3. Question No. 3—FinanceDr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour—New Lynn) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 3—Finance3. Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour—New Lynn) to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen on Government initiatives to support businesses through COVID-19? [Interruption] SPEAKER: The Hon Grant Robertson—and I'd just say that just because one member makes an unfortunate noise it doesn't have to be repeated from the other side. Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): I've seen a huge number of reports from affected business owners who have contacted the Government to emphasise the difference the support measures have made to their businesses over these difficult past few months. One woman wrote to say The wage subsidy has been a huge help to us. My husband is a self-employed builder and we would have been in serious trouble financially without it and the mortgage holiday which we had to access as we have not long taken on a mortgage for our new house. It would have been a very worrying time for us without this help. My work has also accessed the fund and hopes to make it through and so far there have been no job losses for us." Just one other example: a business owner said "Twelve weeks ago today we received the wage subsidy to help us maintain our staffing during the tough times. I have to admit I had a lump in my throat when I explained the prospects to our staff at the end of March. You all know how the last 12 weeks have played out so I thought it prudent to offer my sincere thanks. We are now back on our feet and have even taken on a staff member laid off from a related business." Dr Deborah Russell: What other reports has he seen on the impact of Government initiatives to support businesses through COVID-19? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: One Canterbury business owner wrote to the Government saying "I just wanted to say a heartfelt thankyou for not only offering New Zealand businesses the wage subsidy package but also for the ease of applying and prompt payment. As a small business without these financial assistance packages I doubt we would have survived and up to 17 people may have lost their jobs." A Waikato business owner said "Without the Government support provided the business would not have survived the lockdown and 36 staff would have lost their jobs. We're not out of the woods yet and with a tough May we will be relying on the wage subsidy extension to pull us through but we are hopeful and optimistic that the company will survive. The remainder of the year will be tough but we believe we can do it but only thanks to the Government support we received." Dr Deborah Russell: As of today how significant has the Government's investment to support COVID-affected businesses been? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: We continue to provide a wide range of support initiatives for businesses dealing with the fallout of COVID-19. The original wage subsidy scheme provided over $11 billion to support 1.7 million jobs. As of yesterday the extended wage subsidy has provided just over $1 billion to 80591 businesses supporting 251000 employees. In addition the Government has lent nearly $1.4 billion to 83392 businesses under the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme. We have always been clear that the road ahead will not be easy but that is why we are continuing to provide the support for businesses across New Zealand as they work hard to recover and rebuild over the coming months. Hon Paul Goldsmith: Has the Minister seen Hamish Rutherford's report that New Zealand First have pulled their support for the COVID commercial rent legislation regime and two months after he announced that help was going to be on the way soon for small businesses struggling with rental costs nothing has arrived? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Yes I have read that report."