Carter John: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Carter John: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:606;Page:3489] 
JOHN CARTER (NZ National—Northland) 
: 
 I should tell the House that it looks as though we are going to lose the third race in the America’s Cup unfortunately. I wanted to bring that tone to my 10-minute contribution because as much as we are going to be saddened by that loss I must say that the Prime Minister’s statement was about as depressing.  
There are two reasons that a Government does well. The first is that it has a vision for the country and has the ability to capture the hearts and minds of the people. The Prime Minister said in her own words that the statement would be boring. It sure was! What was worse was that the statement she delivered was not only boring but had no vision that would tend to encourage people to continue supporting the Labour Government.  
Secondly a Government does well when it has a stable and growing economy. [ 
Interruption 
] Yes that is true and the Government has accepted all the plaudits for the economy being stable. But that situation is no credit to this Government. Indeed I think that Mr Cullen the Minister of Finance would be one of those who expect a higher surplus than he budgeted for. I think there is an expectation across the country that that will happen. But the fact is that beyond that the situation does not look quite so rosy.  
If we look at what is happening around the world and if we look at commodity prices certainly in rural Northland we are seeing that farmers are starting to close their chequebooks. As that happens—as the prices for dairy products drop and as beef prices start slowing down—we will find that the economy will be on the decline. Although the tax take and the Government’s income are likely to be up over this next 12 months beyond that I have to say the situation will be far more difficult. It will be interesting to see how the Prime Minister the Deputy Prime Minister and the Government manage in those circumstances. I suspect that they will have great difficulty.  
One of the things that interests me is the fact that when this Government started it made a lot of commitments to things like closing the gaps. Also it was going to address the issue of compliance costs. I have not noticed any closing of the gaps—certainly not in Northland and not to my knowledge across the country. There has certainly been no reduction in compliance costs. Indeed the very reverse has occurred. Next I refer to the job machine which we have just had a question about during question time. What has happened to the job machine that was promised with so much fanfare? Where are all the new jobs that we expected to see in Northland?  
There is also the matter of treaty claims. We anticipated that there would be great movement on that issue but unfortunately that has not been the case. Now we see things that cause us concern; things that the Government is not delivering on. The thing that finally gets a Government is the issue of broken promises. Then not only will people see that the Government has no vision and is grappling with an economy that is not as stable and buoyant as it has been as a consequence of our primary sector but people will increasingly notice the issue of broken promises. Where is the delivery on the promise regarding asset tests? The Government said it would do away with asset tests. Where is the delivery on the promise that there would be no increased taxes? What about the rise in petrol taxes? What about the rise in accident compensation premiums? What about the student fees increases that have recently hit us? Are they not increases in taxes?  
I want to talk about one specific promise that affects us very very significantly in Northland. I want to talk about the promise in relation to Kaitaia Hospital. I want to bring to members’ attention a statement about Kaitaia Hospital that was made by the current Minister of Health when she was the Opposition spokesperson on health in 1998. She said that one of the things she was worried about was that beyond doubt lives would be threatened if there was a reduction in services to the Kaitaia Hospital. The far north region is a huge area. Rural people need emergency medical treatment and they will find themselves hours away from their closest hospital. As a member of the Government then I had to stand on that side of the House while the then Leader of the Opposition the then Opposition spokesperson on health—and other Labour members who are now part of the current Labour administration—made all sorts of promises to retain the Kaitaia Hospital for the people of the far north. Sadly they are not delivering on that promise. At least I can look in the mirror and say that one of the commitments I made to the people in the far north when I was in Government was that the services in their hospital would not change and they did not. Those services did not change while National was in Government. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for this administration. So many statements were made and so many promises were given but unfortunately they were not delivered on.  
One of the things that the Minister of Health promised was an independent review. I want to talk about that a little today. She gave a commitment to the people of the far north prior to the last election that there would be an independent review and there has been. I must say that the review is a compliment to those who delivered it. It is very comprehensive and very structured and if it were to be followed it would actually solve a lot of the problems in the far north. The review stated: “However before Kaitaia Hospital moves from a 24/7 model”—this is with regard to surgery—“to the 8am to 6pm surgical roster several major building blocks need to be put in place at least: SMO Recruitment including Kaitaia/Whangarei rotation; A and M Clinic development; Retrieval System improvement and protocols; Increased outpatient clinic services.” Those are amongst a number of building blocks that according to the report need to be put in place with regard to Kaitaia Hospital.  
The Minister of Health made a commitment to the people of the far north that the Government would follow the report and would make sure that if there were changes in services they would be delivered that the building blocks would be put in place first and that then the current services such as the surgical services would be removed. Sadly that is not happening. Given the decision that the 24-hour services are to be removed at the end of this month and given that other services are to be taken away before the things that the report recommended be put in place have actually been put in place the Minister has said in response to the report—this was her statement just last week—that she is committed to improving emergency transfer retrieval systems. Of course we are all committed. The people of the far north do not want just a commitment; they want delivery. The Minister says she is committed to increasing outpatient clinics at Kaitaia. That is good but we need delivery of the service. We need the promise that the Minister made with regard to Kaitaia Hospital fulfilled. The Minister of Health says that she is committed to co-locating general practitioner services at the Kaitaia Hospital. I am pleased that she is committed but I want the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health to actually deliver on their promises. The Minister said that she wants to see a business case developed for onsite accident and medical services. That is doublespeak political gobbledygook. I could develop a business case in half an hour. I want the Minister to actually deliver on the service. She says she is committed to a realignment of surgical services for Kaitaia. Well that is fine. The commitment is fine. I too have a commitment to the Kaitaia Hospital. I am not in a position at the moment to deliver because I am in Opposition but the Minister of Health is.  
One of the things that will finally bring this Government down—apart from a failing economy which we will see in the next 2 to 3 years and apart from the fact that some things mentioned in its vision have not been delivered on—is the issue of broken promises. I know that the people in the far north who supported Labour because the Minister of Health made a commitment to them prior to the last election will certainly be disappointed. They know that this Minister of Health this Prime Minister and this Labour Government are not standing by the commitment they gave with regard to Kaitaia Hospital. I say this to the members on that side of the House: one of the expectations of the Labour voters in the far north was that Labour would stand by its commitment. The far north is one of the most deprived areas of New Zealand. It has a significant Maori population as the Minister of Maori Affairs knows. The people of the far north thought they would get delivery on the promises made to them but they will be disappointed.