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E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa. Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.

Good morning everyone. Thank you, Kura, for your welcoming words for us all here today. Kia ora.

Distinguished leaders, ladies and gentlemen – a very warm welcome to this 120th anniversary celebration of women’s suffrage in New Zealand. On behalf of my ministerial and parliamentary colleagues, welcome to our Parliament.

Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew encouraged all New Zealanders to take action to improve the lives of women as she hosted a celebration of 120 years of women’s suffrage at Parliament.

“On 19 September 120 years ago New Zealand made history. We broke down barriers for women and subsequently helped change world attitudes,” Mrs Goodhew said.

“Today we celebrate the suffragists of yesterday who fought and won for women’s rights and we celebrate those men and women who are continuing to create opportunities for women.

Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew has welcomed the second survey of solarium operators by the Ministry of Health which indicates improvement in compliance with the sector’s voluntary standard.

“The first survey was in the second half of 2012, and showed a substantial reduction in the number of operators,” Mrs Goodhew says.

“The latest survey shows that those choosing to remain in operation seem to be improving their practices.

Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew has today launched new research which shows there is a pool of women who are available to assist with the Canterbury rebuild work.

Mrs Goodhew was speaking at an event in Christchurch celebrating 120 years of women’s suffrage in New Zealand.

“On 19 September all those years ago we broke down barriers for women in society and subsequently helped change world attitudes,” Mrs Goodhew said.

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa. Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa. Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.                      

Thanks Theo for your kind introduction and good evening everyone. Thank you to IMAC for inviting me here to close the first day of the eighth New Zealand Immunisation Conference. It really is a pleasure.

Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge:

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa.  Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.

Good morning everyone and thank you for inviting me to open this important and timely meeting. Thank you to Francis (CEO of Grow Rotorua) for the warm welcome.

I bring you apologies from Hon Steven Joyce who was unable to be with you on this occasion, and asked me to speak on his behalf.

Charities with annual expenditure of $500,000 or more will be required to have their financial statements reviewed by a qualified accountant, Minister of Commerce Craig Foss and Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Jo Goodhew announced today.

Charities with annual expenditure over $1 million will be required to have their financial statements audited.

“These changes will improve the quality of financial reporting among charities and result in greater confidence that financial statements are reliable,” says Mr Foss.

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa. Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.

Distinguished leaders, ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome to this 120th anniversary celebration of women’s suffrage in New Zealand.

Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew today reinforced that diversity of talent within organisations, at all levels, will reap rewards.

Mrs Goodhew was speaking at an event in Auckland celebrating 120 years of women’s suffrage in New Zealand.

“As we mark suffrage we have the perfect opportunity to consider how we can further progress opportunities for women in the future.

Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew has congratulated New Zealand’s district health boards for all pledging to support the national patient safety campaign Open for better care.

“I launched the Open campaign to reduce harm from falls, surgery, healthcare associated infections and medication in May, and I am very pleased that all DHBs have now formally given their support to the campaign by signing the pledge certificate,” Mrs Goodhew said.

The Government is investing almost $1.5 million in a new ‘whole of family’ nutrition and parenting project in South Auckland that will support all family members - from grandmas to cousins - who help feed and nurture their babies and toddlers.

Health Minister Tony Ryall says this is one in a series of Investments in Healthy Families the Government is making to help families around the country give their children a healthy start.

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa.  Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.

Good afternoon, and thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. Particular thanks to Greg (Ward) for the kind introduction, and to Martin (Taylor) and Simon (O’Dowd) for organising and inviting me to take part in this conference.

Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew has announced that the Government will be making more information on rest homes available online.

“From November, the Ministry of Health will be trialling a new system giving people access to full rest home audit reports in addition to the audit summaries that are already available,” Mrs Goodhew said.  

“Other changes to the website will allow people to see if a rest home has any current problems and what's being done to fix them.  

Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Jo Goodhew today announced that grants totalling over $500,000 have been made to community organisations to promote and support volunteering.

“The grants were made through the Support for Volunteering Fund which aims to enable new and innovative approaches to the development and support of volunteering,” Mrs Goodhew says.

Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Jo Goodhew has announced that two new High Tech Youth Network studios will be established in Dunedin South and Penrose in Auckland.

“I am very pleased that the $1.9 million provided in Budget 2013 will enable the High Tech Youth Network to develop these two new studios and to continue to support young people enrolled at existing studios,” Mrs Goodhew said.

Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew says New Zealand is improving its monitoring of, and ability to respond to, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

“The Government has decided to add MERS to the schedule of notifiable diseases, which means the health sector is required to report any confirmed or suspected cases within New Zealand to the Medical Officer of Health at their local public health unit,” Mrs Goodhew says.

Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew has congratulated district health boards on improving national hand hygiene rates.

“I am very pleased that a new report on the national hand hygiene programme shows the average compliance rate among DHB health care professionals increased by nearly 6 per cent in the last three months,” says Mrs Goodhew.

“Hand hygiene is one of the most important measures in reducing harm from healthcare associated infections in hospitals.

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa.  Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.

The Government is investing $680,000 to encourage Taranaki Mums to eat and exercise well during and after pregnancy, giving their babies a healthy start.

Health Minister Tony Ryall says “recent international research evidence and advice from Professor Sir Peter Gluckman suggests that preconditions for overweight and obesity are set very early.

Annette King has forgotten that she endorsed a major report that slammed Labour on emergency department (ED) waiting times, says Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew.

“Mrs King blusters over ED waiting times that are now 50 per cent better than when she was in government,” says Mrs Goodhew.

“A Ministry of Health report* shows that during her time only 16 district health boards (DHBs) met triage 1 timeframes, only 7 met triage 2, and only 4 met triage 3.

Associate Minister of Health Jo Goodhew says MidCentral DHB’s vitamin D project is a good example of how a simple intervention can improve lives and save health dollars.

In 2010 the DHB, in partnership with ACC, began encouraging health professionals to prescribe vitamin D to residents in aged care facilities.  Between March 2010 and June 2012 the uptake of vitamin D by aged care residents increased from 15 to 74 per cent.

Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew has announced that more Kiwis than ever before protected themselves against the flu this year.

The 2013 Influenza Programme ended on 31 July with a total of 1,253,830 flu vaccines distributed. This number even exceeds the 1.02 million doses distributed in 2010 following the 2009 flu pandemic.

“While we can’t be absolutely sure all the vaccines were used until all excess doses are returned, we can be sure that we have easily met our target of 1.2 million New Zealanders immunised against flu,” Mrs Goodhew said.

Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew has today announced approval of $7.9 million in subsidies to help small communities establish or improve their drinking-water supplies.

“These subsidies will help council and community water suppliers provide safer drinking-water to approximately 22,000 people,” Mrs Goodhew said.

Subsidies have been approved for projects in 21 communities in the 2012/13 Drinking-Water Subsidy Scheme funding round.  The subsidy covers up to 85 per cent of total project costs.