28 February 2002 Media Statement

Health Minister Annette King says National Party health spokesperson Roger Sowry is keeping alive his record of getting it wrong at least once a week in terms of health issues.

“Last week he said the heart unit at Otago would be closed down. How wrong he was. There will, in fact, be more operations done there in the future.

“Now he claims that I implied at the hospital opening in Palmerston North today that New Zealand could not afford more than a second-best health system.

“I said exactly the opposite. I said that while we had to be realistic about comparing ourselves to some of the world’s richest countries, that does not mean we have to accept second-best, and we are certainly not accepting second-best.

“We had second-best in the 1990s when National was in power. That is one of the reasons National was thrown out on its ear in 1999, and one of the reasons it is getting nowhere in Opposition.

“It will not get anywhere either while its senior people like Mr Sowry continue to clutch at straws, have no policies to articulate, and continue to make mistake after mistake.”

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