figure of 1800 from Hawke’s Bay was wrong. All of the figures they mentioned that I took note of were wrong. What is more not only were they wrong; they were intended to mislead. It is not OK to intend to mislead; it is a good idea to have some perspective. 
However the most important thing is that 8 months ago New Zealanders made a choice. They made a choice not to have massive tax cuts. For that reason in 2 days’ time the Hon Dr Michael Cullen will announce a further increase in the health budget— 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: No it’s already been announced. 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Of course it has. It is $750 million in 1 year. If National had won the election its Budget 2 days from now would have had a total new spend of $800 million—not in health but in everything. In 2 days’ time $750 million extra will go into health through the Labour Government because it can invest. The National Party wanted to give it away in taxes and National members have the gall to sit there and say that things are not good enough. I say to National members that that is a point of view that they will have to reconcile internally because one cannot argue for increased expenditure and for tax cuts. We get to spend money but once around here and that is why winning the last election was so important. 
In 2 days’ time we will have a further investment in our health system. We will be able to deal with the priorities the Government has put into the public arena. I am happy to go through them. We need to get ahead of the curve on chronic disease. Whether it is Healthy Eating - Healthy Action whether it is the Cancer Control Strategy or whether it is further reduction in the prevalence of tobacco smoking or the amount that each smoker smokes all of those things are key to the future of New Zealand’s health. 
We need to make further progress in the health of older people. We need to make further progress especially with funding in that area. We need to make sure that the primary health care strategy is rolled out well over the next 2 years and that the move to a population-based approach in primary health is taken up fully. That will take some years but that has become a priority for this year and for later. And there are a bunch of things we want to do for our children. We do think that neonatal testing for hearing is a good idea. We do think that more attention to child and adolescent mental health is a good idea. National members do not because they chatter right through it. They yell in an effort to try to break up this speech. They just keep doing it. I do not know why they do not get laryngitis but that is what they do. We need to pay more attention to the oral health of our children. The oral health of our children has plateaued. It has stopped getting better. That is not good enough. So we need to make progress— 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Under Labour. 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: As it is under Labour I will just say what happened under National. A National Government stopped training dental nurses. I do not know whether anyone can believe that but National stopped training dental nurses. That roughly is the difference between the two parties. It is the difference between investment and disinvestment and I rest my case readily. 
Reports noted.