King Annette: Estimates Debate —  
King Annette: Estimates Debate —  
[Volume:610;Page:7200] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 I am pleased to rise to speak to the estimates and to thank the chair and members of the Health Committee for the report they have given to Parliament. A number of issues have been raised this evening. I deal first of all with what I think is a very important issue which was raised in the estimates discussion by Michael Cullen when he said he had looked very closely at the programme that Don Brash talked about at the National Party conference last weekend when he called for $3.75 billion to be carved out of spending. One would have to ask where one would find that sort of money. I say to New Zealanders that the only place the National Party would find that sort of saving is out of education health and social spending. New Zealanders want to listen very carefully to the weasel words they hear particularly from the National Party when it comes to health expenditure. 
The member for Kaikoura lamented the fact that there were so many district health boards. Gosh I cannot imagine why National members have such short memories! There were 23 Crown health enterprises that became 23 hospital and health services and that was never thought to be too much bureaucracy. However when this Government turned them into 21 district health boards suddenly a decrease from 23 to 21 became an increase! The logic of that defies my understanding. 
The member went on to talk about cancer services and made an impassioned plea for the women of New Zealand. I do not believe a word of it because the action could have been taken in the 9 years that National was in Government. Today I had a question from the member asking what reports I had received on cancer needs in New Zealand. I said that I had received in 2001 a report that was dated April 1999 to one Wyatt Creech telling the Government of the day that it had a huge problem with cancer that 50 percent of the linear accelerators’ lives had expired that not enough radiation therapists were being trained and that the growth in cancer at 5 percent a year meant we would face a crisis in 2000-01. 
What happened to that report? It was buried. It was never released. I received it in January 2001. That is a scandal. It was a cover-up by the National Government and from that time on this Government has been dealing with the problem. Under the National Government 16 radiation therapists were trained a year. The Labour Government increased that to 38 radiation therapists a year with the first graduate at the end of this year. It takes 3 years to train them. We have been in this job for 3½ years and we have more than doubled the number of radiation therapists. We have bought four linear accelerators and there will be more in the next 3 years at $4 million each. We have increased the number of therapists in training we have increased the amount of money in relation to cancer and we have increased the amount of money for cancer drugs. National members have the cheek to come in here and try to tell the people of New Zealand that the problems we face in cancer have happened in the last 3½ years. It was a cover-up and the people of New Zealand need to know it. 
The next issue came from ACT and National members who constantly tell New Zealanders that we have a race-based policy. 
 I ask the ACT party members and in particular Judith Collins whether they were shocked when they read the recent report on the health status of New Zealanders. Was Judith Collins shocked? Was she insulted when she read that report to find that Maori in New Zealand die 10 years younger than other New Zealanders and that we have not been addressing the health issues of Maori as a population? This Government has said that we have to address the health status of Maori and Pacific people and raise their health status. No New Zealander wants to see Maori and Pacific people die earlier than other New Zealanders. 
When we put in place policies to help raise that health status members opposite say it is race-based. I say that they do not know what they are talking about. This country wants to improve the health of the population of New Zealand and in particular the health of Maori people. It is an absolute disgrace that every effort this Government has made to improve the health of Maori and Pacific people is played as a race card by the Opposition parties ACT and National. It is disgraceful. I can only imagine that Mr Worth and “Mr what’s-his-name” from Nelson want Maori people to die earlier. I can only assume that because they have done nothing to help promote the health status of New Zealand. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Check your record in Government you stupid cow. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I raise a point of order Madam Chairperson. He will stand and apologise for that. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: I ask the honourable member to stand withdraw and apologise. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I withdraw and apologise. I raise a point of order Madam Chairperson. The Minister has been stating that members on this side of the House want Maori to die young. That is grossly offensive. The record of National in setting up a whole number of Pacific Island and Maori health programmes shows that it is grossly untrue. I ask you to bring the Minister to order and for her to withdraw and apologise for that serious slur on all Opposition members. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: No that was a point of debate. There has been a robust debate on this. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. Is it OK for me to say for instance that Labour members want Asians to die or something of that sort— because I think that is grossly offensive? What drew my comment was that sort of reference by the Minister which brings this House into disrepute. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: If the member took offence at what I said I withdraw and apologise. Can I continue with— 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. Prior to that exchange the comment was also made by I think the Labour whip that New Zealand First wanted Asians to die young. I take deep offence at that and I ask that that member withdraw and apologise. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: I did not hear the comment. I ask the member if he said that to withdraw and apologise. 
David Benson-Pope 
: I did not make any comment. 
Dail Jones 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I probably had a slightly better view of it. I believe that it was the honourable Minister Chris Carter who made the comment and I ask you to ask him to withdraw and apologise because I find it grossly offensive. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: I ask the member whether he made that comment. 
Hon Chris Carter 
: I did and I apologise to New Zealand First members. I meant Mr Peters only not the rest of his party. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: I ask the member to withdraw and apologise unreservedly. 
Hon Chris Carter 
: I withdraw and apologise. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: One of the points made by Lynda Scott in her contribution was that primary health organisations had not been trialled in New Zealand and that somehow this was a terrible thing. I wonder whether members would like to tell us whether we trialled independent practice associations when they were set up in the 1990s. Of course the answer is that they were never trialled. They were a formation of organisations by doctors and other health professionals in the 1990s. The fact is that primary health organisations have built on independent practice associations on Maori development organisations and on union and community health services. They have taken vehicles that were there and have built on those to provide primary health care in a different way in New Zealand. We now have 1.7 million New Zealanders enrolled in primary health organisations and it will be only a matter of time before most New Zealanders will be enrolled in primary health organisations. 
By October this year regardless of how a primary health organisation is funded all under-18-year-olds will receive affordable primary health care. I know that New Zealand First will be very pleased with that announcement. It tried to achieve that when it was in coalition with National and managed to achieve affordable primary health care for under-6s but could not push the National Party any further. I am pleased that we have been able to get agreement to fund affordable health care in primary health organisations for all children under 18 from 1 October. From 1 January all people who are chronically unwell or on active review will receive affordable primary health care regardless of where they are in New Zealand and regardless of how their primary health organisations are funded. 
I see that Mr Worth is taking a bit of notice. Perhaps he did not know that that was to happen. [ 
Interruption 
] No he certainly did not know. I can see that. We are now working to bring forward affordable primary health care for all New Zealanders who are over the age of 65. By the time we get to 2005 most New Zealanders will once again have affordable primary health care. Subsidised primary health care was taken away from them in the “mother of all Budgets” in 1991 when the community services card was brought in and the remaining New Zealanders were chopped out of affordable primary health care. 
The cost of it is very high. At this stage the cost is around $400 million and to fully implement it the cost is closer to $800 million. That is the cost of bringing back something that was taken away by a Government that thought that the market would provide it but it never did. 
The member for Waikato mentioned the National Cervical-screening Programme. In the time that I have been Minister I have never played politics with that issue. Let us remember that the review of the National Cervical-screening Programme and the Gisborne inquiry was called by Wyatt Creech because the problems arose in the mid-1990s under the National Government. I received the report 2 years ago and a lot of progress has been made. There is more progress to make. The report came out 2 years ago. It had to be done to show the mistakes made in the 1990s. We need to do more. A lot has been done. This Government has taken responsibility for the errors of the past and we have set about improving the situation. A lot of progress has been made in health and it makes me sick to hear people like Nick Smith rattle on over there about health when he has done little to improve the health of New Zealanders but plenty to improve his own publicity and status if he thinks there is a vote in it. 
Vote Food Safety agreed to.