McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. We only need to look at other countries to know what things could have been like in New Zealand. We only need to look at other countries to see what it could have been like if we didn't act fast we didn't go hard and we didn't go early. This Government supported businesses and saved jobs. Those aren't my words. Those are the words that have been said to me from almost every business owner I have visited throughout the Wairarapa electorate. The actions of this Government over lockdown and support for them saved jobs and kept those businesses open. What could have been if a different approach was taken? That is the question that I have been reflecting on. It is because of this approach that this Government has made that saw New Zealand come out of lockdown the first time quicker than any other country that we compare ourselves to. It is because of that approach that saw the economy perform better in June and July compared to June and July last year and it was because of that approach that we are now acting quickly and effectively in this second wave. We acted hard and we deployed more resources we ramped up processing and we have ramped up testing. It's got to the point now where over 90 percent of tracing is meeting the gold standard. We only need to look at Victoria to see what could have happened if we did not take that approach and it's fair to say that we only need to look at the comments and the approach from the National Party to see what New Zealand would have been like if they were in charge. During the Epidemic Response Committee the National Party repeatedly called for New Zealand to follow Australia's lead. They repeatedly called for New Zealand to release our restrictions at the border. In June they called for restrictions to be eased. They said that the border restrictions were untenable. They said in July that the border should be open to workers they said that they should be open to investors and they said that it should be open to international borders. Each and every one of those suggestions flouted the expert advice. The science-based advice that this Government was following that party disregarded. They wanted to take cheap political points and it failed. At no point has their approach seen a rise in the polls because New Zealanders know that this Government and its approach to an effective health response to COVID19 is the best economic response that can happen. Yet today we heard even worse. We heard the leader the Hon Judith Collins say that the South Island should be in a different alert level than the rest of New Zealand—completely disregarding every single piece of expert advice that the Government has followed to get us here to this point. Because she knows that if different parts of the country like the South Island were in a different alert level that would mean the end of regional travel.Hon Damien O'Connor: Hasn't she heard of planes?KIERAN McANULTY: Has she not heard of planes?" is the question that my friend and colleague the Hon Damien O'Connor has asked. I bet she has but she doesn't care because she's desperate. She's reaching out for some relevancy and she's coming out with this tripe—the same sort of stuff that we've heard throughout lockdown.It is a fact that the reason we are where we are in the country at the moment is because of the hard work of New Zealanders and because of the approach of this Government. It is I think disrespectful of the Hon Judith Collins to suggest that the only reason we are here today is because "we are surrounded by a moat"—completely disregarding all the hard work in this country. Well I will put it to her and this House—let's compare ourselves to Ireland a country where my family and many other members in this House are from. It has a similar population another country that is an island. They have 28000 cases and 1700 deaths. If we followed the National Party's approach that could well have been us. So I say to the people of New Zealand disregard the politicking of the National Party and listen to what Robert Patman has to say: "Opposition for opposition's sake is not the answer in a major health crisis.""