Clark a favourite for Health

Press, 17 December 1988, Page 2

Clark a favourite for Health

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

Growing support is evident in the Labour caucus, strongest among its women, for Ms Helen Clark to be appointed New Zealand’s first woman Minister of Health since Mabel Howard in 1947-49. This Cabinet portfolio is to be relinquished by the new Minister of Finance, Mr Caygill, over the

New Year period. Women’s health issues in recent years have culminated in the long-running saga of the cervical cancer inquiry at National Women's Hospital, in Auckland, and the report by Judge Sylvia Cartwright, which Mr Caygill has begun action on. With the resignation of Dame Ann Hercus from politics Labour

has not had a woman Cabinet Minister to match the public profile ' of National’s finance speaker, Miss Ruth Richardson. So the wish to appoint Ms Clark as Minister of Health is accompanied by the wish to give her greater prominence. One way of doing that would be to appoint her to the place among Labour’s eight front-bench Cabinet Ministers, left vacant by

the sacking of Mr Roger Douglas this week. The Prime Minister, Mr Lange, said yesterday that Mr Caygill would handle health as well as finance for a while to give continuity to health matters being processed. He expected to announce a new Minister some time next month.