Ngarewa-Packer Debbie; Hipkins ChrisDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): Kia ora. We respect the—SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume her seat. Sorry I thought she was going to seek leave to be added to the list.DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: Yes I thought we were.SPEAKER: If she's not I will seek leave on her behalf to be added to the specified party leaders list for the purpose of this debate. Is there any objection to that? There appears to be none.DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: My apologies Mr Speaker. I thought we sorted that yesterday.SPEAKER: No it needs to be a motion in the House before that occurs.DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: Ka pai. We respect the decision of the Government to lead with the health response. That's always been the best response. I guess probably from Te Paati Māori's perspective there's a couple of concerns—one that we take stock and use this as an opportunity to look at what we could be doing differently. We are still continuing with a response that is based on the first time that COVID came here. Where we fit in this regime with this Government as a cross-party whakaaro or the way that we can somehow be part of the decision and most importantly as a cross-party approach—how and where do we fit in to ensure that there is a strong Māori response? We are aware that there has been a Māori strategy within this COVID response effort. We're not too sure what it is in going forward. So we are appealing in some way that there is a stand-up not necessarily of the old COVID response committee but something that serves in that manner. We are also clear that there have been issues in the provinces and the regions with the testing and some aren't able to be stood up quickly. So again looking at this from a reflection point what and where and how do we make sure that this which is clearly going to be the global new norm—how we respond in a way that makes sure that our most vulnerable are considered and protected.The other thing that I would like to leave for the Minister to consider is that we're conscious that some of our Māori providers have been asked to reduce their vaccination supply. Taranaki District Health Board which has been in the news for other matters is an example and we do want to be clear that as we look at the strategies going forward we can indeed meet the vaccine requirement. I guess the other thing is that it's really important that we put aside politics at a stage and when we're dealing with matters that have been successfully considered in our proactive plan as a nation that we're able to work together and how that works for us particularly as Māori as tangata whenua as tangata moana and tangata Tiriti united is a good opportunity for Government to consider a cross-party approach as well. Nō reira kia ora koutou katoa. David stop being naughty.SPEAKER: Chris Hipkins in reply.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'll only respond to those last few comments. I think the member perhaps is a little unfair in her assertion at the beginning that we continue to follow the same formula when we're dealing with COVID-19 cases now that we did when we first dealt with COVID-19 over a year ago. In fact we continue to evolve our response we continue to look at ways to improve it we continue to refine our methodologies and people will see that evident here.In terms of parliamentary scrutiny I would note that I am appearing before the Health Committee for an hour and a half this very afternoon where we will be talking about COVID-19 and no doubt there'll be plenty of questions on that.In terms of equity we do monitor our testing and our vaccination rates including for Māori and Pacific communities in particular. In terms of Maōri vaccines Māori providers shouldn't be being asked to scale back but they will be being asked to stick to the plan. I think it's a tribute to some of our Māori health providers that they've been forging ahead and getting well ahead of plan. We want to be able to support them to continue to do that when we have greater supply of vaccine. So over the next three to four weeks we are asking them to stick to the plan. From sort of mid to late July we'll have greater quantities and therefore if they continue to forge ahead we'll have more ability to support them and absorb their enthusiasm to do that.DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): To the Minister I think it needs to be reminded that during the first response—SPEAKER: Order! We now have a little bit of a problem because I took from the member's conclusion that she had completed her speech and the Minister has replied which sort of finishes it all. There is an opportunity later on during the general debate to take further matters forward.