Coleman Jonathan: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeColeman Jonathan: General Debate[Sitting date: 17 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4490. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): The first line in that speech was “It all started so well” and in the end that is the line that is going to sum up Andrew Little’s leadership because that was a pathetic speech. If you are a Labour supporter out there watching on TV you will be deeply disappointed. That man is the leader of the Labour Party and in no way was that a Labour Party leader’s speech and those guys over there know it.You know there is a lot going on today. There is some big stuff but what is Labour focusing on? The minutiae—the stuff that nobody cares about. OK housing is very important. No question about that. Do not forget that Andrew Little is opposed to a capital gains tax. So what does that mean for Labour’s caucus? Do you think David Parker and David Cunliffe are going to fall in behind him? Frankly on policy those guys opposite are now absolutely fractured.I am very disappointed that on a day that is incredibly important to the people of Otago and Southland when we have put in a commissioner to turn round a dire financial situation the Labour leader does not have the quickness of mind the quickness on his feet or the intellectual flexibility to deliver a speech that would make some real difference to people in that region. Well I can tell you: on health that is a battleground that Labour is no longer prepared to fight because it has lost on health.We have got a situation in the Southern District Health Board of worsening deficits over many years. The financial forecasting has gone out the window. I could not rely on those figures any longer. After a very considered period I took the step to announce today that we are installing a commissioner supported by two deputy commissioners into the Southern District Health Board. Why that is important is that the people of Otago and Southland deserve high-quality health services and actually until we can have confidence in the finances we can have no confidence that those services will be delivered in the long term. We are totally committed to rebuilding Dunedin Hospital but it is very important that we have the governance arrangements that can implement the strategic plan that is laid out. We need to know actually what the configuration of services will be before we can build the hospital. But that hospital absolutely will be built under National.In terms of Otago and Southland—the southern region—we have put in an extra $135 million over 7 years and many many more doctors and nurses. The definition of a deficit is not underfunding; it is all about sensibly using the money that you are given. So what I say to those members there is that actually $800 million - plus for Otago-Southland—for the Southern District Health Board—is a lot of money. We are now relying on the commissioner whom I have a great deal of faith in to reconfigure those services to deliver positively for the people of Otago and Southland.I am really disappointed when you look at what Labour is focusing on. Clare Curran the MP for Dunedin South—do you know what she has had on her Twitter feed since it became knowledge that we were going to announce a commissioner? Well there have been seven attacks on the Australian Government three tweets in favour of Edward Snowden and only one tweet retweeted from Annette King about the Southern District Health Board—and the Southern District Health Board is a big issue.I am glad that we have support across the House for installing a commissioner. I know it is very tempting for everyone to play politics with that. I know that that is going to prove irresistible for some but people like the MP for Dunedin North need to get behind the commissioner or get out of the way. Actually Opposition MPs can be a very constructive part of the solution down there and it is going to be very important that we support Kathy Grant Richard Thomson and Graham Crombie as the commissioning team.We are not being political about this. Richard Thomson a well-known Labour Party member and previously chair of the district health board down there—I do not care. He is the right guy to put in there for the job. We have got the best people there to turn round the health services and the finances for the people of the Southern District Health Board. This is a very considered decision we have made today but it had to be made. I think the future will be good given that the commissioner has a big task in front of her. Thank you.