2. Question No. 2—Prime MinisterDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 2—Prime Minister2. DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by the statement that This Government will foster a more open and democratic society. It will strengthen transparency around official information"?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes. I stand by our actions to improve openness and transparency. In fact the most recent Transparency International 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks New Zealand first equal again which is to be celebrated. We've taken significant steps to increase transparency since coming into office. This includes the proactive release of Cabinet papers within 30 days of a decision and the proactive release of ministerial diaries on a monthly basis an innovation of this Government. We also supported the changes made this term to increase ministerial accountability to the House including Ministers now—as we know—answering questions from members during ministerial statements Estimates and annual review debates. So yes I stand by that statement.David Seymour: Why then were documents relating to the Strategic COVID-19 Public Health Advisory Group released to select journalists privately yesterday prior to the Government's scheduled forum on Thursday?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: My understanding is that they are now all publicly available. There is a press release of the advice and it's available to anyone who would choose to access it. The reason we did it in advance of the Government giving a response to the advice is actually because we wanted people to have time to digest the advice themselves. It also gives the chance for people to see what we had to consider and because that is a forum where questions will be able to be asked it gives people a chance to consider the issues that they may wish to canvass with the group that provided the advice. I do find it interesting that the member is criticising us for releasing the information that he wanted to see just yesterday. We've done that but apparently now that is still not quite—David Seymour: Point of order Mr Speaker. It was a very clear question: why did she choose to selectively and privately release it to some journalists? The Prime Minister had answered the question and carried on for some time after that and I just ask that she be asked to follow the same rules as we are when asking questions.SPEAKER: That is probably fair but—and I will call the member in a second—I think it's also fair that I do get complaints every now and again about Ministers not being as fulsome as Opposition members want. Where the response is trying to get the point of balance it's about right and I think the tradition from this Chair has been to be more flexible with leaders of parties which the member himself has benefited from on occasions. David Seymour: Thank you Mr Speaker. Will any other information relating to the reports of the Strategic COVID-19 Public Health Advisory Committee be released publicly and if so will it be released publicly at once to everyone or just drip fed privately to some journalists?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I believe the member is referring to the concept commonly known as an embargo and that is not uncommon to provide information under embargo to allow interviewers and journalists to prepare for interviews. To the primary part of the member's question though we've released the totality of the advice that we received from Professor David Skegg and the group that we convened but what I would also add is that that is not the only advice that of course we as a Cabinet take into consideration. We've looked at for instance the modelling released by Te Pūnaha Matatini and Shaun Hendy we've considered the advice that we received from departments including the likes of Treasury we do have the groups led by Rob Fyfe and Brian Roche—and we also of course are keenly interested in their views—and finally I would also say that the advice of international organisations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are things that Professor Skegg himself has used to inform his work and we look at that data directly as well. We've also been very keenly watching the data out of the UK.David Seymour: Were any of the recommendations generated by the group chaired by Sir David Skegg subject to the $252945 worth of focus grouping and opinion polling undertaken by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) on the Government's COVID response and if not will she rule out focus grouping the recommendations she's just released?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: To answer the first part of the member's question: no it has not. In response to the second part of the question: the things that the DPMC have made the decision to ask the public about have related in large part to vaccination and I do think it's important for us to understand why people choose not to be vaccinated. If the member is suggesting that we should not be interested in that and we should not be interested in issues of disinformation and how best to counter that he can hold that view but I would strongly disagree with him.David Seymour: What new actions if any—tangible actions—to be implemented in the next month will the Government take based on the information released today?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We'll be sharing a response tomorrow."