Vance on Ryall
May 21st, 2012 at 1:00 pm by David FarrarAndrea Vance profiles Tony Ryall:
He is now “a safe pair of hands” in Cabinet and John Key has charged him with another formidable challenge: guiding through the sale of state assets.
“I’ve never seen a politician last as long in the health portfolio with so little money and stay out of trouble,” Dr Smith says of his old university friend.
Very true.
Mr Ryall harvested an extensive network of contacts as shadow health spokesman and immediately set about reducing waiting times in emergency departments. He even paid secret visits to waiting rooms.
The chairman of the national district health board chief executive group, Kevin Snee, says Mr Ryall has reduced deficits and waiting lists, boosted the number of non-emergency operations and forced district health boards to be more efficient.
“It’s provided better-quality care and allowed it to be better managed and better run.
“I think he’s made a big difference in the last three years.”
Doctors and nurses now play more of a role in decisions, Dr Snee says.
“He’s been very clear about including doctors and nurses in the leadership and development of a service. As a doctor who became a chief executive, obviously I think that is very important.”
Opposition MPs should take note. Ryall saw his job as more than just attacking the Government in the House. He worked the sector relentlessly so that when he become Minister he had clear ideas on what to do to make the health system better.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation chief executive Geoff Annals says measures, such as authorising nurses to prescribe medicine, show “respect for the place of nursing”.
So some good praise, but also challenges ahead:
However, the goodwill is waning. Mr Powell says Mr Ryall has addressed four annual conferences. At the first, he “went down very well” and was well received at the next two, but in November “there was rebellion in the ranks and he was heckled”.
Mr Powell says there is a serious shortage of specialists and the Government is in denial.
The “discernible shift” among members is partly a result of Mr Ryall’s “insistence that there were now 800 extra hospital doctors since he became minister”.
Doctors are flocking to Australia, where first-year specialists earn $200,000. The annual base salary of those on the highest step in New Zealand is $206,000. There is also “growing resentment” that health professionals are expected to do more with less, he says.
Yet one specialist in Southland is on around $800,000!
Once Thursday’s Budget is unveiled, attention will shift to the public float of shares in Mighty River Power. It’s a job Mr Ryall has done before, presiding over the sale of stakes in Contact Energy and Auckland International Airport in the late 1990s.
“The public floating of shares in the state companies got a very bad name in the Rogernomics era,” Dr Smith says.
“But … he battled and won the argument with Treasury that you could do mum and dad share floats that would still get a fair price for the Government and proved it to be successful.”
On paper Mr Ryall, a father of two, looks like a promising candidate for prime minister – but it’s a job he doesn’t seem to want.
He declined to be interviewed this week, for fear of outshining his colleagues ahead of the Budget.
Tony is a great Minister, but I think the eventual successor to John Key will not be someone who entered Parliament before Key did.
In recent years, Mr Ryall’s flamboyant shirt and tie combinations have raised eyebrows around Parliament.
Friends say the dapper stylings are driven by wife Kara, an interior designer turned housewife.
“Tony’s dress sense is partly a reaction against being characterised as a boring accountant. Second, if you knew his wife, Kara, she’s very classy and has significant influence in that area,” Dr Smith says.
I can recall the day which led to Tony getting more adventurous with his shirts and ties. It was the full day caucus meeting at Te Papa in 1999.
Related posts:
- Johnston on Ryall
- Acting Prime Minister Tony Ryall
- Ryall appoints new Otago DHB Chair
- Great speech by Ryall
May 21st, 2012 at 1:30 pm
If Mrs Ryall’s interior designs are anything like Tony’s shirt and tie combinations I can understand why she “turned housewife”…!
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 1:37 pm
DPF = you say ” Opposition MPs should take note. Ryall saw his job as more than just attacking the Government in the House. He worked the sector relentlessly so that when he become Minister he had clear ideas on what to do to make the health system better.”
The problem for opposition MPs is that they are too busy attacking each other and undermining each other to focus on the Day when Labour will eventually lead a government.
I have great respect for Tony Ryall, and I think he will do an excellent job in which ever portfolio he leads.
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Great guy. Great clothes – more NZ men should follow his stylish example instead of slobbing round in tee shirts or dressing like undertakers.
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 2:18 pm
DG – I believe there is a facebook group with over 600 followers that like his shirt and tie combos. This is bound to be around 600 more than would ever vote for you again regardless of what you wore.
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 3:02 pm
ftc: dont worry, I dont plan to stand….But my e-mail suggests you are wrong many hundreds of times over….
and it’s “..600 followers WHO like his shirt and tie…” Just in case you are concerned about showing your poor usage…but you are probably a 25 year old greenie so…”whateva”…
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 3:13 pm
So much better than the last dickhead who held the health portfolio. If I ever have the chance to smack him one in a lift, I will take it.
Talk to the people on the ground who have met with TR in his role – he is spoken of with regard. The last one is spoken of with nothing short of contempt.
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 3:19 pm
hmmo: Remind me…who was the said “dickhead” ?
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 3:28 pm
If he goes into a third term is what is one of the tougher portfolios he will deserve a Knighthood. He has a good understanding of what a Minister does, when to get involved and when to back off, when to kick arse (and no one doubts Tony’s ability to do that) and when to back off. I contrast that with Murray McCully who has the capacity to get into the most unholy of messes because he meddles and create a huge mess.
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Someone should tell him it’s 2012 and he doesn’t need the beard any more.
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 4:05 pm
David, the vet from down south aka Pete H. Its not often I rank someone up there with the shebeast, but he is. A vile little piece of shit.
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Hmmo: Yes…he was one of the nastier members of an unholy lot…He seemed rather lost after the Beast had gone…
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 4:11 pm
David, I suspect what remained of his spine was in her handbag when she left for the UN. That and her ‘husbands’ masculinity. She needed it more than him, its only fair
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 5:36 pm
TR spent 9 long years on opposition learning and listening to everything he could about health.He knew people and places which is why he has achieved the result he has.Well done.
Vote:But why the fuck didn’t another 20 National MP’s with fuck all to do most days do the same thiong for some of the other portfolio’s. Finacne, business development taxation,are some that come to mind. Bennet worked at hers and is slowly staring to make a difference.
May 21st, 2012 at 7:00 pm
I have a whole lot of respect for Tony Ryall and what he has done with the health sector, particularly with the health targets. As someone who has been involved with the health sector, and studied health management and health policy, I would rank him as one of the best, if not the best, health minister NZ has ever had.
Vote:May 21st, 2012 at 8:07 pm
Maybe Tony Ryall should be asking why the CDHB is paying a fire-fighter $172 per hour to “consult and train” on fire safety issues…
Vote:May 22nd, 2012 at 5:32 am
He has few fans in CHCh after cutting the proposed colonoscopy funding..He is short sighted like all the others.
Vote:May 22nd, 2012 at 10:49 am
The only cohesive opposition is the Greens. Labour cannot stop internicide.
(and one man Winston – don’t know where he is though)
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