Any announcement this week is simply political theatre, and it doesn't address the underlying issue. How have we fallen so far behind the rest of the world? Why can our cousins in Australia afford so many more medicines than us? It's because every Budget, the Government and the media focus on who are the biggest winners, who receives the biggest hand-outs. But if we keep thinking of wealth as a fixed pie that's divided up every Budget, we will keep gradually declining down the world rankings. Instead, we need to ask: who do we want to be as a country? Do we want to be a country with access to the same newer and modern medicines so New Zealanders can live longer, healthier lives? The ACT Party says yes. So how is it that we have fallen behind the rest of the world, and how do we change it?