The Mapp Report: A healthier approach for New Zealanders

On Monday the North Shore National Party held a forum on health. Over 80 people attended. Speakers included Dr Paul Butler, a local GP, Mike Cushman, compounding Pharmacist, John Appleton, strategist, and Dr Jonathan Coleman, MP for Northcote. Jonathan has a medical degree from Auckland, an MBA from London and has worked in health management and health economics.

The health budget is now $10 billion, but waiting lists keep getting longer. Drugs cannot be funded, including Herceptin, a proven lifesaver for women with breast cancer.

We need a fresh approach that combines the best of high tech
medicine, but also deals with the way people live, including nutrition.

There is a deep concern that the government is not taking the legitimate interest of natural food products into account in their rush to carry favour with Australia. National is opposed to the Trans Tasman Therapeutic Good Agency that will remove choice for consumers and hurt business. This has to be fixed. The best approach is for Australia to adopt our model, not the other way around.

Ethics 101

Labours web of corruption widens. The Auditor General has made it very clear that Labour has grossly misused Parliamentary Services money for its election campaign. That spending, which is over $800,000, put Labour well above the legal spending limit for parties during the election. Helen Clark dismisses it all with a shrug and her usual “let’s move on”.

“Investigate” magazine has uncovered more breaches of spending limits. Darien Fenton, now a Labour list MP, used union money to fund her election to Parliament. This expenditure was directed and organised by a Labour candidate. It therefore has to be included in Labour election spending – but of course Labour did not properly declare the expenditure.

The 2005 election now goes down as the election that Labour stole through illegal spending.

The day of reckoning will come, hopefully before 2008. In other countries where governments have stolen elections the government is often dumped pretty quickly. It is now time for Labour allies in Parliament to show their disgust and bail out. Otherwise they will be tainted. New Zealand deserves better.

ENDS

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