Hutchison Paul: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hutchison Paul: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Sitting date: 30 January 2013. Volume:687;Page:7657. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 It gives me great pleasure to speak on the Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament in 2013. 
Le’aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor 
: Why? 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Because I have great news for you—great news for you. I was— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: For the member—for the member. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Thank you. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Apologies Mr Speaker. I was reading the report of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board and it pointed out to us at the Health Committee a little town Te Kaha on the East Coast. That lovely town which is fairly isolated and unable to attract medical people very easily—it has got one general practitioner but some terrific nurse practitioners—reported that almost 100 percent of the population had had their cervical-screening coverage and their breast-screening coverage and 100 percent of the 2-year-olds had had their immunisation coverage. That is outstanding. And 6 years ago under a Labour Government it would have been less than 50 percent—6 years ago under a Labour Government it would have been less than 50 percent. It is an outstanding result in that small town. 
One of the reasons for this is that the Bay of Plenty District Health Board has gone to great trouble to ensure that there is flexibility in the way it employs its nurse practitioners. It has given them a great deal of opportunity to be able to not only do their routine work within the general practitioner’s surgery but also go out into the community to educate to train and to carry out preventive medicine. That is the sort of renaissance that has happened right throughout New Zealand under this National Government and it did not happen under the Labour Government which only talked about it. 
I want to reiterate the point that Simon Bridges and the Prime Minister made. There are 35000 new operations every year—35000 more operations than there were 4 years ago under a Labour Government. 
One of the things that has very much impressed me is that 5 years ago we heard time and time again of New Zealanders with cancer having to seek radiotherapy in Australia and elsewhere. Today those patients are treated within 4 weeks in New Zealand. They do not have to undergo the huge wait the emotional torture that they had under Labour. They are treated under gold standard best-practice guidelines—best world practice guidelines—here in New Zealand under a National Government. 
There is much more that I can say that we could celebrate about our national health system but I want to mention something somewhat sobering and it is this. Since 1950 general expenditure has gone up by 150 percent but in health it has gone up by 442 percent—absolutely unsustainable. Labour’s contribution to that between 1999 and 2008 was 100 percent doubling from $6 billion to $12 billion with almost no increase in productivity with huge waiting lists that it had to cull and with perpetual workforce problems. Under the National Government we have seen a curbing of the increase in spending which is absolutely vital to the sustainability of one of the most expensive areas of Government spending but we have continued to show magnificent results across a whole variety of areas in health. 
We see the 2014 general election looming and we are going to have all sorts of promises from the Labour Opposition. It will spend more and it will say that it will do more and for that matter the Greens are going to double what Labour is going to do. 
 I was just quite fascinated to listen to the rhetoric of none other than Metiria Turei the Greens co-leader the other day. She is going to “greenwash” New Zealand. In fact she is living on a planet. In her address—what was it called her state of the planet address—last Sunday she contradicted herself all over the place and from time to time she was just blatantly wrong. But oddly there was one area that I was quite intrigued with because she said this regarding the past: “Together they have given us a great school system fine tertiary [education] institutions hospitals and community health care hydropower roads and trains communications: the platform for individual achievements innovation and entrepreneurship.” Mrs Turia you have—oh I am sorry Mrs Tiria. The member— 
Hon Members 
: Turei. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: —Turei—has the National Government to thank for all of that. At least she has one insight into the achievements of the National Government. 
But I am afraid to say that she then reverted to her time-honoured non - evidence-based traditional Green shroud-waving. She claimed along with Labour along with New Zealand First and along with the Mana Party the assertion that over the last 4 years 40000 jobs have been lost in manufacturing. Well this is absolutely diametrically opposed to what we learn from the  
National 
Business Review 
. What it said was that “Data shows manufacturing ‘crisis’ claims are [utterly] wrong”. To hear some of the reports seeping under the door of the Opposition parties’ manufacturing inquiry you would think the sector is at death’s door. In fact it is not doing so badly. 
The author went on to say: “The trouble is that although the 15 quarters since the beginning of 2009 showed a 25800 drop in jobs the previous 15 quarters shows a non-dissimilar drop—22500 jobs lost.” That was well before the global economy went into a nosedive. It went on to say that it was the same story in all developed countries and it is not just about exporting jobs to Asian countries. Greater mechanisation and then computerisation is replacing jobs in traditional industries and newer services and related industries are employing more people. 
I think it is really important to point out that here the National Government has responded and right as we speak is responding in the creation of the Callaghan Innovation centre which is doing exactly what Labour talked about for years but failed to do—that is ensuring that the stream of ideas that we get from our universities our Crown research institutes and our private research institutes will indeed connect with business and be appropriately commercialised for the good of the New Zealand economy. 
Hon Chris Tremain 
: And the Greens voted against it. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: And the Greens voted against it. Intriguingly the Greens voted against it. 
As I speak here tonight as a rural electorate MP I see the grass and hectares around New Zealand—hundreds of thousands of hectares—turning to brown. National has just announced its irrigation policy $400 million worth and once again the Greens are voting against it. It is absolutely vital for the future economy of New Zealand absolutely vital for growth and jobs and absolutely vital so that we can afford First World health First World education and First World social services.