27042 (2026). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health

27042 (2026). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health: Why is the $300 million for the Health Digital Investment Plan funded outside the Budget operating allowance via an equity withdrawal rather than through new appropriations?

Hon Simeon Brown: I am advised that an equity withdrawal was preferred to a new operating appropriation because it enabled the Government to rapidly fund time critical digital investment . This approach preserves capital investment settings, while converting available funds into operating funding where required, to better align with the nature of costs incurred in digital investments, which are often operational rather than capital with digital services more often being procured as software as a service.