Watts SimonSIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): Well listen to that across the road. You can tell that already they're starting to freckle and panic on this bill. I'm here to talk about the COVID-19 Response (Vaccinations) Legislation Bill at its first reading obviously as the member of Parliament for North Shore. Well I want to cover three key elements this evening and I think we've heard from a number of speakers already from the National side and also from the Māori Party in terms of some of the challenges and issues that we have with this legislation. But I think the first aspect that we really cannot ignore is the process by which this legislation has come to this House. What an absolute shambles this legislation represents a process in which this was only brought to our attention or given to us yesterday—after how long has this country been facing such a significant issue in terms of the management of COVID-19? This Government continues to be asleep at the wheel. This bill is a process which is showing that they do not have a plan. Back in September National released our plan. Here it is right here. If only that side of the House had started to adopt some of this and some of our recommendations we wouldn't be in the position we are in. What we've heard from the other side is a whole lot of graphs and a whole lot of flip-flopping around but we haven't seen a plan and as a result Kiwis are confused. I was having a chat to my local hairdresser this afternoon—actually just during the dinner break as I came in—and she was confused in terms of what they need to do in order to reopen on Friday. I went on to the website and I tried to see if there is any clear guidance in terms of what are their requirements. But no there's nothing simplistic around this process. This is legislation made up on the hoof and this personifies what we're seeing across the other side in all regards. On Sunday there was a poll undertaken of Kiwis about whether they understand or not the traffic light system. Hon Member: And what did it say about the leader? SIMON WATTS: And I can hear the other side—the Ministers are all grappling there. Well they can't even take their full calls with respect. Hon Kelvin Davis: The Newshub poll?SIMON WATTS: If they've got some comment stand up Mr Davis and have a chat because I'd love to hear your comments. Hon Kris Faafoi: What did that poll say about your boss?SIMON WATTS: But the polling that came out during the weekend—they're still gravelling on. The polling that came out in the weekend was very clear but they don't want to hear the facts. The problem is they don't want to hear the facts. They can't handle the numbers but when asked Do you understand the traffic light system?" 31 percent of Kiwis said yes that they understood it—31 percent. Well two-thirds of Kiwis said they do not understand it and they're confused about it. And so what that shows is the voices of Kiwis out there in our community saying "We are not sure what's happening here. We're not sure where this plan is going. We're not sure in terms of how this is going to work in practice." That is a real disappointment. We've also had a number of comments just looking at some of the media that's come out about this bill today. Dr Dean Knight from Victoria University has used the quote "constitutional disgrace"—that's what they referred to this legislation as. This legislation is being passed urgently without adequate consultation and that is unacceptable. This is legislation that impacts all of our communities. It impacts Kiwis across this country. It impacts businesses across all of our electorates where we are. My home electorate of the North Shore is not protected from that. They are also confused. This process should have gone through a select committee process a process in which we could have got experts to come in to provide feedback to provide comment to get stakeholders to articulate how this legislation could impact it and work with officials to iron out the mistakes. Because I can pretty much—and I'm not a betting man but if I was I could pretty much guarantee that we will be back here in the early part of the new year fixing the mistakes within this legislation.I've nearly lost count of how many times that I have been in this House—and I haven't been in the House very long in comparison to some members in this House here—in terms of how many times we've come back into this House in order to fix mistakes on legislation because it was passed under urgency it was passed without due consideration it was passed without getting the stakeholder input and the feedback from our communities and stakeholders in terms of that legislation and as a result it's got errors and we have to subsequently fix it. What a waste of opportunity on something of such importance in terms of a topic. The other aspect that I want to get into is absolutely around the fact that this legislation is completely unnecessary. It provides a burden on Kiwis that is not necessary. National articulated in our plan back in September quite clear guidance in terms of when this country should begin to reopen. We talked about the quote "around 85 percent vaccination on the 1st of December." Well I'm sorry we don't need a traffic light system if we reach the levels of vaccination which we have articulated. It is completely unnecessary. Why is it that when I was fortunate to have a haircut down here in Wellington a couple of weeks ago I could walk in—Hon Member: Just checking it out.SIMON WATTS: Just checking it out—not bad obviously. I didn't have to show a vaccination passport when I went into that barbers down here in Wellington. But when I go back in two weeks' time in Auckland I'm going to have to show a vaccination certificate—more procedure more bureaucracy required yet our vaccination levels across this country will be significantly higher than where they were in the past. When I go to a cafe and get a coffee in the morning I'm going to spend half my time scanning in with my COVID Tracer app and then I'm going to have to scan in with my vaccination app and then I'm going to want to order my long black and go through a whole lot of process and bureaucracy.Meanwhile the business is actually just trying to do what they're meant to do. And again it is unnecessary. It is not based on a clinical requirement in terms of risk mitigation in terms of vaccination. It is a completely unnecessary piece of legislation. And again if that side of the House had actually read some of the recommendations that we made in late September in terms of introduction of rapid antigen testing—how's that going Mr Bishop? How's this Government's rapid antigen testing policy going eh? Have we seen any progress on that eh? Even though it's available in pretty much every other country in this world but not here. No it's still illegal. It's still banned unless you're one of those big corporates that has been able to get a special exemption.Again that side of the House do not trust Kiwis. They don't allow Kiwis to take personal responsibility for managing their own healthcare for getting on and doing what they know is right for taking some responsibility and to allow our businesses to get back on their feet and to trade is the only sustainable way that we should be able to help our businesses to get back on a front foot. I also want to go into some of the aspects around the confusion around this vaccination passport—and we all saw the issues pretty much when that came out. The system pretty much crashed immediately and continues to have a number of system issues around that. We have had a significant amount of time in order to prepare for where we are today. There are no excuses for why we have not done the adequate planning required to put in place these processes and procedures and framework. The other side all say "Well old Delta came along. It sort of you know was all very different." Well I'm sorry that is absolutely rubbish. They have simply failed to plan and they have failed to get ready for what we are faced with at the moment and they lack that sense of urgency that is absolutely fundamental in the survival of our businesses. And they just simply do not understand some of the implications that this legislation will impact. Hon Kris Faafoi: I preferred Maggie.SIMON WATTS: Lastly Mr Speaker—I'm looking forward to that call!Hon Kris Faafoi: Bring back Maggie!SIMON WATTS: You can hear the Minister. He's yapping and he's loving it—I'm hopeful he'll take a call later on. But the other aspect is around the length of this legislation. There is no end date in terms of when this will finish up. When will these restrictions end? I've articulated already that there's no basis in terms of these undue regulations in terms of when they come in. But again this bill fails to have any clear articulation in terms of when this will actually end up finishing and when Kiwis can get back to real life. So as I've said this legislation is being passed through urgency without adequate consultation. It is a constitutional disgrace and National oppose this bill."