Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour): Thank you for the opportunity to take a call on this bill as the final speaker in the third reading tonight. To understand the present we must look back and we also must look forward and if we look back—ha ha! Does that mean anything then? So Madam Speaker—DEPUTY SPEAKER: To debate the bill we debate what's in front of us.JAMIE STRANGE: That's right—that's right. So if we have a look in terms of where we are at the moment we have had nine years of under-investment. That's been well canvassed tonight. We've heard it from the public. Education and health have been struggling and we got to the point where the Waikato District Health Board (DHB) were running a deficit. They were forecast to run further deficits. I'd like to commend the Minister the Hon David Clark for having the courage to have those conversations with the board and to have those frank and open conversations around how we move forward. The board was certainly very responsive to the Minister and the board told the Minister almost unanimously We recognise there's challenges. We're doing our best. We need support." At that point the Minister made the decision to put a commissioner in.Now if we have a look at a little bit of the history here we had a chair Bob Simcock and a chief executive officer Nigel Murray. There were challenges under that reign. They've been well canvassed in the media; I won't talk about those but there were some challenges. We had Sally Webb come in as the chair who by all reports did an absolutely fantastic job. I met with Sally on a number of occasions. She was chair of the Waikato DHB and the Bay of Plenty Lakes DHB at the same time so she certainly didn't just have the Bay of Plenty DHB. She certainly brought a lot of experience to the table. We had the CEO Derek Wright at the time and I also met with Derek Wright a number of times as an MP based in Hamilton. Now those two did provide strong leadership for the DHB. They were well received by staff. In fact I spoke to a number of staff members who regularly commented on Derek Wright's people skills his ability to engage his ability to lead. So we had two excellent leaders in charge there.We also had people on the board like Margaret Wilson and Martin Gallagher—both former members of Parliament both with a lot of experience; very solid people. But they realised that things had got to such a point primarily because underfunding just caught up basically. There's been large population growth in the Waikato region—lots of people wanting to come and live there.Kieran McAnulty: Why?JAMIE STRANGE: Another member asked why.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well we're not going to go into that.JAMIE STRANGE: We won't go into that—no no. Needless to say it is a wonderful region to live in a region I'm very proud of and a region that's growing very quickly.So that put pressures on the DHB. It put pressures on the resource—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Nice save.JAMIE STRANGE: —and it effectively put pressures on the bottom line. And eventually we got to the point where after conversations with the Minister the majority of the board members resigned and a commissioner was appointed Dr Karen Poutasi. And I'd also like to echo the full confidence in her and the CEO she's appointed Dr Kevin Snee who I haven't met but I will certainly meet over the course of time and he comes with a lot of experience. So what this bill does as has been canvassed tonight is that it basically cancels the election which is coming up in a few months' time. And the reason for that is simple common sense. It has been accepted right across the House: the election's on 12 October so a period of sort of three to four to five months is not enough time for the commissioner to bring about the changes that need to happen to bring about that sense of stability. So the decision has been made to postpone that. The election will take place in 2022.If we have a look at the services that are offered at the hospital I think it's very important to make that point and it certainly does relate to the bill because there is an aspect there where I don't want people to—particularly those who work in the hospital I think I'd really like to strongly highlight the excellent work that they do. And while the board and the leadership have been having challenges for a number of years the staff have been absolutely exemplary.I've also got personal experiences. I won't go into them but can I say one thing: two of my children were born in the hospital there and so the hospital does hold a dear dear spot in my heart there. I have visited on a number of occasions and the staff have always been absolutely incredible and I have seen some of the pressure they've been under particularly in the emergency department: overflowing at times people sleeping on mattresses in the hallways and all sorts of challenges under the previous regime. I don't want to sound too political but the reality is—but the reality is—the under-investment that took place caught up. That was simply the way it was. It caught up and here we are in this situation and I'd like to again commend the Minister for the leadership that he has shown. We've heard that there were three submissions to the Health Committee—I'd like to thank the select committee; I'd like to thank the chair and those who worked on that select committee—and those submissions were all around the importance of democracy which is something we obviously all believe in in this House hence why the bill says that in 2022 we will return to elections and that's the soonest possible time that that can happen because we also believe in that aspect of democracy.There's another point I'd like to pick up on and that's the importance of primary care. Health and education—there are constantly strains on those two areas particularly when there is population growth as in some areas of the country but that population growth puts pressure particularly on those two areas. And the key is that as this Government deals with and focuses on that primary care and that access to primary care—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm struggling to see the relevance there.JAMIE STRANGE: —less people will need to go to hospital.Hon Iain Lees-Galloway: Fewer.JAMIE STRANGE: Fewer people will need to go to hospital hence moving forward it will take some of the pressure off the hospitals which is something that we're certainly looking forward to because the aspect of primary care is very important. The Government have certainly put quite a bit into health: $2.2 billion in the Budget when we were first elected and then a significant amount in the recent Budget and that is to fund health appropriately.So look I think I've canvassed most of the points there. I'd like to thank all of those who have made contributions to this bill—of varying lengths. But I'd like to thank all of those who have spoken on the first second and third readings and I wholeheartedly commend this bill to the House. Thank you.Bill read a third time."