McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): I too would like to join others in thanking our essential workers and all those who have laboured during the level 4 and level 3 restrictions to keep important services going—in particular the people that went to service stations and who are working in dairies and in our supermarkets to make sure that the food was there for people to buy and to be fed. A particular heartfelt thanks to all of the nurses and others in the vaccinations centres that have done more than has been asked of them to make sure that New Zealanders could get the vaccinations that they need. I also want to recognise New Zealanders who have sacrificed done everything this Government has asked of them over the last three weeks in their homes with their businesses closed not going to work unsure of how long they would be there for. It's important we recognise that Kiwis again have done what the Government has asked of them for the good of all other New Zealanders.I also want to be very clear there is only one reason that New Zealanders have been asked to sacrifice again and that's because of another failure in a system that is meant to keep them safe. That failure this time was not at the border or it was not at a washing facility to do with the airport; it was at a managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facility in Auckland. I read in the newspaper today that the Government has said after an exhausting search they have not been able to find how this got out of MIQ. They know that it did. It didn't just come over the border from Australia. It was in MIQ—the place actually that has been set up to make sure that those who return to New Zealand who have a right to come back here actually are free of COVID before they come into the community.It's also because of the very slow roll-out of the vaccine. I'm very pleased that actually the Government is about to announce that they have borrowed—they have borrowed—vaccines from other countries so that every New Zealander that wants to be vaccinated can be vaccinated as quickly as they need to be because there is only one way to make sure New Zealanders are safe and there is only one way to make sure we don't have the same wide-ranging restrictions of a level 4 or level 3 lockdown: it is to vaccinate New Zealanders. It has come too slowly and there have been too many excuses.My responsibilities in this Parliament as well as to the electorate of Rotorua are for economic development and small business. Today businesses continue to do it hard in every part of New Zealand. You see for everywhere but Auckland we have had two weeks of level 4 and one week of level 3 and now there's new level 2 with additional restrictions where businesses have not been able to trade. They have taken on debt. You have mums and dads who live in our community that go to work every day and they go to work to be able to earn a living to employ others to provide for their children. They pay all other bills before they pay themselves and they've had to borrow against their houses to get through. In Auckland they're into now their fourth week of level 4 with a number of weeks yet to go.These are hard-working businesses that need help and the help whilst there has in many cases not been fast enough. For Auckland we feel for them but it's not enough for the Government to say We feel for them." A week ago in this Parliament I asked the Minister of Finance if he would join with us to look at rental support for businesses that are affected because of COVID in level 4 and level 3 and now I ask again in level 2. He said at the time that he would look at it. Sadly a week later there is no announcement from the Government other than the resurgence payment which is a one-off payment that was there to help for that. Last week the resurgence payment helped with last week's rent but the rent is due again this week and next week and those bills are piling up.These business people need the help of the Government throughout the country today. A year and a half ago in the first lockdown we made the case for rental support for small businesses and landlords—many of them small businesses themselves. There was no support from the Government other than an announcement of arbitration services and there are still no arbitrators because they couldn't get them. It wasn't in place. These businesses have continued to build up debt. They haven't been able to trade their way out of that debt. The harm was done to them in the last lockdown of last year or the subsequent restrictions in Auckland when there was more restrictions put in place because of lapses around MIQ at the border. They desperately need that help today.When you have in Auckland and other parts of the country hospitality businesses saying they will not pay their GST unless they get help it's not because they don't want to pay their tax—they are taxpayers—it's because it is a plea to the Government for help before their businesses close. I make this plea to the Government again on behalf of these businesses who are doing everything asked of them: they need support with rent and other support if you still want them to be there once they come out of the level 2 lockdown."