Sio Hon Aupito WilliamHon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Minister for Courts): E ngā mana e ngā iwi e ngā reo e ngā kārangaranga maha tēnā koutou kia ora koutou katoa. [To all authorities all people all voices all affiliations my greetings to you all.]I do that because I think there are certain occasions in this House where the first words ought to be Māori. There's just something quite special about the beginning of a year particularly when you're in Government. I want to also say happy New Year to my colleagues on that side of the House. I do so because I felt a sense of the anguish or the despair that they felt. I couldn't even get a smile out of Simon Bridges I couldn't get a smile out of Chris Luxon and certainly Miss Judith Collins was not smiling at all. So I say happy New Year to my colleagues on that side of the House.It's been an awkward year moving from last year where COVID-19 hit the nation and then suddenly we were in the Christmas period. Some of us travel overseas during the Christmas period but alas this did not happen on this occasion and those of us who are Ministers of a Government—or privileged to be Ministers of a Government—found ourselves not quite sure whether to fully embrace the spirit of Christmas and the parties that go with it mindful that we were still in the middle of a global pandemic. So I want to acknowledge all of New Zealand for their patience but also in particular for the trust that they have given to Jacinda Ardern and the Labour Government. I acknowledge that what New Zealanders have done in last year's election was to vote for certainty and stability and that's quite humbling. And for me it's equally a sense of gratitude because not only is it a privilege but we now find ourselves with a responsibility but more so the responsibility sits on the shoulders of Jacinda Ardern. I want to acknowledge her leadership. I want to acknowledge the way that she conducts herself despite the bullets and the arrows and stones that are thrown because of the political arena that we operate in and that she's able to maintain her dignity and her mana and to keep that smile going. I also want to acknowledge Mr Chris Hipkins in particular because most of us might have had a day or so and enjoyed time with our families. I know that he—most of all because of his responsibility in keeping New Zealand safe—probably didn't sleep well at all during the Christmas break.So we are in the middle of this global pandemic and people have put their trust in us and I want to say as I have engaged across the country and mainly with our Pacific communities I am uplifted with the confidence with the trust that they give us and I'm so grateful to them.I want to say that in accordance with our experience and the context of last year and this year this Government's overarching objective in the next three years will be focused on keeping all New Zealanders safe from COVID-19. That's first and foremost. The second thing is that we want to accelerate our economic recovery and this is in particular important for Māori and Pacific and for vulnerable communities women and young people in particular because it has been our past experience that whenever there is an economic downturn it is the most vulnerable in our communities that are hit the hardest and often are slow to recover. Our third objective as a Government for the next three years is to lay the foundations for a better future and to build back better—not build back to the same as how others wish it but to build back better. And the statement that was delivered this morning by the Hon Grant Robertson was about the focus of our wellbeing approach re-emphasising again what I would call those transformational pillars which we introduced to the country in 2019 and that we will continue using as foundational pillars going forward—but it is going to be important that we continue to focus on our people. It is like the whakataukī What's the most important thing in this world? It is people it is people it is people." We need to make sure that we're looking after people throughout the next three years so that they are able to support their families giving them confidence. That's going to require leadership. Leadership at this particular time is a person that can stand up and provide a good positive vision for the rest of the country. Sure you can be critical but criticising for the sake of being critical doesn't cut it in times where people require stability and certainty.We will be focused on jobs. It's about protecting existing jobs. It's about creating new jobs. It's about looking at the future and seeing what opportunities there are. And for Māori and for Pasifika for many of our young people that are leaving high school I'm going to be encouraging them to embrace the digital economy. We need to embrace it so that we're creating a new generation of innovators creators who can fully own the digital economy. Small businesses for a long time have always been the lifeblood of economies and we need to make sure that we're providing that support and opportunities. Big business are big business and often they don't think of anybody else but themselves but we know in times of challenge it is small businesses that come to the fore and certainly we want to focus on that.Preparing for the future is also about tackling climate change and putting a stake in the ground and moving towards those goals. And I think the climate change commissioners' report sets us up nicely for what we have collectively to do as a nation going forward. And that's also being mindful that we are a Pacific nation. We have a role and responsibility to the Pacific region. We are firmly anchored here. I'm so proud that we're able to work closely with the Realm island countries with the Polynesian sector and we have a role and responsibility to bring the rest of the Pacific region so that we're united in our focus for our shared aspirations for prosperity for security and peace.I love the way that Nanaia Mahuta has delivered core and fundamental principles that will guide our engagement with the world and in particular with the Pacific region—the principle of whanaungatanga the recognition of our kinship the recognition of our genealogical connections; the principle of kotahitanga the recognition that we have shared in a collective purpose to work for the benefit of all peoples; and of course the principle of kaitiakitanga the recognition that we all have roles to play in being guardians of our planet and being stewards and being really responsible in reporting back.For Pacific peoples in the next three years I'm going to be working hard across the board with my ministerial colleagues but across the board with of a lot of agencies to deliver the Pacific wellbeing approach that we started in the last three years where languages and cultures are important and young people can be confident in their diversity of colours diversity of parentage diversity of the languages they can speak. The goal of economic prosperity for this generation coming through is no longer working on the factory floor. It's about them being their own bosses being their own authors of their own legacy being able to design and implement the solutions that will make them safe and that will also ensure that they prosper and thrive. The other goal is about wellness. I know we all point and say it's about sickness. But it's actually about wellness. I want to put a positive spin on that because the challenges are huge and the needs are many and these challenges we cannot solve overnight. It takes a bit of time and we've got to build those strong foundations of being able to access quality healthcare that recognises the mana and dignity of people. And of course the youth the Pacific youth I proudly promote as the "Generation Six Bs": people who are brown beautiful brainy bilingual bicultural and bold. This is the generation—I describe it that way because that's what I see. It's beautiful it's diverse and I see that that's the future and I'm very pleased to be part of the Government that's trying to deliver on these things."