"Health is worth more than learning!"

- Thomas Jefferson

Our thinking on health issues: Health is first a personal responsibility that comes with making the right lifestyle choices when it comes to what we eat and how we live. The Family Party believes:

• Prevention of illness is best
• Healthy lifestyle choices begin in the home
• New Zealanders deserve compassionate, timely and effective healthcare

Healthy families – healthy people: Enduring two parent families are (generally) the stable basis for healthy child development, catering for their spiritual, emotional and physical needs: hence The Family Policy to build strong families.  (See Family Policy for details)

We are what we eat: Healthy nutrition is vital to proper development in children and setting them up for a quality life. Unfortunately, many families are struggling to put quality foods on the table for their children, meaning they are exposed to greater health risks now and in the future. Therefore, The Family Party will:

• Remove GST on basic food groups (such as fruit and vegetables) to make it more affordable for parents to put better food on the table
• Note: The Family Party will engage the community, the appropriate expertise and community groups to determine which foods should be suitably GST exempt

Excerpt from Leader’s speech, May 2008, regarding removing GST off basic food groups:

"Every single New Zealander will benefit from this policy. Children will benefit. Our elderly will benefit. Middle to low-income earners will benefit and so will beneficiaries. Every single individual who passes through the checkout counter at the local supermarket will benefit. Now, I am fully aware of the criticisms levelled at this policy by the major parties and others who say it would complicate our tax system.

It is interesting to me then, that the Government dumps this idea straight into the too hard basket. Yet on the other hand, they are in the process of introducing a highly complex system of carbon taxes on top of New Zealand families and businesses that will only foster further hardship.

From the Government’s perspective, the other downside to axing 12.5% of basic necessities means it will lose whatever revenue it would have generated from families at the checkout counter. For example, the Government takes $51 million off families through GST on fruit and vegetables.

To give you some idea of the cost of poor health in our population, in 2001 the annual cost attributed to obesity alone was $247.1 million. This figure excludes downstream costs of chronic diseases that result from obesity. For example, the annual cost of diabetes alone has been estimated at $280 million. The cost of coronary artery disease in the early 1990s was estimated at $306 - $467 million.

A pro-family Government would view that figure of $51 million not collected on fruit and vegetables as a direct investment into the health and wellbeing of today’s children, who are tomorrow’s adult population. Compare that against the massive current and future financial burden on a health system borne out of malnutrition and I think the prevention benefits are self evident.

On a final note, why is it that 43,000 New Zealanders head to Australia every year and 1 in 10 are seriously thinking about it? Did you know Australian families don’t pay GST on basic food groups? It was obviously not too complicated for their Government. Or maybe unlike ours, they’ve got their priorities right."

Creating a healthy home: The Family Party recognises that basic living necessities in the home such as heating should be available to all New Zealand families, particularly our elderly and children. This is not however the case under the current economic climate, with many families and individuals suffering hardship. Therefore, The Family Party will:

• Remove GST on household energy (the power bill) and infant and elderly necessities

Healthy mums and babies: Healthy mums create healthy babies that grow into healthy children and healthy adults! The Family Party will:

• Take a zero-tolerance approach to smoking, and drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy
• Maintain effective support services for mums before and after birth, including home visits and mum-mentoring where necessary 
• Support extended paid maternity leave for mums
• Remove GST off infant necessities such as formula and nappies to ensure babies are adequately cared for

Healthy children: Healthy kids learn and play better. The Family Party will:

• Treat child health issues as family issues
• Remove GST off basic food groups to make healthy food for children more affordable
• Ensure children get priority access to doctors and community health facilities
• Support schools and the curriculum to educate on healthy life choices, particularly pertaining to diet, exercise and drug/alcohol abuse and sexual behaviour
• Raise the legal drinking age back to 20

Valuing our health professionals: Too many of our health professionals are heading offshore. The Family Party is determined to make home as attractive, if not more so, for our health professionals. To that end, The Family Party will:

• Attract more people into the health profession to meet present and future demands for health professionals
• Reduce tuition fees for relevant fields of study
• Support bonding schemes for health graduates in hard-to-fill regions
• Pursue internationally comparable remuneration packages at all levels of health service delivery

Health services: The Family Party is committed to a first-class Public Health Service. The Family Party will:

• Support restructuring that minimises a top-heavy management structure to put more resources on the ground
• Reduce elective surgery waiting lists for those who face extended waits (more than six months) by contracting medical procedures to private hospitals