Soper Lesley: Budget Debate 
Soper Lesley: Budget Debate 
[Volume:626;Page:20833] 
LESLEY SOPER (Labour) 
: 
 This Budget is one of the reasons that I am proud to stand here as a Labour member of Parliament. It is a strong and credible fiscal document. It is about fairness and inclusiveness about helping Kiwis to build a stake in this country and about securing the future for all New Zealanders. Securing the future actually means improving the long-term economic and social health of New Zealand. That is something this Labour Government can do because our careful financial management has meant we can afford to invest in health in education and in the social services. 
I contrast that achievement with that of the so-called Opposition which cannot come up with any policies for the present let alone the future. It has no new ideas but just promises that do not add up. National’s employment policy and its education and social welfare policies are all just a rehash of its failed policies of the 1990s. The previous speaker—a former Minister—broke every promise he made in the 1990s. Where is there any health policy at all from the National Party? We have not seen even a rehash of the bed-night charges and “CHEs” for supper. No but among the mithering and baloney we do have a host of promises about Government spending and tax cuts that simply do not add up. There is no such thing as a free tax cut. From National there are only indications of slash and burn. What would a National Government cut first? Would it be the 3300 extra nurses the 950 extra medical staff the 1250 extra non-clinical staff the 398 extra social workers the 820 extra prisoner officers or the more than 1000 extra police—or perhaps superannuation as we saw last time? 
We need to remember where Labour started from nearly 6 years ago. We had seen hospitals closing or crumbling away around us. We saw bed-night charges Crown health enterprises the Health Funding Authority and doctors and nurses disappearing overseas. It was a bankrupt market-driven health model. It has taken our Labour-led Government almost 6 years to rebuild the staffing and infrastructure in health which had been undermined by that long-dead National Government. “Let the market rule.” the National members said. As I said in my inaugural speech a large part of the rebuilding in the health sector is down to a change in health philosophy. We are putting the public back in public health by concentrating on a wellness rather than a sickness model providing health promotion and preventive measures and establishing primary health organisations able to offer reduced fees and better public health programmes. I went to a Southland primary health organisation’s annual meeting last week. Those people are looking at positive results better services and a better future. They are looking forward. There is also in our policies an increasing awareness that the disabled have rights and needs that they can contribute and that we should be delivering decent mental health services. So the real deal in this Budget concerns the health and social policies. 
The Budget is providing $969.7 million of new spending on health and $4.09 billion over the next 4 years. That is a huge investment in fair equitable and sustainable public health services. Vote Health is now 20 percent of all Government spending. What does that mean? It means that from 1 July the cost of a visit to a primary health organisation will be lower and charges will be lower on most prescriptions for 18 to 24-year-olds. The Government has already done the same for some other age groups and there are others to come. It means that $74.4 million is allocated over the next 4 years to roll out the next stages of the Primary Health Care Strategy. There is an additional $59 million for disability support services $18.7 million for home-based care services additional baseline funding for care for older New Zealanders—and that is in addition to what the Government delivered for residential care for the aged in December 2004—and $36 million for the nationwide travel and accommodation policy that assists mainly rural New Zealanders to access specialist health services. We have provided new funding of $22 million for implementing the mental health blueprint $70 million for health research $35 million for cancer initiatives funding for the meningococcal B vaccine programme $17.2 billion for up to 4000 extra cataract operations to join the $73 million we have already put in for the doubling of orthopaedic joint operations and new funding to improve occupational health. And we are rebuilding and upgrading hospitals around this country. 
Let me tell members that I spent 4 years as an elected health board member under this Government. During that time we built a new Southland Hospital on time and on budget. Are we proud of that? Yes we are because what we now have is not a crumbling badly designed facility but a state-of-the-art hospital for the 21st century offering first-class secondary hospital facilities and services. Because of the fiscal sense shown by this Government other hospital projects are under way and the more than $500 million allocated in Government funding for those projects will benefit areas like Dunstan the Wairarapa Kaitaia Tauranga Counties-Manukau and Wellington. 
Speaking of buildings I say that one of my other passions is housing. Every New Zealander has the right to a decent-quality healthy home. After the drought years under the previous National Government where we saw State house sales income-related rents and the destruction of the apprenticeship system this Budget is doing great things for the Healthy Housing programme. It will provide $134 million over the next 4 years to build up the Housing New Zealand stock for the continuation of the Healthy Housing programme for a hand-up to home ownership through the brilliant Budget 2005 extension of the Mortgage Insurance Scheme a housing deposit subsidy available through KiwiSaver and for a home ownership education programme. That will help real New Zealanders to get into real first homes and will help with the fulfilment of the Kiwi dream of owning one’s own home. 
This Budget is a brilliant Budget a proud Budget a Budget for the future and a Budget of values: Labour values and Kiwi values. This Budget is the long reviving cool drink of water that New Zealand needs in 2005.