Tuiono TeanauTEANAU TUIONO (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. May I join with other colleagues around the House to congratulate you on your recent ascension to the big Chair.These COVID orders they come to the House and it has been an expedient way over the course of the pandemic to actually get things done quickly—to get things put on notice here in the House as well. I want to also thank the work done by the Regulations Review Committee getting into the weeds while the rest of us take a look at the garden in terms of what needs to be done in terms of how this House responds to the pandemic.I guess if I take a step back and look at these COVID orders—these ones and the ones that have gone before—we are shedding protections. We are shedding protections and moving away and normalising the situation that we're in. But here's the thing: COVID-19 hasn't gone on holiday; the pandemic hasn't ended. COVID-19 is here to stay and so for the Greens it's really important that the Government puts in place long-term protection measures including mandatory ventilation standards.Just reflecting on the decision today to keep the country at orange: that was the right decision but we need to do more than the occasional review of protection sheddings to make sure that we are protecting communities in the long term—and that's important. I don't know how reinfection is happening in other communities—it's starting to happen in my community with a second round and reinfection is also becoming more increasingly common and could be an ongoing feature of this pandemic.There was a headline that jumped out to me over the last couple of days and that was that experts have also pointed out that in July COVID became the equal-leading cause of death in Aotearoa for the first time. If the current trajectory continues annual COVID deaths could be about five times influenza deaths but still the Government needs to have that long-term plan.So now we are sitting around about over 1600 confirmed deaths as attributed to COVID-19. The ministry says these are deaths where COVID-19 is either the underlying cause of death or is a contributing factor. In the past seven days there have been an average of 16 deaths confirmed each day as attributed to COVID-19.The intention of these orders is about making sure that we do everything possible to protect whānau and reduce the risk of experiencing long COVID particularly amongst Māori and Pasifika communities and especially our immunocompromised and disabled whānau. So it is important if we're going to have fewer of these orders coming into the House that there needs to be that plan to adopt mandatory ventilation standards for workplaces and schools provide financial support for community organisations install better monitoring filtration and to improve support for Māori and Pacific health providers.These orders are about reopening New Zealand to cruise ships removing nearly all of the vaccine-mandated work groups other than some health or disability workers allowing people to work at sporting events to be critical workers and removing testing requirements for people travelling to New Zealand. Some of the loosening restrictions make sense and are reasonable but they are not matched by corresponding public health measures around ventilation air filtration and mask use in schools. These orders will increase the incidence of COVID and other winter contagious illnesses.The Greens want to see and centre this whole notion that we had in the first few years of the pandemic that we are a team of 5 million and not gravitating towards the team is business as usual". We want to see the needs of Māori and Pacific peoples and disabled communities put at the heart of the ongoing pandemic response. I reflect on the report that came out from the Ministry of Health on the Government's response to the Delta outbreak which says that these are lessons that we need to pick up. So we are happy to see some of these orders but we need that long-term plan. The pandemic hasn't ended; in fact who knows where it is going to? Reinfection is starting to happen in communities—in my community and no doubt in other communities as well—so having those plans in place for schools having those plans in place for communities is important.We need to take the path of caution in the face of uncertainty. And I get it—we're all tired of this pandemic; all of us are. It's the first time any of us have been in a pandemic. But it's no excuse to get lax and to get tired. In fact we need to double down and we can do that by making sure that we put some protections and measures in place.Most of us are just you know family members or parents grandparents aunts uncles brothers and sisters trying to make our way in the world. And what we need from the Government is that clear line of sight—that direction—an expert-led plan for schools a long-term plan for our community so that we know what's coming down the track and how all of those things connect and fit together. These are the things that we need to do. We must make sure that the response is equitable and keeps people safe. Thank you Mr Speaker."