Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): This is a speech for the parents and families in Auckland who have just completed another day of home schooling; for the students in Auckland who are now looking down the barrel of 40 days in the classroom lost—20 percent of their normal school year—for the mums and dads who are frustrated who are stressed out who are worried about their kids falling behind or being depressed and anxious; and for the teachers who are juggling to keep it all going.They have given so much and they have done so willingly. They have gone into lockdown because it is the right thing to do because they want to keep COVID out of our community. But what do they ask in return? They ask for a Government that will keep our border safe. They ask for a Government that will keep COVID out of our communities. And what have they been given? They have been given a Government that has stacked up slip-up after slip-up after slip-up that has stacked up failure after failure after failure—words where action has been required. Where they said they'd provide personal protective equipment they didn't. They said that everyone leaving managed isolation on compassionate grounds would be tested but instead 51 of the 55 were not. They said everyone would be tested on day three in an isolation facility but we now find out it's not required and thousands haven't had it. They said that the staff in managed isolation facilities would be tested but it turns out six out of 10 were not and it turns out some of them were going to work sick. That is a failure of the system. It is a monumental failure. New Zealanders have been let down by a Government who talks tough—oh yes they talk tough—but who have failed to deliver on the border.And then today we have the ridiculous spectacle of the Prime Minister refusing to accept responsibility. The words were: It doesn't mean anyone has failed. It doesn't necessarily mean there's a failure at the border." Well this is farcical. New Zealanders are being asked to maintain the fiction that somehow COVID is in the community through an immaculate infection through an infection that has come from nowhere seemingly that has come in without any human host—that has simply appeared in South Auckland from nowhere. Well we are being asked to focus on the science and we're being asked to be evidence-based. Well the science says that if you go a hundred days without COVID in the community and then it appears it came from a human being who had COVID and who was able to infect another human being. It came from a failure that allowed that to happen. And we have seen sloppiness at the border; we have seen detachment from what is actually happening on the ground. Ministers who provide strategies on high who wave around pieces of paper saying that things will happen who say that they've asked for testing to happen—but in fact they don't follow up. And all New Zealanders ask is check audit—if you say you're going to test do the testing. If you say you're going to do something not only do it but check that it's been done audit that it's been done because they are giving so much. The sacrifice from New Zealand families is real it is palpable they are losing income they are losing jobs they're at home with their kids trying to home school and all they ask of their Government is do the job. Do what you say you will follow up and don't deny responsibility; there's no such thing as an immaculate infection.So here on this side of the House we have been clear: we propose a national border protection agency. We propose one entity that takes accountability that takes responsibility that follows Dr Shane's advice on the testing that puts in place the strategies that will keep our border secure and that ensures that we don't have these incursions into the community again. Here on this side of the House we're not going to be sloppy as to keep on mucking it up then appoint Heather Simpson and Brian Roche to fly in and sort it all out. No no—we will be confident. New Zealand families have sacrificed for this Government's strategy and all they ask in return is for competence: don't just talk about it; deliver."