SpeechDr ELIZABETH KEREKERE (Green): Tēnā koe te Māngai o te Whare. I want to also congratulate you on your new role. I have not known you as long as many other people in this House but I got to work with you while we were doing the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Bill as it was going through the Governance and Administration Committee and I can say that many people in our communities who took part in that process were very impressed with the way that you handled that committee. I rise on behalf of the Green Party to support these COVID orders. We note these orders were presented between 15 December—just before we finished work or before the House rose—and 1 February. Because these orders were during the summer holidays we saw falling Delta numbers at the beginning but then the community outbreak of Omicron started at the end. We note that the main issues are covered around international border rules including the future move from Managed Isolation and Quarantine to self-isolation—the consequent pushing back of the time line to reflect the risk of Omicron and adjustments to the traffic light system. It feels like we've in red for such a very long time and we are very aware that red makes no difference to how Omicron is spreading. Until now we've been shielded from the skyrocketing numbers of COVID that we've seen around the world over the past two years but no longer. Despite there being people in this country who think COVID-19 is not real and therefore masks are not necessary 100143 active cases would beg to differ. The Ministry of Health has noted that about 60 percent of those cases have been under 30 years of age 12 percent over the age of 50 and that the numbers are really concentrated in our 10- to 19-year-olds and our 20- to 29-year-olds—25 percent each. However we're seeing the opposite pattern for those who end up in hospital where only 20 percent are under the age of 30 but 54 percent are over the age of 50. With more people self-isolating we're concerned that health and community workers who are already stretched—who were stretched before COVID—will be able to identify people who need hospitalisation including due to low oxygen levels and provide timely hospital transfers. The Government—we need you to resource local Māori Pasifika and community health providers and organisations to support those in self-isolation at home to visit and ensure their health and wellbeing and provide vaccinations and testing as required. Because out of 20 DHBs we still only have six who have reached 90 percent of Māori fully vaccinated. If boosters are the magic ingredient to stop people going into hospital and dying many Māori are still not eligible. Also only 51 percent of our 5 to 11 year olds are vaccinated with one dose: for Pasifika 43 percent; for Māori only 31 percent. Hundreds of our schools now have active COVID cases and with close contacts no longer needing to isolate there's a huge risk of infection to our vulnerable children and their whānau—especially the under-fives who cannot be vaccinated. Test-To-Stay has been used overseas to manage infections in schools as an alternative to isolating close contacts. We hope the Government will urgently introduce this at all schools across Aotearoa. Whānau are greatly concerned about sending their children to school; we must do everything we can to ensure our schools are safe at this time. And of course at this stage in the pandemic we know that some people can be infected with COVID and not show symptoms but rapid antigen tests or RATs are only available for free to those with symptoms if they are available at all. In Gisborne there's one pharmacy who sells them and they're sold out and there is a queue of cars around the block—which is great; get tested—at the Salvation Army hall but it's really really hard to get those tests. So we need to scale up provision of those RATs so that anyone can screen for COVID to prevent asymptomatic transmission in high-risk locations and to vulnerable people because the vaccine pass can no longer guarantee that the holder is not infected. N95 masks or equivalent need to be free and easily accessible and community health providers must have the resources to get masks to those who need them most. Finally I acknowledge the mana whenua of the land on which this House sits. Taranaki Whānui gathered yesterday at Pipitea Marae to lay down Te Kahu o Te Raukura a cloak of peace in a form of cultural protection over their ancestral whenua including all of Parliament until the occupation is dispersed. They wanted to send a strong message to protestors—who have not honoured their role as manuhiri as honoured guests—that now it is time to listen to mana whenua. Te Raukura contains the three feathers representing honour peace and goodwill—the same symbol used at Parihaka. This is an incredibly graceful and dignified response to what is happening outside this building despite the fact that last week protestors broke into Pipitea Marae in Thorndon through the back door and served a trespass notice—as if they had any kind of authority to do such a thing—to the police and Māori wardens who were inside. I don't think I've ever heard of such an outrageous breach of tikanga. Let us take their advice though that healing will not happen on the grounds of Parliament; that healing will happen when people go home back to their communities and alongside their people. Yes the Government should absolutely clarify when mandates are no longer needed—we all want to know this because we all want that to happen—and it appears that if the Government is not ready to ease those mandates the High Court has indicated that it is ready to make that decision themselves. These orders have been put in place to keep us protected and I commend them to the House. Kia ora.