Seymour DavidDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT in support of the Immigration (COVID-19 Response) Amendment Bill. I'll just make a couple of comments about the process there. I spoke earlier in the afternoon in opposition to the COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill. I think this one has a few aspects that make it worth our support even in these rushed circumstances. One is that unlike the 133 pages that we had dumped on us with less than 24 hours to compute what that legislation would mean in the context of the other laws it was changing what we have here is a 16-page bill that largely changes the Immigration Act. Secondly not only is it much shorter but it is also a piece of legislation that as Michael Woodhouse noted—although he said this with a certain amount of cynicism—is by and large about the administration of the immigration department and I'll get to why I think that's actually very needed. The other thing I think that the Minister's done that is very responsible is that all of this has a sunset clause and if the principle is we need to rush legislation to deal with the COVID-19 crisis then it's perfectly fitting that we don't make permanent changes and long-term decisions in the context of a crisis. So I think the Minister's actually made some really good decisions about how this legislation works.It is absolutely necessary. If you'd asked me a couple of years ago could any Government department drive more people more constituents to the door of my electorate office than Auckland Transport (AT) I would have said No way. It's impossible." Well I have to say over the last couple of years AT's actually improved a little bit but immigration has become the leading reason that people come to see me in my electorate office and I dare say MPs' electorate offices up and down the country because I get a lot of similar feedback and chatter from other MPs. That problem is not a subject for today—but it does need to be resolved—but it has been badly exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis and some of it is for very obvious reasons. The closure of the border was always going to be difficult for immigration quite obviously. Secondly the general sense of crisis was going to make a lot of people's situations difficult—not having work and so on. But as the legislation identifies it was especially going to be a problem for the administration of immigration law which is all set up to do one-by-one or case by case consideration when actually whole classes of people have been affected by the COVID-19 situation. So I completely support the idea that we're going to have some general determinations that will help whole groups of people who through no fault of their own are caught up. Let me just give a couple of examples—people that have contacted me. An immigration agent from Hamilton—they've got people who are all ready to go to come here and they're not going to be able to do it and yet they've bought property. You know the difficulties that people are facing as a result of this crisis being caught between two countries are in many cases harrowing. I give the example of—the Minister will know a perennial topic for me and people that get in touch with me—the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme (RSE). Now you know at the moment Porirua is closed. They are trying to individually process visas and agreements to recruit and the result is that the RSE scheme at this rate will be all but null and void for the coming summer. That has real impacts. I think the Government needs to be clear. If they think that the horticultural industry is supposed to employ Kiwis for the season then they should come out and say that because at the moment that's the result they're getting to by default.Nevertheless this legislation is proportional to the crisis. It's much needed. It's going to solve a real humanitarian problem for a lot of people and for that reason I support it on behalf of ACT and commend it to the House. Thank you Mr Speaker.Bill read a first time. Bill referred to the Epidemic Response Committee."