Scott Lynda: Budget Debate 
Scott Lynda: Budget Debate 
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Dr LYNDA SCOTT (NZ National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 I have just been speaking with South Island mayors and receiving their impression of the Budget. Do members know the very best ranking they managed to give it? 
Judith Collins 
: What is it? 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT 
: It was five out of 10. That was the highest ranking they gave it. None of the mayors put it over that; most of them gave it three out of 10. That is what they thought of this Budget and they are there today talking about how hard done by they feel with regard to Transit’s 10-year plan. This Government changed the rules. It changed the rules from the benefit-cost ratio to what it said would be the local area’s priority. Well guess what! Our local priority for Nelson-Marlborough is the Awatere bridge but that is not on the 10-year funding plan.What about the roadways where all those people are getting killed down south? There have been seven people killed in 7 years. Another person died last week. What has Transit said? No that is off the list for 7 years. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Was the member at the meeting? 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT 
: It is absolutely outrageous. We are having one ourselves right now so the member should not talk about what he does not understand. At the meeting I have just been attending with the mayors it was stated that they are very very unhappy with this Government and the Budget. What did the Budget do for the electorate of Kaikoura—that is North Canterbury Kaikoura and Marlborough? It did nothing. It did absolutely nothing to fix infrastructure problems. It did nothing to fix the Awatere bridge which is 100 years old. It did nothing for business. Did it do anything to reduce red tape for business? No it did not do a thing. Did it do anything to fix the Resource Management Act? No it did not do a thing. Did it reduce tax for any of these businesses? No. Who makes the money for this country? It is made by hard-working New Zealanders and businesses. They make the money and this Government and this Budget did nothing for my electorate in that regard. So the mayors are not that happy at all; nor are the other people of the Kaikoura electorate. 
But I really want to talk about a couple of things because I am the Opposition spokesperson on senior citizens and on health. I will start with senior citizens and ask what they got from the Budget. They got a sherry tax! Well I thought they were really looking forward to that—a sherry tax and a port tax. They got those and they will get cold showers for the privilege of having to turn off their heated towel rails. Well hello some people do not actually have heated towel rails. We might tell Trevor Mallard and our Prime Minister that. Some people do not have towel rails to turn off but they have to have cold showers and for that privilege this year they will have to pay an extra $50 electricity tax. 
What about the funding for aged care? We had a petition before the Health Committee and in that petition representatives of aged-care institutions said they had to cut care cut corners or close. Is there anything in this Budget for aged care? No there is not. This Government is so determined to keep people at home. I have just had someone’s son on the phone to me talking about how his father-in-law has had both his legs cut off as a result of the appalling care he received. Because of pressure areas and appalling care he lost both his legs. His care plan was absolutely inadequate and this Government has done nothing for aged-care funding or home-support funding. There has been nothing—absolutely zilch. There has been no increase for geriatric hospital-level care since this Government came to power—not one bit. The Health Committee said the Government had to look at that area and expected something out of this Budget. It got nothing. What else have the elderly got? Most of them have been culled from the waiting list. Twenty-five thousand elderly New Zealanders have been culled from the waiting list—waiting then cut off the waiting list. 
John Carter 
: Surgically removed. 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT 
: Yes. They are waiting for hip knee cataract and hernia operations. This Government should be called “the truss Government”. It is back to the days of the truss because people cannot get hernia operations in our public hospitals these days. But nobody makes trusses any more—they thought those days were gone so people have to make their own. That is what the elderly have got. 
Then there is the matter of the raising of the asset level for those people going into residential care. During two elections this Government promised it was going to do something about that but it has not done anything. The Government is not reducing income and asset testing; it is just raising the asset level. That is the Government’s spin. 
I need to get on to actual health and the health budget. I have to say that $9.6 billion is a great deal of money. We do have an aging population. We do have a diabetes epidemic. We do have an asthma epidemic. We have higher rates of cancer than Australia. New Zealand does face some immense challenges. But I want to pick up on some of the points that the last speaker made. I worked as a doctor in the Hokianga. There was free health-care free prescriptions free everything but there was no evidence that the outcomes for Maori were better—no evidence at all. So if the Government is going to pour money into primary health-care untargeted money based on location then Government members ought to know that it is actually going to deliver. There is nothing to show that primary health organisations will deliver. Why should it be that one person—I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I think I have put up with quite enough. There has been a total barrage of interjections for 6 minutes. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: There has been quite a lot each way. I ask members to keep it down. 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT 
: Quite a lot each way? I thought I was the speaker. I thought I was supposed to be speaking but anyway $9.6 billion is a lot of money. Primary health organisations—and I hope the Government will actually listen because this is quite serious—have had money put into them untargeted. So if someone is a poor white person who has high health-needs and lives in the South Island does he or she get increased ability to go to the doctor—increased funding? No that person does not I say to Clayton Cosgrove. But for those who are Maori and live in Te Rawhiti or in Auckland it does not matter whether they have a high income because they will get increased funding to go to the doctor. 
This is the way that primary health organisations get funded—only 50 percent of its population has to be Maori Polynesian or low-income with high-needs; the other 50 percent does not. This is untargeted funding being put in based on location. At the same time that the Government is culling the waiting list and severely rationing secondary services and surgery it is pouring money untargeted into primary care. That does not make sense and National would not accept that or agree with it. National will go back to targeting. 
In relation to secondary care we think that if somebody needs surgery it costs more not to treat that person. I have someone who has been ringing me over the last couple of months. He is 72 years old. He has high priority for a hip replacement—he has 90 points. His surgeon says it should be urgent. He has been waiting for over a year. He was booked for surgery. What happened? An acute case bumped him off the list. This guy is on morphine. He has so much muscle wasting that it will cost the Government more to treat him and rehabilitate him. The Government does not care about the financial situation—that it will actually cost more. It is a ridiculous situation that we have found ourselves in. 
There are many other things that we should talk about in the health area—like $35 million going to the America’s Cup. The people out there the 25000 people dumped off the waiting list think: “I can’t get my surgery. I am in pain. I am in need. I can’t get my surgery but this Government is going to give $35 million to the America’s Cup.” Then there is the increased level of bureaucracy. There are 21 district health boards and all of them are in deficit. No sorry there is one that is not. There is one that is actually managing to operate on the borderline. The rest are in deficit. Michael Cullen said he was really pleased the boards were making some progress but they will still come in with a deficit of $180 million.