King Annette: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Annette: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 28 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5329. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]4.Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) to the Minister of Health: When was he or his office first briefed on the contents of the draft New Zealand Health Strategy?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Last November I asked officials to commence work on refreshing the New Zealand Health Strategy which had not been updated since the year 2000. Since that time I have met regularly with officials to discuss the direction of the strategy. Following extensive engagement and input from a wide range of stakeholders I received the first written draft of the strategy on 3 July.Hon Annette King: In light of that answer when he decided to update the New Zealand Health Strategy did he have any discussions with the Director-General of Health on what needed to be reviewed including funding and governance arrangements for district health boards?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: I talk to the director-general about a wide range of subjects and of course funding going into your first Budget as health Minister is going to form a core part of those discussions. What else would one expect?Hon Annette King: How could he be unaware of proposed changes to district health boards’ structures and funding when his Director-General of Health—not a third party as he claimed—had firstly been briefing him on progress since the beginning of the month and secondly district health board chairs and chief executive officers had been given the recommendations in the leaked reports 2 weeks ago?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: The member is confusing three different reviews there. Basically the funding review and the stolen capacity and capability review are reviews commissioned by the Director-General of Health. So they are his reviews; he receives the recommendations. He was about to brief me and then of course the report was stolen by Mrs King’s contact.Hon Annette King: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I take exception to the last remark that the member made. I have no contact who stole any documents. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! The way forward to settle the House is that I am going to ask the Minister to withdraw that remark but personally I did not think it was in any way a reflection on the member herself. But can I ask the Minister simply to withdraw that part about a stolen paper.Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Well Mr Speaker—Mr SPEAKER: Order! No—Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: I withdraw.Mr SPEAKER: Thank you.Hon Annette King: If he is now ruling out any changes to district health board governance arrangements why did he allow papers to go out with proposed changes he did not agree with say he had not read the report and then blame the Director-General of Health calling him a third party? I mean is that incompetence or laziness?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: No that is completely incorrect. The director-general was not called a third party. If you want to know what incompetence and laziness is it is a Minister who doubles the budget and does 2000 fewer operations who culls 30000 patients from waiting lists and who sends 760 people to Australia for cancer treatment—and that Minister was Annette King. [Interruption]Hon Annette King: No that is not going to save him either. Is he now taking a whole-of-Government approach to sensitive issues by getting the communications manager from the national cyber intelligence office of the Government Communications Security Bureau to issue rebuttal lines to the media for his Director-General of Health or is neither the Minister nor the chief executive officer capable of fronting difficult issues?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Obviously that is a ridiculous statement. What I am focusing on is repairing the damage done by Annette King’s $150 million district health board deficit which she left behind and which we have now got down to about $50 million.Hon Annette King: I seek leave to table an email from Cherie Blithe from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet at the national cyber intelligence office who sent the email to Radio New Zealand—Mr SPEAKER: Order! It has been described. I just need the date of it.Hon Annette King: Yesterday.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that particular email dated yesterday. Is there any objection? There is none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.