Bridges Simon; Rurawhe AdrianHon SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga): This bill greatly concerns me. I mean there's so much to oppose here I can't see frankly how we can continue to support it post - select committee. I did administrative and constitutional law a long way back and here we've got a bill which comes along and delays the regular provisions of the law and gives powers to individuals to members of the executive to the executive as a collective over and above those regular provisions at their whim sometimes for a year sometimes for a couple. Well that's what lawyers would euphemistically say is problematic; I say it's wrong actually to do that and to do what this bill does throughout it without really good reason. As Chris Bishop said in his speech in 2020 in the eye of the COVID storm he could accept that; they were remarkable times and they required that. But in this bill the Government does do it through into 2022 and I say that's not just problematic it's plain wrong.And what's the reason here? Why on earth aren't they doing that in some cases just for a quarter or the least possible—stopping delaying the regular provisions of laws of this land if it's really necessary. Let me give you a couple of examples in this bill. Firstly they are fundamentally giving themselves the power to suspend local democracy—election year next year. And I say that is plain wrong. Let's take the case of my city—Tauranga. We've already got a situation where there are unelected commissioners who do the bidding frankly of Nanaia Mahuta. That's the situation and it happened on one simple promise from Nanaia Mahuta that democracy would be restored in the election year of 2022. But this bill gives her the power the Government the power to do away with those elections. That is wrong.Commercial leases—we've heard a bit about that. I say what's happening there is not only a breach of contract which by the way really really matters—the certainty of contract is one of the bedrocks of our society and the civilisation which we had—but it does it in a way which is now all about fair proportionality in consultation. Well actually I think we know what that means. It's giving a break to the renter. And you might say Well that's real good" but actually I say there's a bunch of landlords out there who are also doing it tough and this overriding of regular law without any consultation of anyone in this significant industry for our country is just plain wrong.Actually someone said very recently that some of the things going on at the moment in relation to COVID are a bit like North Korea. I have to say there's a touch of that here. There's a touch of the Muldoon in this law. Jacinda Ardern may not look like Muldoon she may not have the style of him but in this bill with these provision it's a bit like Fitzgerald v Muldoon going back—he'd be proud I think of a law like this.What's more—the second point I want to make—is it's lazy law. It's a lazy complacent bill that enables a lazy complacent Government to be even more lazy and complacent than they are. You see what this bill fundamentally says about the Government is that they can't walk and chew gum. We all accept that COVID-19 is a very significant issue for New Zealand and the world. But what this bill says is they can't focus on that and anything else at the same time.See you know the answer from this Government is it's all about COVID. Yep COVID's important. But then they're excusing themselves from doing anything in climate change from doing anything about housing about roads hospitals schools—all the while because of COVID they excuse the borrowing of a billion dollars a week that will heap up and be a millstone around the neck of the next generations in this country. I want to focus quickly on climate change because this is a Government—indeed the Prime Minister—who said it was her nuclear-free moment and yet what is she doing in this bill? She is excusing herself and her Government from really doing anything for a few more months. Why on earth as a result of COVID-19 and what's happened they feel the need for that? Was James Shaw caught up in the COVID-19 response? Not even a little bit. And yet this lazy complacent Government is doing nothing about it. Nuclear-free moment? My backside!The third thing I want to say on this bill is: how about instead of all this mucking around the Government actually comes up with a plan to open up? I know it's radical Mr Speaker. I know it's crazy. In a sense I would say: why don't they pick a plan any plan? They've got ACT's they've got National's they've got John Key's. Pick a plan and do something. But instead they're not doing anything—nothing—and that's why we have to have this bill all the rest of this year into 2022. I say that's a crying shame.You know Ryan Bridge the new AM Show lead is entirely right when he said earlier this week that the reason there is no plan from this Government actually in relation to really anything that is of importance in this country right now but certainly in relation to COVID-19 is because everything they do is poll driven. I could focus on the fact that they've done something I don't think I've ever seen at a level like this before in the history of New Zealand and that's get the public health sector to pay for all those in actuality explicitly political polls and the constitutional propriety of that but anyway—be that as it may. They are running this country on poll after poll after poll and again as Ryan Bridge said that's because Jacinda Ardern is waiting for us the people of New Zealand to tell her the plan. She doesn't have a plan. She doesn't want to work up a plan. That would be too fundamental. It might get her in trouble. She might lose a few percent of votes—well she's actually done that in recent times. But the reality is she's waiting for us to tell her the plan.That is lazy. That is complacent Government. Leadership actually requires vision and a plan and that's true now not just in relation to COVID-19 but I'd say more broadly in our country on housing transport the economy education and health. I accept and I understand that the Government's been burnt by KiwiBuild by a cycle bridge that no one wanted but actually as it says in the good book that Mr Seymour may know well—I don't know—"Without vision the people perish." That's where we're at right now in this country.Instead of that we've got a Government that's giving themselves powers abrogating getting in the way of the regular provisions and rules of Government because actually they've been too lazy and poll-driven in their approach to do the hard mahi that provides not just the provision actually the strategy and the plan for New Zealand in relation to COVID-19 but a host of other things in this bill like climate change like housing and in a bunch of other areas.Finally this really really matters not because of politics not because of politicians like me standing up and making the points we do but actually because right now in New Zealand if there was a plan we would have a country where businesses wouldn't be struggling as much with the effects of lockdown where people wouldn't be struggling as much with lockdowns as hundreds of thousands—in fact one and a half million or more—are in Auckland where there'd be greater freedoms where people would be able to see their grandchildren on the other side of the world and on the other side of the world Kiwis would get what they thought call them old-fashioned was their God-given right to come back to the country that they live in and that they belong to. But they can't because we have a pernicious lottery-type system running at the moment because that mahi wasn't done.As I say I understand the position of National to be we're supporting it at first reading. Frankly I wonder why because it seems to me this is a bill that is pretty regrettable in most regards. Yep Chris Hipkins will be able to point to the odd thing it does here which sort of seems pragmatic and OK but overall where they're suspending the need to do anything about climate change where they're giving themselves the ability to do away with local government elections when they feel like it and in a raft of other ways they're giving themselves powers I don't think they need to have at this time it's as I say highly regrettable.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired."