Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Minister of Customs): E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe otirā e ngā mema katoa tēnā tātou katoa. Mr Speaker it's my first contribution in the 2021 year. Can I please send my salutations to yourself and to our presiding officers and of course my mihi to my fellow colleagues in the House today. We are in unprecedented times and before I go there can I just please acknowledge your leadership and that of the Business Committee in ensuring our electoral offices around the country were given clear guidelines in the recent alert level changes for Auckland and the rest of the country. Can I just say that on the record to acknowledge that. What's happening in Auckland—I just want to acknowledge the pressure that is brought to bear on whānau businesses and of course workers and the flow-on effects it has in terms of level 2 around the country.My contribution this afternoon—I want to talk about how quickly the Government has responded with the latest outbreak or resurgence both in terms of protecting businesses and workers and the way in which our kete of knowledge of this virus has grown some 12 months deep. I'm proud to be part of a Government that looks for continuous improvement. The advice that we seek is always based on good health science and also without taking the eye off continuous improvement. So I too want to acknowledge the team of 5 million. I want to acknowledge our essential workers our border workers and in that regard—I'm proud to say as the Minister of Customs—acknowledge the work that our customs officers are doing not just at the airport but at our ports under the marine border orders—some incredible work done by a lot of New Zealanders to keep ourselves safe. But this Government has acted fast to identify and to include close contacts that are tested. This week we had the resurgence support payment legislation going through the House to support and recognise the struggles for many businesses particularly in the Auckland area. That would enable up to seven days of $1500 per person on site and up to $400 per worker to a maximum of 50 fulltime-equivalents. That will go a long way to help and support our small businesses.But of course the big news this week was the arrival of our first batch of vaccines some 60000—or 30000 dosages—which is a pleasing start of our commitment to ensure that we are supporting our front-line workers and pleased to see that roll-out will start taking place this week. It's a start. This Government did indicate the first quarter so I am pleased that we have been able to deliver these initial vaccine arrivals.In the time that I have I want to acknowledge the Māori response particularly in Auckland. I want to acknowledge Turuki Health Care the Waipareira Trust and of course the Whānau Ora clinic in Manukau who have come to the fore to ensure the testing the services support for those vulnerable communities in South Auckland but in Auckland particularly. They are at their finest given the 12 months of work that they have undertaken to keep those particular communities safe. I do want to labour that point around the Māori response not just in Auckland and this recent case but the resilience of those communities throughout Aotearoa in terms of testing and both ensuring communities are communicated with in an appropriate manner but also providing those support services. So I want to acknowledge those particular organisations who are doing a stellar job.Like I said at the beginning the response of the Government has been fast and furious. The vaccines have arrived support for small businesses is there but the underlying point for me is this continuous commitment to improve the way we are addressing COVID when it rears its head. To move quickly to stamp it out to trace it to treat it is part of the Government's elimination strategy. I'm very proud of it.