Genter Julie AnneHon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker tēnā koutou e te Whare. Really excellent speech from Chris Bishop I really agreed—particularly in the beginning of the speech—with his recognition that New Zealand's Government had done an exceptionally good job in responding to COVID-19 and acknowledging that is the role of everyone in Parliament and the media: to raise questions in a reasonable way to ensure that we have the best possible response. The Green Party agrees with and supports the Labour Government's decision to move into level 3 in Auckland and level 2 for the rest of the country on Sunday following the news that there were new community cases. So with respect to this very specific issue that's come up in Auckland we agree with what the Government has done. I think that they have been very responsive on many issues and actually on the issue of saliva testing—I think we're all in agreement that we should be responding to and using whatever the science says is going to be the most effective to enable identification of COVID-19 early and cost-effectively.Listening to the Prime Minister's answers in question time I was absolutely convinced that she is on top of the detail to an incredible degree and I have absolute confidence in her and in our senior public health officials that they will move as quickly as possible to adopt any new technology or approaches that are going to help us. And so I don't doubt that saliva testing will be a thing if it is the right thing to do. I was quite surprised at the vehemence of David Seymour's speech criticising the Government. It's a bit surprising to hear that especially when I would say by any objective measure New Zealand is amongst the top four countries in terms of effectiveness and COVID-19 response. The Lowy Institute based in Australia recently put out a report at the end of January: out of 100 countries New Zealand was ranked number one for COVID-19 response. Of course that report also acknowledged that no country was perfect and that the top countries including Taiwan Vietnam Thailand Cyprus and New Zealand all had different approaches; no single approach was best or that much better than the others.Everybody is in a new situation and dealing with it to the best of their ability. And like other members before me I will just right now thank and congratulate all of those front-line workers at the border those essential workers who got us through lockdowns and all the different public servants who've been involved in trying to bring together an emergency response which has been unprecedented in the time certainly that I've been in Parliament. And really I can't think of another example in my life of a country having to come to grips with something so quickly.I guess the thing that confuses me most about some of the criticism even accepting that Opposition members have to raise questions is a little bit the tone of indignance that comes sometimes from members in Opposition but in particularly Mr Seymour's speech—in part because ACT and National I think in some ways might be struggling philosophically with how they respond to an issue like COVID-19. Because if your party's political philosophy is really against the idea of Government and wants to reduce taxes particularly for the wealthy; push up the private sector; reduce Government; slash the public service—it's funny how Opposition members are groaning as I say this but I mean the last National Government came in with an explicit goal of reducing the size of the Public Service and put a cap on the number of public servants slashed the size of the Ministry of Health against advice from Treasury and the Productivity Commission that in fact it's worthwhile—Chris Bishop: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Look I don't want to interrupt the member but the focus of the debate is on the most recent border outbreak—the most recent community case in Auckland and the Government response to it. We're straying well away from that by getting into the political philosophy of the National Party.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yeah—Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Speaking to the point of order Mr Speaker I think that in order to respond to the speeches that came before mine I guess these points are relevant. In fact our ability to respond to COVID-19 is directly related to our previous investments in the Public Service.DEPUTY SPEAKER: This is a fairly narrow debate. I'm taking on board what Chris Bishop has said but I'm sitting here listening where you are almost five minutes into a 10-minute speech. I would expect in at least the next five minutes you'll take those points that you've made and make them relevant to the motion on the table.Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Thank you. It's just difficult to take seriously David Seymour's criticism of the Ministry of Health when he was part of a National-Act Government that actually oversaw a huge reduction in the number of public servants the disestablishment of the Public Health Commission absolute just slashing of any investment in public health in order to be able to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker you have invited the member to come back to the point of the bill. Going back four years five years in time and then ignoring the three years that she was a Minister inside a Government that did absolutely nothing to prepare New Zealand for the epidemic or the pandemic that we are now facing suggests to me that you might be a little more harsh on her coming back to the point. DEPUTY SPEAKER: No no no. Come to the point of the debate on the motion please.Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: An epidemic like COVID-19 perfectly demonstrates why we have Government why we need investment in the Public Service. It was incredibly difficult in a short period of time to have the capacity to respond to this when there hadn't been investment over those nine years. And because of these two parties constant campaigns against any bill any approach to make the tax system fair and raise the revenue we need for public services and infrastructure it's just difficult to take it seriously. On the one hand they're complaining the Ministry of Health isn't good enough or the border isn't good enough; on the other hand they're arguing that the private sector should be brought in to sort it out. I can say that in the United States where my parents live the private sector was brought in for personal protective equipment and it was an absolute disaster. So yeah I know that members on the right will be struggling for relevance in the world now particularly as climate change becomes a bigger issue but our ability to respond to COVID-19 together requires a recognition that we are not just individuals out there in competition with one another. We are a team of 5 million working together and in doing so we have been incredibly effective.It's more than just the response to the illness; it is the response to the economic shock when there has to be a lockdown. The lockdowns have been incredibly effective. Our very very strict approach to lockdowns is the reason we have spent so much time completely free to live our lives normally in 2020 and the beginning of 2021. There aren't many countries in the world where we would be able to understand if there is fomite transmission so that brings me to this particular case. Again like the previous case where in every other country including Vietnam and Taiwan that have done a good job there have been resurgences and domestic outbreaks—most recently in Taiwan—and we would be one of the few countries alongside Taiwan and Vietnam who would even be aware if there is the possibility of fomite transmission. Because in any other country the spread of COVID-19 is so broad that people are not even tracing the origins of any given case anymore. So it will be interesting and I am watching with interest to see what the origins of this particular case were. But I have to say above all I do have every confidence that this Government is doing the best that they can with the limitations that were in place given how particularly run down our public health teams and capability were. There's no question that the damning reports—that this Government's been very open about about our lack of capacity—goes right back to that last National Government which Act was a part of their ideological desire to slash the Public Service. And I think that New Zealanders are recognising it and it was very clear in the election result who they have confidence in.