Simpson Scott: Debate on Budget Policy StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Debate on Budget Policy Statement[Sitting date: 12 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16604. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel):It is an absolute pleasure to speak in this Budget Policy Statement debate this evening. I think I am going to be the last speaker. It is always interesting to follow Green MPs like Gareth Hughes because they often talk about the planet and their place on it but we are just as often not sure which planet that is.I know that in my own electorate of the Coromandel where we have had a very good summer—in fact the farmers on the Hauraki Plains will be saying about now that summer is just about ready to be over because we are ready for some rain; hopefully we will get some this weekend. But we have had a very good summer in the Coromandel and the good people of Coromandel are looking forward to the next Bill English Budget which will be read in May of this year because they know that this will be a Budget that will continue the careful prudent fiscal management of Bill English and this John Key - led Government. They know that when we go to the polls on 20 September the general election policy of the National Party and this Government will remain absolutely firmly focused on the issues that matter to all New Zealanders. Those issues matter to our communities and to all Kiwis: a stronger economy more jobs better front-line health and education services a safer New Zealand and of course the continued rebuild of Christchurch.My colleague Jami-Lee Ross spoke only a few minutes ago about where we were when National came to the Government benches in 2008 and what a dreadful chaotic mess the country was in at that point. Jami-Lee Ross talked about the situation that confronted the Government. We were already in recession ahead of the global financial crisis ahead of the worst economic situation to face our nation and the world since the 1930s. So ours was a Government that actually took a prudent careful and managed approach to that crisis and indeed we did borrow. We borrowed to maintain the social services and the support for all New Zealanders that was required at a time of crisis—a time of crisis when many other countries were slashing freezing and cutting costs and cutting services to their public and their State services. So I am very proud that in fact the Government that I am a member of did not do that and we did a very good job.What I want to focus on tonight is health. I have the pleasure of sitting on the Health Committee and I want to talk a little bit about the progress that this Government has made in the health sector since it came to power in 2008. Over the last 5 years the Government has been working assiduously to improve the patient journey through our hospital system. We have increased elective surgery we have reduced waiting times and we have found new ways to maximise our health care services. Tony Ryall has done an absolutely outstanding job as Minister of Health. He has been described by others—and I would also be one who would do so—as the country’s finest health Minister in the entire history of our parliamentary system. I think he deserves that accolade. I think he has earned it. I think that anyone who has needed to go through our health system would probably endorse that.There have been some very significant improvements made within the health and disability service sector. We have been focused on delivering better sooner and more convenient health care to New Zealanders. This is a Government that continues to invest in elective surgery and has done so even during those darkest days of the global financial crisis. Back in 2010 $51.5 million was invested over 4 years to fund more elective surgeries. That was followed in 2011 by a further $68 million and then in 2012 and also in 2013 $48 million in each of those subsequent years as well. So this strong investment has led to a decrease in waiting times and an increase in surgery volumes and the number of surgical procedures being done.Waiting times are internationally regarded as a measure of quality and performance and so to have reduced waiting times during that period of time when other countries were cutting and slashing their health spending is I think an indication of the careful prudent and responsible management of Tony Ryall and this John Key - led Government. Since 2008 when we came to power the average number of days that patients spend in hospitals has fallen consistently. This is important because spending longer in hospital can reduce a patient’s well-being completely and of course it increases the cost of care using more of our already stretched and valuable health dollars.But it is not just patients in hospitals and those in need of surgery that the health focus has been on. A person’s first contact with our health system is more often than not with their general practitioner. The Government has been working to strengthen and support primary care to provide the best possible care for all New Zealanders at every stage. District health boards are now working more closely with primary-care providers to achieve clinical integration and care closer to patients’ homes or preferably in their own homes. Integrated family health centres provide a more diverse range of health professionals and enable a more coordinated approach to patient care in primary-care settings. This is to be applauded and lauded. I want to again congratulate the Hon Tony Ryall on making sure that in the tough times we have had the focus has been on maintaining that spend and yes we have borrowed to make sure that that occurs.Just one example of how that has occurred is in agencies such as the Health Quality and Safety Commission. Some people may not know much about the Health Quality and Safety Commission but it is a special commission whose work is entirely focused on the reduction of falls and the harm from falls that occur in New Zealand homes in places of work and in our community. Since 2010 the Health Quality and Safety Commission has been building a culture of constant examination and improvement in the health and disability sector. This is a small but very important step and provides further indication of the focus that the Government has been placing on this important sector.Let us not forget just how bad things were after the 9 long years of a high-spending high-borrowing high-handed Labour-Green Government. Remember back in 2002 when Annette King said in the Evening Post that “New Zealand is not rich enough to have the kind of health system found in Australia Canada Britain or the USA.” That was an incredibly pessimistic indictment of our health service and the future of our health services from the then Labour health Minister.It surprises me that a person who entered this House campaigning against Robert Muldoon is now being pushed forward as Labour’s great new young hope in health. Our health system was chaos after Annette King’s stewardship under 9 long years of the Labour Government and we do not want to return to that chaos again. Waiting lists were absolutely out of control and Labour was spending like a drunken sailor but the results were all heading south. So the spending was going up but the results were going down. We all remember those stories in the newspapers and on our television screens of patients who were lying on trolleys in hospital corridors under bright florescent lights for sometimes days on end awaiting basic surgery and treatment. We also remember the cancer patients who were shipped offshore—flown across the Tasman to Australia for basic cancer treatment.It has taken nearly 6 years for Tony Ryall and the John Key - led Government to put it all right and to sort it out. While many developed countries were freezing and reducing their health spending we were increasing ours. So we have got less waiting more operations and more doctors and nurses and we have moved health spending from the back office to the front line. When we go to the polls on 20 September New Zealanders will have a stark decision to make. They will say: “Am I prepared to put it all at risk or will I stay with the careful prudent managed approach of John Key and Bill English?” and I know which way they are going to vote. It has been a pleasure to participate in this debate.