Laban Luamanuvao Winnie: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Laban Luamanuvao Winnie: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:5524] 
Hon LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Warm Pacific greetings. I stand to say how proud I am to have been part of a Labour Government that moved to reduce disparities particularly for Maori Pacific and low-income people in our country. It was responsible for a number of very positive programmes in schools including Healthy Eating - Healthy Action and Fruit in Schools. 
I will continue the theme I touched on in the general debate this afternoon and that is care for the elderly. I quote a headline in the  
Southland Times 
: “Home support faces razor”. We all know that Tony Ryall’s razor is not blunt. That media release also pointed to the local regional manager’s response to try to meet deficits. He said that “reductions were most likely to be where the board funded domestic home help to elderly …”. 
It is very important that actions follow the rhetoric. The Government said that it will move health services to the front line yet some district health boards state they will make cuts to home-based services for the elderly. It is very clear that these cut-backs will be disastrous particularly when so many elderly rely on these services to maintain a measure of independence in their own homes. The Minister of Health Tony Ryall promised to improve front-line services but it has become increasingly clear that the current Government does not see home support services as being front-line or essential. Our senior citizens deserve to be treated with dignity and respect—not as a drain on resources which is clearly the message being sent by these district health boards and the Minister of Health. 
Financial arguments for reducing home-based support services are critically flawed. Providing support for people to stay in their own homes will always be a less expensive option than providing residential accommodation 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Our elderly deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Sixty thousand of them receive home-based support and 28000 are in residential care. 
I sought the support of my Labour colleagues last month and this morning to request a Health Committee inquiry into the quality of care for older people to ensure that older New Zealanders receive appropriate access to health services both in the community and in residential care. The inquiry would have also encouraged greater public participation by families medical professionals churches and faith organisations caregivers and the wider community. The inquiry would have also ensured that there was greater transparency it would have taken a good look at the costs and benefits of different models and more important it would have ensured that we in society can collectively address the present and future care of our elderly. 
No one is immune from accountability; we are all accountable. We like our elders are human beings. We all want to be assured of the facts and the right information. The bottom line is that our elders are safe are well cared for and are supported in the community or in residential care. It is really important that we ensure we do everything possible to meet the needs of our elders. We all understand resource constraints. Our elders have contributed—and they still do—and our job is to reciprocate. 
The inquiry would have ensured that Government funding which is in excess of $700 million targets the right services and that our elderly receive the most appropriate health services at the right time. Why did National members of the Health Committee vote down my two motions to conduct an inquiry into the quality of health care for older people? What have they got to hide? Where is the transparency? 
As I said earlier it is the responsibility of the Government to look after the welfare and well-being of our citizens. Our elders are a major vulnerable group. It is only right that their contribution be reciprocated and that they be supported and thanked for their contribution to building our society and economy and to defending our nation. For the Government to say it is shifting resources to the front line only to then cut home-based services is wrong. Our elders and senior citizens deserve better and we as a nation are better off as a result of their contribution.