Robertson GrantHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): In my maiden speech in Parliament 13 years ago I said that in coming to this place I was first and foremost the MP for Wellington Central and it is in that capacity today that I want to speak in this general debate. Over the course of the last three weeks the lives of many Wellington Central residents have been severely disrupted by the activities of those who have occupied Parliament and the surrounding streets.When I say disrupted I actually mean a great deal more than that. It is well beyond the inability to access their homes the forced closure of businesses schools and public transport routes—which is bad enough in itself. Dozens of people have reported to me being abused threatened and intimidated—and even in some cases assaulted—by those who claim that they came here to peacefully protest. Among those who are treated that way are school pupils often young women—abused because they are taking the important and sensible precaution of wearing a mask. One of the most heartbreaking sights for me has been witnessing school pupils needing to be protected by security guards as they have walked from the railway station to their respective schools. No young person should have to go through that and the impact on some students has been significant to the point that they now will not go to school.Among those who've been targeted by these so-called protesters have been our essential workers—the likes of those who work at our local supermarkets. The partner of one of those workers wrote to me Every day going to work she is abused by the protesters just for wearing a mask. She has to get a bus around the protesters to get to work and walk twice the distance—at night—after her hard shift to get the bus home again due to the protesters. Her wages have even been cut because the store now closes early due to the protesters." I want to say to that worker and to all of our essential workers how grateful we are for the work that they do and I want to add to that our managed isolation and quarantine staff and our health workers who are under particular pressure at this moment in the pandemic. Over the course of the last few weeks as the local MP my office and I have worked with local residents to try to help keep them safe. Working with the Wellington City Council we have been able to relocate a number of residents who needed to be somewhere safer because they were pregnant anxious unable to get to the essential services that they need. I want to acknowledge all those agencies who have stepped up to help us.I also want to acknowledge the women and men of the New Zealand Police who have protected this building and the surrounding community and who as we speak are engaged in a difficult and somewhat dangerous operation outside. As I've stated on a number of occasions over the last few weeks the operational independence of the New Zealand Police is a vital part of our democratic society. Politicians cannot and should not be able to direct the police—it is vital that we uphold this. There are countries around the world where that happens and we do not want to be one of those. That of course does not mean that as a local MP I agree or understand every decision that the police have made. I've raised concerns every time I have spoken to the police about the impact on Wellingtonians but I want to acknowledge that the police's job here is a tough one and there is no easy decision in situations like this. No one likes to see the scenes that are taking place outside today but the police have taken those actions after weeks of illegal and hurtful behaviour.We have a rich history of peaceful protest in New Zealand and particularly here at Parliament—I should know I've led protests on to the grounds of Parliament. Upholding the right to peaceful protests is essential but this protest has gone far beyond that. It is unlawful; it has urged violent and hateful acts on politicians and journalists. It is based on irrationality conspiracy theories and exploitation of the misguided by those with malignant intent. Others have spent time in this House talking about the motivations of those who are out there and I will not go further into that today. What I do know however is that whatever points the protesters wanted to make they have been made. And on behalf of Wellingtonians we want you to go home. Please take your children home so that we can all get on with our lives in peace.I have another message for those who have occupied the streets and Parliament but I don't think it's one that they want to hear. That is that we are now two years on from the first case of COVID-19 in New Zealand this week. And for New Zealand we have faced this one-in-100-year health and economic crisis together. We have relied on the values and principles that New Zealanders uphold to put people's health and wellbeing first. We have saved lives and livelihoods. Nothing that the Government has done has been possible without New Zealanders choosing to look after each other by doing the right thing—be that locking down keeping businesses going shopping local getting vaccinated getting boosted and more.Two years of New Zealanders caring for one another giving a damn about how we got through this together—that will be New Zealanders' legacy from COVID-19 and I want to thank each and every New Zealander for what they have done to keep one another safe.SPEAKER: Just before I call the Hon Simon Bridges I want to remind people who are participating remotely that the rules are the same for you as they are in the Chamber. It is not that appealing for me to watch people eating their lunch."