Judith Collins Clevedon MP 17 March 2006

Something very sick in Health

Yesterday, my colleague, Dr Jackie Blue MP, a breast physician accepted an 18,000 signature petition to have Pharmac broaden its subsidy for Herceptin to include women with early breast cancer.

Herceptin has been hailed as a "wonder" drug for the early treatment of the aggressive Herceptin responsive form of breast cancer. Trials have shown that if given in the early stages of the cancer, Herceptin can cure the cancer. So why is it that the drug that can save lives is only funded for women who have terminal cancer? It simply doesn't make sense.

Herceptin is very expensive - so is surgery; so is radiotherapy; so is chemotherapy and so is the situation of young mums dying, while this Government sits back and sends money to fight "birdflu" in the Philippines.

Let's get our funding priorities right.

Sir Barry as Governor-General?

Several high profile New Zealanders have been named as candidates for Governor-General. How about a South Aucklander for a change. Here's a suggestion. Constituents might also like to suggest other candidates.

In my opinion, Sir Barry Curtis should be in the mix for these reasons:

. The Governor-General should be a royalist - and Sir Barry is.

* Sir Barry wouldn't need to learn greetings in many other languages - he already knows and uses them;

* Sir Barry has over 20 years' experience as Mayor of Manukau City and knows his way around politics;

* After all these years, no one can reliably say which party he votes for;

* He already has a knighthood so we would have a Governor General with a title everyone understands ;

* For those who aren't keen on Sir Barry as Mayor - they will get their wish!

Seriously, Sir Barry would be as good as any and better than most.

Happy St Patrick's Day.

ENDS

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