Public Health Association Conference

Wednesday 6 July 2005

I have a challenge for you today. The challenge is to try and take a total look at health. To take a look at health that goes well beyond what normally passes for the outer borders of public health debate.

For good public policy I do not think there should be any limits. The only way forward for health is to move ahead in developing a truly holistic vision of what is health policy. We need to be looking not just at the mechanics of fixing illness, but at the ways it can be stopped developing in the first place.

I'm aware that this may seem very much like asking granny to go suck eggs. The point of difference with my call is that as Mayor of Christchurch I am making that call with some solid history and evidence on my side.

Some of you may have noted that "Doctor Who" is coming back to our screens soon. When he does, he will still be gadding about in the Tardis, the phone box time machine so many of us can remember from childhood. Christchurch is in some ways a time machine.

The more inclusive vision that drove its founders is still very much alive and well. It is a vision all the closer to my heart because at first I could not see it clearly. It wasn't until we got to the grand old age of 150 and had the celebrations to match, that I really came face to face with the original vision for Christchurch. It was a beauty.

It ended up so embedded in the way we do things that everyone just took it for granted. Basically it was a planned city and settlement where the founders wanted to take the best of their society and leave the rest behind. It was a more inclusive vision.

Allowing for its time it was amazingly democratic. It called for developing a city where the old phrase of what they call the age of muscular Christianity, "I am my brother's keeper" became a reality.

Nowadays the language of this vision would be damned for its sexism, racism and top down flavour. In its original day however it was a revolutionary commitment to providing a place where people got a good shot at making the most of themselves. It is a vision that still survives to this day. I'm proud to be its current custodian.

The original vision was one that society itself could do better. It could do better especially if it made space and healthier conditions available to those without. The original Christchurch health vision was inclusive in the fullest sense of the word. It is that tradition I am happy to nurture and encourage here at the start of another Century.

Perhaps here it is timely to point out that I got into politics originally because of my unbreakable commitment to good public health. I lost my political virginity running for, and winning, a role on one of the original pre-reforms health boards. And if I ever start to forget my commitment to health I am very rapidly reminded of the issues by the fact that I have been married to a working nurse for many years.

I'd have to say that as I get older it looks like a better idea by the day. So, anyway, I care about making public health work. The "Christchurch Way" if you will, shows a clear way forward that I believe other cities can copy to their benefit.

My other challenge today will be with technology and hopefully getting Powerpoint to dance to my tune, rather than it's own. Today I would like to turn into something akin to a human "Windows" programme and first click onto a subject and then dig down a few more clicks into the subject as it relates to health.

We'll look at our stand out public health areas like housing and some of our public health problems like heating and air quality. Along the way we will also look at our people, the true nature of prosperity and wealth, and how education is a key building block for a healthier society.

Time permitting, I may also try and hammer the point that good basic infrastructure is also a key way to grow a better level of health in society.