Woods MeganADDRESS IN REPLYDebate resumed from 1 December.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): Madam Speaker I would like to begin as is customary in this debate by congratulating you on your election as a presiding officer of this House along with your colleagues. We look forward to a productive three years with very fair rulings from the Chair. But congratulations.I would also like to take this time to acknowledge all of the new members of Parliament who have come to this House in 2020. Being elected to represent your community is a huge honour and the sense that I've got from all the new members of Parliament that I have met is how seriously they do take this responsibility. So I wish all of those members of Parliament well. I would especially like to acknowledge the 23 new Labour members of Parliament that we had elected at the 2020 election. I think it's fair to say this is a phenomenal group of people and as I have had the joy of listening to the maiden speeches I have been filled with the sense that this is a group of people that have a sense of purpose an understanding of why they have come to this House and what it is that they want to achieve. It's fair to say that 2020 has been the most unusual of years and I think as we look forward to its end it is worth us as New Zealanders reflecting on what a fortunate position we are in as we look around the globe as we look in communities that are facing a Christmas that is not going to have the liberties that we have here in Aotearoa New Zealand. That was the result of the collective efforts of all New Zealanders and I think that is something as we approach the end of the year that we should all truly celebrate: the way in which New Zealanders rallied as a group of people as communities to protect each other and to ensure that we could all stay safe. This was of course an election that occurred in the context of this. I think what we've seen as the result that was returned showed is that New Zealanders voted for stability and certainty at this election at a time of uncertainty around the globe. I think that the Address in Reply debate can often seem a strange debate. It is a debate when stump speeches seem to be dusted off again after a few months or a few weeks since the election campaign but they can be a time to reflect on what it is that the House can achieve over the coming three years. We know on this side of the House that with our result comes a huge responsibility. We know that we are in the middle of a global pandemic and New Zealanders have put their trust in us. We know that overseas the health and economic outlooks continue to worsen. Here in New Zealand our Government's commitment is to remain focused on keeping New Zealanders safe while minimising the ongoing economic impacts that the virus has wreaked on communities all over the world. We campaigned and were elected on a five-point plan for economic recovery that will help New Zealand bounce back and what we can never lose sight of is the opportunities that lie in front of us to build back better. I think the debate that we've just had over the climate emergency puts into perspective what we can achieve what we collectively can achieve and the opportunities that have been given to us to ensure that out of 2020 we emerge with a renewed vigour around addressing one of the greatest threats to our planet and that is human-induced climate change something that we have to have a commitment to addressing. It means that we do have to look to these long-term challenges.So while as a Government we've got to have the plans in place to ensure in the short term New Zealanders can pay their mortgages they can pay their rent they can put food on the table it is our responsibility as a Government to make sure we are never taking our eye off those long-term challenges that confront us as a country off the challenge of climate change how it is that we decarbonise our economy and our society how it is that we address these problems that are decades in the making such as housing affordability and what we need to address these questions. Let's be honest: these are not issues or problems that are easy; they are complex and they are difficult and they cannot be solved overnight but we laid the foundations for change in our first term and we are heading in the right direction. We have a programme of work that will build on this and will never take our eye off those long-term challenges that are confronting us. But most of all we will be a Government for all New Zealanders. If we think about those challenges that lie ahead of us—to keep New Zealanders safe from COVID-19 to accelerate our economic recovery and to lay those foundations for a better future—we can see that we have an exciting three years ahead of us a truly ambitious programme of work that we can all collectively band together and get excited about. When we think about how it is that we continue to keep each other safe as we exist as a group of islands at the bottom of the South Pacific in a world that is being ravaged by a virus we need to stay ever vigilant. We are committed to that elimination strategy. Although there were questions about it when we started out at the beginning in our hearts we knew that our best economic response was always going to be the best health response. This is what happens when you put people at the centre of your decision making. [Coughs] Can I get water? This is what happens when you make sure that actually you are caring for your people. So that is the approach that we will continue to do. We will be flexible. We will continue to learn. We will continue to take the opportunities—[Drinks water] for a sip of water—to retain and to continuously improve our multiple lines of defence against the virus. The first line of defence as an island nation has to be our border and we will continue to strengthen this to have robust protections in place such as testing infection control measures and supporting quality staffing. On that I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the many thousands of people who are staffing our borders. This is not easy work. This is hard work. It is under a scrutiny that many of these often minimum wage workers did not know they were entering into. I think 2020 has been a year when as a country we've come to reflect on how much we do rely on some of those workers that we pay the least: our supermarket workers our cleaners those that make sure that we are kept safe. So I hope that is something that we can take from this most unusual of years. But we must also accelerate the recovery and what we have seen and what all the economic indicators are showing is that nothing is as bad as those initial forecasts were harrowingly showing us they could be that we have put people we have put jobs we have put jobs and we have put jobs at the centre of everything that we have done. We were not prepared to have a stand-off approach to put our hands in the air and say What will be will be." What we were prepared to do was make sure that we were looking out for our people and that we were investing in our long-term problems we were investing in infrastructure we were investing so we could keep New Zealanders in work. We are proud of the results that we have achieved and we are looking forward to continuing that ethos in how we govern for the next three years. That is the trust that has been put in us by the election result. This is the trust that we will repay to all New Zealanders. This is the job and the challenge and the opportunity and the responsibility that lies ahead of us and one that we take seriously."