McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): Mr Speaker thank you very much. Often when we start these speeches we say It's a pleasure to speak in this debate." but this time it's not. This is the second time in about a year and a half that I've been in this Chamber talking about borrowing money and spending money and it is the poor old taxpayer that is at home doing everything this Government is asking of them that will foot the bill. You see at the time of the first lockdown last year the Government came and borrowed about $56 billion to be used to help New Zealanders to get through COVID to be focused on the things we needed for COVID—as they said at the time to make sure there was enough in the kitty for the rainy day or the COVID day in case it came back. We've heard again and again in debates this week and in questions in the House the need from the Government to borrow more money because the $56 billion that they decided they needed to spend for COVID last year that is borrowed has run out. This week we hear the announcement that there will be another $41 billion borrowed. When the finance Minister Mr Robertson says that people don't understand that we are not actually borrowing the money this week what we're doing is being allowed to spend it what he forgets to tell the public is the Government is still running at a loss. They spend more than they earn. They only earn from the taxpayer when people pay taxes and so it must be borrowed. If they hadn't have spent the $56 billion that they gave themselves to spend on COVID last year and that some of it was still there this year because it hadn't been spent on things that were not COVID-related they wouldn't be coming back to Parliament and going back to the public and saying "We need another $41 billion for COVID because the kitty is bare." That is about $147000 borrowed for every person in New Zealand.So when we come back as the country moves out of level 4 in Auckland then level 3 in Auckland then level 2 where many businesses still won't be able to open and survive because of the rules that have been put in place and they are not getting the support that they need that they are crying out for every day from their homes because they're not allowed in their businesses they are doing what the Government has asked of them they are sacrificing—when we come back and we have the debate about housing in New Zealand and how more New Zealanders deserve to own houses they need to own houses I say to the members opposite who have just stood in this House and said "Rather than talking about whether the money is going to be spent well or not let's just rejoice that we have it to spend to help New Zealanders." $147000 is one heck—one hell—of a deposit for a New Zealander for a young New Zealander for an old New Zealander to have their own home. That is $147000 worth of additional debt borrowed last year and this year because of COVID because of two lockdowns that it won't be every adult in New Zealand it won't be every person in New Zealand that is paying back; it will be the young New Zealanders that are yet to be born here it will be the young New Zealanders that are not New Zealanders yet because they will to migrate to New Zealand and it will be the hard work of every single New Zealander who has to rebuild the economy and pay their taxes because this Government has borrowed close to $100 billion and they haven't spent it all on things that are COVID-related.There is a reason that the Government is going to borrow another $41 billion and it is twofold. Number one they did not do their job around managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ). This virus got through MIQ. In fact every time except for the first lockdown that it has got back into the community—and we have seen restrictions in Auckland and restrictions as a result around the rest of the country and now the whole of New Zealand in level 4 for two weeks everywhere but Auckland in level 3 for one week and Auckland still in level 4 without sight of when they will be able to go back and run their businesses well or their kids will go back to school because it got out of MIQ. That is a failure at the border. It is a failure at MIQ. MIQ is set up so that those that have a right to return to New Zealand do so and they can then enter the country the population at no risk because they haven't got the virus they haven't got the disease. This is a failure because that is what happened this time. Yesterday the Government said that they had exhausted all avenues of finding out how it got out of MIQ. They do not know but they knew that it had got out and it is Delta. Do you know what that tells me? They weren't properly prepared. In fact we have known for many many months that Delta was circulating the world and would likely arrive on our shores. In fact the expert opinion the report that was given to the Government only weeks ago said that it was a matter of when not if Delta will get here.So here are the questions that they need to answer for New Zealanders and New Zealand small businesses who are still struggling and don't know if they are going to survive before they borrow the extra $41 billion and saddle every single New Zealander alive today with a debt of $147000 and they are: how did it get out? Why did it get out? Why weren't they properly prepared? Why does this keep happening and what are they doing to stop it?I'm very pleased that the Prime Minister was able to stand in the 1 p.m. press conference today and say to New Zealanders "I want to announce a success in borrowing vaccines from a country overseas but before I do I'm going to ask an official to spend some time talking to you about the number of cases in Auckland that are only there because we failed at MIQ." She didn't say that last bit. She didn't talk about the businesses in Auckland who are suffering who are saying that they will boycott paying their GST—not because they don't want to pay their tax; they are hard-working taxpayers they pay their tax they are law-abiding citizens but they are screaming out for help and Grant Robertson just says "Well we're still looking at that." They need help with their rent because they can't pay it because last week they did what Grant Robertson told them to do they applied for the resurgence payment $1500 at $400 per employee and they paid their rents and they paid their bills and this week their rent is due again and they're not allowed to apply for that again. They are asking for help from the Government from the $56 billion they borrowed last year and they don't get to spend.Do you know what would have been a better use of money? Instead of giving more than $300 million from the COVID fund for councils in New Zealand to sweeten the deal so that they wouldn't resist the Government's proposals or changes around three waters—they shouldn't have done that because it came from COVID. It was borrowed. They should have kept it for the rainy day because in Auckland and other parts of New Zealand the rainy day is still here.So when the Prime Minister said in the 1 p.m. press conference today "We have borrowed as a country 250000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from little old Spain on the other side of the world." she didn't say that actually we should have borrowed them if they needed to be borrowed many many months ago so more New Zealanders were vaccinated. When they said that this was the year of vaccination and we would be at the front of the queue I don't think they meant when the Prime Minister said at the beginning of the year "the front of the queue" so we'll borrow some from Spain. New Zealand had an expectation that the Government was planning had an expectation that the Government was putting in place the things they needed to to keep them safe to vaccinate them so we wouldn't find ourselves here again.Up and down the country businesses are doing it hard. When Auckland goes to level 2 at some stage in the future they will not get the wage subsidy but today in other parts of the country other businesses do because Auckland is still at level 4. That is not fair to those businesses in Auckland that just want to survive.The resurgence payment is a one-off. It is welcome. We support it. It needs to be more than a one-off because those bills are still there. Those companies are starting to fail. The rents must be paid to the landlords who themselves are small-business people often and have their own bills to pay and they can't pay that this week or next week with the resurgence payment. They need more.When 90 percent of hospitality businesses say after four weeks of restrictions under level 3 and under level 4 "We are not sustainable." the Government must listen to them. When a business in Wellington this week—Prefab—announced it is closing and it will make people redundant because it cannot survive under level 2 with just 50 people there it is not what the Minister of Finance said—that that man had made that decision because he wanted to be safe. If you read the whole article in the newspaper today it is because he cannot survive and he has too much debt from last year he hasn't recovered and he has to give up. That is not fair to him it is not fair to his employees because he and they have done what the Government has asked of them: they have sacrificed.When the Government announced last week $5000 for tourism businesses in four parts of the South Island to help them restructure it goes to consultants to tell them that they haven't got any tourists and how to close. New Zealanders have done what they have been asked. They are crying out for support—$147000 debt for each of them. The Government must do much much more for them."