Robertson GrantHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): It is with regret and a heavy heart that I rise today to speak on this motion.I want to begin by sending my aroha directly to my friend Kiritapu Allan. I have admired the work that Kiritapu has done as a Minister and admired the work that she did before then. She is a person of extraordinary talent intellect heart and mana.Many New Zealanders first came to understand who the Hon Kiritapu Allan was during her struggle with cancer and the bravery and the courage that she showed during that period of time. I still have people who talk about the period of time where she was the Minister for Emergency Management and was needing to deal with a particular emergency in New Zealand whilst also knowing herself how unwell she was. What people saw there was a person who exhibited the strong qualities of leadership as I say and of courage and of bravery and also of enormous intellect as well.The tragic events of Sunday night have been traversed extensively in the media and I remain very cognisant of the fact that they are also matters that will come before a court in the very near-term and obviously this debate is taking place in that context. Very soon after those events early yesterday morning Minister Allan tendered her resignation to the Prime Minister after a conversation with him. In doing so she acknowledged as she did publicly that she knew that this was the only course of action that was possible. She fully understood that as a Minister of the Crown and in particular as Minister of Justice she could no longer remain in that role having gone through the circumstances of Sunday night. She quickly and swiftly moved to resign and had that resignation accepted by the Prime Minister. That is undoubtedly the right thing to do. As Kiritapu Allan referred to herself in her statement she understood that these actions were inexcusable and therefore did not offer any excuse and moved quickly to resign. That is the right thing to do. There is no excuse for the actions that have been acknowledged by Kiritapu Allan including the driving while under the influence and also the charges that have been laid. The consequences of that is that she is no longer a Minister and she has suffered the consequences for that.What I want to do though is place on record that while I understand and believe those to be the right actions to take in this situation I do think this House can recognise that we have had a person working as Minister who is a good New Zealander a person who is able to relate well to other people who is able to drive forward policy in a number of portfolio areas and who represented I think to New Zealanders someone who they wanted to be in their House of Parliament.My reflection is that as a group of people here we are stronger and better for the diversity that is in this House. We are stronger and better for making sure that people can see a career in politics even if they're not perfect. From time to time myself and others have stood in this House and probably said and done things preying on the imperfections. It's part of what we do here and it's not always right. But I especially think when we know and when Minister Allan has been brave enough and courageous enough to talk about her own mental health struggles that we do as a Parliament need to think about how we make the job we do—the important job all of us do; not just the Government but the Opposition parties as well—how we make it possible for people to be able to fulfil those roles with a diverse set of backgrounds with a diverse set of current experiences including struggles with mental health. I think we can do better and I do include myself in that along with everybody else. We need to understand and respect the fact that mental health issues are things that can be worked through. Getting well is what it's all about; looking after your wellbeing making sure that you understand how to manage issues when they arise and that as a group of people in a population we do that.I mihi to Kiritapu for the way she's talked about mental health. I think it's opened up conversations just in the way that she talked about cancer. It's opened up conversations among New Zealanders that weren't happening. She should be proud of that and we should support her and others in doing so—and I acknowledge my old student political colleague Todd Muller in this regard as well as another person in this House who also did that.We do need as a country to understand the importance of mental health as an issue and understanding how we support people in all walks of life to be able to stay well and when they are struggling to be able to be supported to retain their wellbeing and get back to the place that they want to be.The resignation of a Minister is always challenging for a Government. The Prime Minister's decisions around what to do when faced with that in this particular instance is a recognition of the short period of time that exists between now and when this House rises and we go to the election. We have just five more weeks of this House and it's appropriate that Ministers take on the responsibilities that Kiritapu Allan had to allow us continuity and to be able to move forward towards the election. I'm extremely proud to be part of this Government and this ministerial team: people working every hour of the day to make this country better.Kiritapu Allan has been a valued member of that team and I am very confident that in years to come her name will be heard again as doing something significant for Aotearoa New Zealand. She is a person who will make change for the better in the future in her life. What we want for her now is to be able to be given the space and the time to get well for her situation not to be unnecessarily politicised but for all of us in this House to gather around her her whānau and her friends and give them the aroha and support that they deserve.Kiritapu we are thinking of you you are one of our whānau and we will always love you.