Coleman Jonathan: General Debate 
Coleman Jonathan: General Debate 
[Volume:638;Page:8198] 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (National—Northcote) 
: 
 That was a classic Labour Minister performance—the attempt to cover everything in teflon. Everyone else is to blame for this situation it is the fault of National members and nothing can be nailed down to the Labour Government! Well is that not typical! But there is one thing I would agree with that member on. The provision of quality services is at stake and it is an extremely important issue. The Minister is correct on that. So it is disappointing that she did not discuss that once in her speech. But what is really disturbing is that when the Minister of Health got up to speak not 10 minutes ago he told the House that he could give no assurance that Auckland laboratory services will be up and running on 1 July. That is just great! That is really reassuring for the people of Auckland because that has been the issue throughout the whole debacle over the past year. Will the Minister assure the public that on 1 July they will have a laboratory service? Now he says that actually he cannot give that assurance. He is responsible. This is a case where “responsible but not to blame” will not be good enough. 
But when one thinks about it if a Government Minister will not take responsibility for the faults of the Department of Corrections in failing to protect the public against a cold-blooded killer like Graeme Burton and if the Minister of Corrections is not prepared to accept responsibility for putting a 17-year-old boy Liam Ashley in the back of a prison van chained to a cold-blooded killer is it any surprise that the Minister of Health will not take responsibility for this situation? The reality is that his handprints are all over this decision. He was repeatedly warned that things were wrong in the tender process for this contract. It goes right back to July 2005 when Paul Hutchison warned the Auckland District Health Board that Tony Bierre had a potential serious conflict of interest. The chairman of that board Wayne Brown and the chairman of the Waitemata District Health Board Kay McKelvie are Labour Party appointees. As Tony Ryall said they are Labour Party lackeys. They knew what was going on. 
The Minister has a direct line to them. He has been warned repeatedly and now he has to take responsibility for what is to happen. That Minister got up in the House today and had the gall to tell the people of Auckland that no sorry he cannot give any assurance that on 1 July there will be a laboratory service. The real question is how bad things have to get in that portfolio after $4 billion of extra money being spent total mismanagement and total failure to take responsibility—I ask how bad it will get before Michael Cullen has to take over the Minister’s portfolio. It cannot be far away. I would say that 1 July could very well be the date on which that happens. 
But it is good to note that the hapless Damien O’Connor has already taken responsibility on behalf of the Minister for this debacle. When he was speaking in the House on 26 July last year on behalf of the Minister he was asked by myself: “Does the Minister accept that he bears the ultimate responsibility for ensuring there is no disruption to the provision of community laboratory services for the 1.3 million Aucklanders potentially affected by this change of service provider?”. Damien O’Connor on behalf of Minister Hodgson said: “I think Ministers full well understand that the ultimate responsibility for a public health system lies with the Minister. We uphold that responsibility with the utmost integrity and we are sure that this contract will continue to deliver services for the Auckland region.” 
So Minister Hodgson is responsible. He has owned up to it and he has to take the blame for what has happened. As we read in Justice Asher’s judgment there was repeated warning to the chairman of the Auckland District Health Board that a conflict of interest existed. The chairman of the district health board did absolutely nothing. In the words of Justice Asher: “From the time Mr Brown became aware of Dr Bierre’s serious conflict of interest the ADHB was obliged to address it. The action taken by the ARDHBs was entirely inadequate.” It was entirely inadequate. So the Minister has known of the problems about the tender situation all along. He knew there was a conflict. He has said so repeatedly. He said it in question time today. He said it in his own address. It has been flagged repeatedly today and he is still saying that his confidence in the district health board hinges on its ability to deliver lab services on 1 July. But the real problem is that he will rely on the same people who caused this mess in the first place to now fix the problem. I say to people who live in the Auckland regional district health boards’ catchment area that they can have no confidence that on 1 July there will be a laboratory service for them.