Grey Power November 2015

NATIONAL GREYPOWER MAGAZINE » NOVEMBER 2015 33
Prime Minister John Key says…
It’s been a busy year for National
In recent months,
we’ve announced a
620,000 km2 ocean
sanctuary in the Kermadec
region – one of
the most pristine and
unique environments
on the planet.
The Kermadec Ocean
Sanctuary will be one of
the world’s largest and
most significant fullyprotected
areas, preserving
important habitats
for seabirds, whales, dolphins,
endangered marine
turtles and thousands of
fish species.
In context, the ocean
sanctuary is an area twice
the size of New Zealand
and 50 times the size of
our largest national park
in Fiordland. New Zealanders
can be proud that
we are creating the Kermadec
Ocean Sanctuary
for future generations.
The Government was
also pleased to announce
we achieved surplus in
the financial year ending
June 30, 2015, a target
we first set in 2011 following
the Canterbury earthquakes
and the Global Financial
Crisis. Alongside
the Trans-Pacific Partnership
negotiations being
successfully concluded,
these achievements are
helping to build a stronger,
more prosperous New
Zealand, with more jobs
and higher incomes, and
more opportunities for
Kiwi families.
TPP involves 12 Asia-
Pacific countries, and allows
New Zealand exporters
to sell more products
and services to the world,
with 800 million potential
customers in TPP.
Our economy is estimated
to benefit by at
least $2.7 billion a year by
2030 from TPP, and it will
save Kiwi exporters $259
million a year in tariffs.
This is a great deal for
New Zealand. It will help
our home-grown businesses
to create more
jobs and deliver higher
incomes as they get better
access to international
customers.
In October, we unveiled
a comprehensive
plan to reduce childhood
obesity.
Obesity is projected to
overtake tobacco as the
leading preventable risk
to New Zealand health in
Opposition Leader Andrew Little says…
Unmet need means “suffering”
You would have to
have been living
under a rock not
to know there’s something
wrong with the
state of our health system.
One of the most common
refrains my Labour
colleagues and I hear from
people is about unmet
need.
Unmet need, as Christchurch
Hospital intensive
care specialist Dr Geoff
Shaw has described it, is
a “euphemism for suffering”.
Health Minister Jonathan
Coleman has repeatedly
denied there’s a
problem - until recently
when he was caught out
in a television interview
and had to admit that, yes,
there were some issues
with waiting lists.
Those ‘issues’ are
160,000 people who don’t
appear in any official figures.
They’ve been sent for
a specialist assessment by
their GPs, but don’t meet
certain clinical criteria so
get refused an appointment.
Some doctors say they
aren’t even attempting
to refer some patients on
because they know it’s a
pointless exercise.
Others are managing
patients – in a sort of
holding pattern – using
guidelines provided by
specialists, until they get
‘sick enough’ to qualify for
another referral.
Meanwhile DHBs have
also confirmed they use
suspended waiting lists because
they can’t meet the
Government’s new target
of four months for operations.
It’s about distorting
elective surgery waiting
lists to conceal thousands
of patients who would benefit
from an operation, but
do not qualify to have the
operation done in the public
system.
In a country that has
prided itself on having one
of the most effective health
systems in the world that’s
a pretty damning indictment.
The breadth of the problem
was brought home to
me earlier this month after
a grandmother contacted
Health spokesperson Annette
King regarding her
4-year-old granddaughter.
The little girl has nasal
problems and poor speech.
the next 12 months. Particularly
concerning is
obesity in children, as it
is associated with a wide
range of health conditions
and an increased
risk of premature illness.
New Zealand has the
third highest adult obesity
rate in the OECD
and our rates are rising.
There is no single solution
to fix obesity, so we
have developed a range
of interventions across
Government, the private
sector, communities,
schools and families
to focus on children’s
While she did get to see a
specialist, that was as far
as it went. The specialist
confirmed she needed her
tonsils and adenoids removed,
and grommets fitted
in her ears.
Apparently, however,
she didn’t meet the criteria
for surgery and was referred
back to the GP.
So what happens when
she starts school next year?
Presumably she’ll need
speech therapy (though
she has been turned down
for that as well) and some
pretty intensive one-onone
tutoring to help with
her hearing issues.
All that when an operation
would have fixed
the problem and saved
the little girl, her parents,
and grandparents a lot of
heartache.
health. At the core of our
plan is a new childhood
obesity health target,
that requires 95 percent
of children presenting as
obese at their B4 School
check to be referred to
an appropriate health
professional for clinical
assessment and familybased
nutrition, activity
and lifestyle interventions.
Tackling the issue of
obesity is a key priority
for this Government, as
we continue to help Kiwi
families get ahead in
2016 and beyond.
At the other end of the
spectrum we have also
heard this week from a
woman whose husband
has been waiting almost
two years for an operation
on his shoulder. She
says he lives with extreme
pain every day. Having to
dress and bathe him takes
a huge toll on her.
And what does the Government
say to Northland
man Graham Higgins,
who needed a procedure
to diagnose his cancer,
Continued on page 37
RT HON JOHN KEY
MP FOR HELENSVILLE
PRIME MINISTER
CONTACT
Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160. PHONE: 04 817 9999
Funded by the Parliamentary Service and authorised by John Key MP, Executive
Wing, Parliament, Molesworth St, Wellington
Tough economic times
require action - not sitting
on the sidelines
New Zealand is facing financial headwinds and real action is
needed to protect our way of life. That means building homes
our young people can afford, funding healthcare properly and
protecting universal superannuation.
Labour will do just that. Contact me and tell me what your
priorities are: Andrew.Little@parliament.govt.nz
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