Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. Tēnā tātou i te Whare i tēnei tau hou. Harikoa te ngākau kua tae mai nei ki te tautoko i te kōrero a te Pirimia.[Greetings Madam Speaker and greetings to everyone in the House in this new year. I am delighted to have come to support the Prime Minister's statement.]I am delighted to speak in wholehearted support of the Prime Minister's statement this afternoon and the work programme that she has outlined for our Government. We know these are unprecedented challenging times. Throughout the whole world COVID-19 is unprecedented and it's just causing absolute havoc. But our country Aotearoa we've done very well through this. Together we have risen to the challenge and I think whilst the other side can quibble about—moan about—this that and the other thing at the end of the day we are leading the world in terms of our response and the fact that our people are protected and that our vaccination rates are at record levels right across the board.I just want to acknowledge the work that we've been doing as a Government in such trying times to be able to lead our country through the COVID-19 pandemic. We are doing so much work in this area. I have the utmost respect for the work of our Prime Minister and our Government in what they're doing. We need to just look at where we're at because yes our economy may have taken a little hit in terms of tourism in certain sectors—that is the case all over the world—but our merchandise exports our primary sectors they are actually making record returns. Our export growth has been going up in the midst of this global pandemic. So I give credit to our export industries. I give credit to all our exporters those hard-working folks that are actually ensuring that they can continue to operate in the most trying times in these uncertain times. We are trying to give them the confidence and the certainty that they can continue to trade so we can continue to sell our products around the world and maintain the wonderful standard of living that we have here.We are doing so much in terms of management of this global pandemic but I also want to ensure that at the same time we are taking care of all of the other long-term challenges—immediate challenges as well—that are facing our country. As our Prime Minister has outlined whether it's in the areas of housing health infrastructure climate change we are doing so much work in those areas. Case in point the work in infrastructure. I was delighted to accompany the member for Southland Joseph Mooney this morning to the opening of a brand new school in Queenstown—Te Kura Whakatipu o Kawarau. A wonderful pristine brand new school. This is the third school that's had to be opened because of the growth that's happening in the Lakes District in the Queenstown area. In spite of the global pandemic the huge hit that they've taken in tourism we have been supporting regions such as the Lakes District through investments in infrastructure transport connectivity and the opening of new schools to ensure that we can support these thriving communities that are around Aotearoa. So it's not all doom and gloom. We are actually doing some wonderful support right across the country and that's a case in point. I want to talk about what we're doing also in health. Let's not underestimate the groundbreaking reforms that we are doing particularly in Māori health and the creation of a Māori Health Authority. I chaired the Māori Affairs Committee in the last Parliament and it is so patently clear that there are inequities right across our health system in how it delivers to Māori and to other groups in Aotearoa society but particularly to Māori. We need to address those inequities. If there's a sick Māori and a sick non-Māori that go into the health system unfortunately the Māori doesn't come out the better; they come out worse than compared to the non-Māori. So we need to address those inequities and the Māori Health Authority which is what we recommended as a committee is now in its formative stages. I'm really looking forward to seeing the work that that does in conjunction with Health New Zealand what we're doing in public health which will really be a game changer in terms of delivering better health outcomes for Māori and for all New Zealand. Those are absolutely wonderful reforms that we are doing.I want to get back to the economy because we need to be able to—we're a productive economy we need to sell our goods around the world and we want to be more productive absolutely. We can do that by the work that we have already done through free-trade agreements. Under our new Trade for All agenda we have the UK fair-trade agreement—a landmark FTA in terms of access better access for our exporters into those markets absolutely wonderful gains for Māori under that trade agreement and we will soon be doing an FTA with the EU. This year we really are going to be launching across the world. Our Prime Minister will be leading the way. I hope to be chipping in in terms of the contribution that we will be doing to really reconnect and to ensure that we can have that thriving Aotearoa that we are all proud of. Kia ora tātou.