SpeechMOTIONSNew Zealand Parliament—Occupation of GroundsRt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): I move That this House recognise the safe restoration of Parliament's grounds and the selfless service of our Police Fire and Emergency Services Wellington Free Ambulance Parliament Security and many others in returning Parliament to the people.Yesterday the Police restored order on Parliament's grounds after an illegal occupation that lasted 23 days. As a result of that operation 89 arrests were made 40 police officers were injured and 8 were admitted to hospital. In total 600 police staff were involved in yesterday's events. There were 50 firefighters on site alongside Wellington Free Ambulance who were treating those who were injured. And Parliament security once again supported all those involved and have stood alongside the New Zealand Police throughout the occupation.To each of you we say thank you. You were there throughout these events at a great risk to yourselves. Many of you were abused some were injured but you put your personal safety aside in order to look after others. And for that we are very grateful. To Wellingtonians I am sorry for what you have had to endure but I thank you for your resilience. I hope your sense of safety and confidence has been restored. He mihi ki ngā mana whenua Taranaki Whānui.[I acknowledge Taranaki Whānui the people of the land.]You have had to endure the trampling of your mana and we will work with you to see that restored.I know many of us will have seen firsthand the events that unfolded on the grounds of Parliament yesterday afternoon. I was finishing a meeting on the other side of the building when I heard the sirens of the Fire Service. I stood in one of the Beehive offices as I watched the flames billow up from the front lawn of Parliament. The playground had been set alight. But as I was watching what was unfolding Parliament continued. The debate in the House was being broadcast into the office and as I watched the flames I could hear my colleague Barbara Edmonds speaking in the Chamber. She was talking about one of her family members who had recently become infected with COVID-19. It was her niece who was only six weeks old; a newborn who struggled to breathe because of this pandemic that we are all working so hard to get safely on the other side of. It was hard to square. Here was a violent protest full of anger in response to measures that are designed to do no more than keep other people safe.I watched the first day the protest arrived here. I've watched protests come to Parliament over the years I have received petitions and I have spoken at many. And yet the day this one arrived it was clear that it was different. There was an immediate focus on occupying the space. The rhetoric that came from the speakers they installed swung between benign to sometimes threatening. Many media who walked the grounds were either abused or in some cases chased away. It was a form of protest I did not recognise and I found it hard to reconcile it with the reality of what all New Zealanders had faced in this pandemic and yet quietly got on with it.Barbara's niece spent time in hospital but is now recovering. And in a way that's what we all want. For our vulnerable to be cared for to get through and to recover. And we will but for now we are in a very hard moment in time.For the first time in the two years since the start of the outbreak New Zealanders are experiencing widespread COVID in the community. It is a period of disruption and risk. I saw a powerful message yesterday shared by one of our health workers. It said that in all of the discussion about removing all of our current protections they felt unseen—that with hundreds of hospitalisations and staff illness to contend with the suggestion that we just give up and move on made them feel invisible. I know in this House none of us would wish any of our front-line workers to feel that way. They may not have occupied the front of Parliament but they must occupy our thoughts.So my message today is simple. It is to condemn what happened here. Acts of violence cannot stand. It is to reinforce that this will always be a place where difference can be expressed and where that will be welcomed but that should always be done with dignity and respect for the place upon which we stand; that everyone has sacrificed something in the last two years but it has not been for nothing—it has been for each other. We just need to keep going a little longer.And finally this too will pass. Where we are in the pandemic right now feels hard because it is but things will change. Our people are coming home. Soon tourists will return. Vaccine passes mandates restrictions—they will all change. There is reason to feel hopeful. But for now the smell of smoke has faded. The playground will be restored. And the people our people will return to their place. SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.