No Empty Promises From Clark

Labour Leader Helen Clark had so little to offer voters in Taranaki-King Country that she could not even be accused of making empty promises, Health Minister Bill English said today.

"Ms Clark is full of vague statements about health in crisis and hospitals being a shadow of their former selves. But nowhere is she telling rural voters what Labour would do differently.

"I can't even accuse her of making empty promises. On health, Labour hasn't had a policy for years, except to chase every ambulance and exploit every misfortune.

"Ms Clark must stop patronising rural people. She should tell them which hospitals Labour would reinstate in Taranaki-King Country.

"Health services are much better now than when she was minister. If she wants to go back to 1989, perhaps she could front up in Stratford and tell them that their brand new hospital, the Elizabeth R Hospital and Resthome should be closed down and the old Stratford hospital reopened.

"Perhaps she would like to get rid of the five extra people employed to take cervical smears in the Taumarunui area since 1993, two of whom were recruited for Maori women's services, and take away the mobile cervical screening equipment they have.

"Perhaps she would like to do away with the professional ambulance officers now based in Te Kuiti and Taumarunui, and get rid of the new rescue helicopter based in Hamilton which serves this area.

"Or perhaps she would like to cut services to people with physical disabilities, where funding has increased from $2.3 million to $17 million in the last few years.

"These are the sorts of services that actually make a real difference to people in provincial and rural areas. Someone from Auckland might not realise that.

"This Government is realistic about what the solutions are for health services in rural areas. It means not spending all our money on old-fashioned hospital buildings, but looking for local solutions that allow communities to have control of their own services.

"Throughout the Taranaki-King Country there is now more security about health services than there has been for 10 years. Helen Clark knows that. She knows that her party would not do anything different, which is why she can't and won't tell voters what she would do to health services in the region," said Mr English.