Omer Ibrahim; Salesa JennyIBRAHIM OMER (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. Can I first acknowledge the Minister of Immigration who is very hard-working and in fact not lazy and he works around the clock—so just to say a quick thankyou to our Minister. Although we had a successful response to COVID-19 my colleagues on this side of the House and on the Opposition side as well will know how the border closures have impacted immigration and the devastating effect it had on our communities in migrant communities. Every day I receive hundreds of emails from people about their visa difficulties. Because of that we must ensure that this legislation is extended so our immigration system is equipped well to deal with the ongoing complexities and continues to be responsive and flexible.I just want to share a quick story about the importance of the border closure and why we are seeking the extension of this bill. A friend of mine who I have known travelled overseas for a family emergency last December and he just got back two weeks ago. So as soon as he landed at the airport he tested—well before he left the country he tested negative and as soon as he was taken to the managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facility he tested positive again. So this person was someone who is not political and he was one of the people who also opposed the MIQ system that we have in place the quarantining system that we have in place. After what happened to him he called me and he said Now I know why we have what we have in place. Now in fact I appreciate not only what this Government is doing but"—he also encouraged that we must continue to do what we're doing while this virus is raging around the world. While we spend time in this House today discussing the details of the Immigration (COVID-19 Response) Amendment Bill I would like to make sure that we don't overlook who this extension deeply affects. Yesterday a colleague and a member on the other side made an accusation that we don't care that we don't listen that we are not involved with the migrant community any more. Actually I refute that—I refute that. While the accusation was being made myself and my colleagues on this side of the House—every day we are deeply involved with our migrant and ethnic communities and we understand their struggle we listen to them and we are committed to them. In saying that I'd like to pay a tribute to the role of the migrant workers in getting us through this pandemic. I'm speaking about cleaners security guards supermarket workers caregivers and nurses who—many of them I had the privilege of working at their organisation to advocate this time last year when we were in a deep deep lockdown. We always respect and love them. In saying this I would like to focus on the positive impact that this extension of immigration powers legislation will have on our migrants who will be able to stay in New Zealand and work for longer. The past year has been very difficult and challenging for us. We have had to come together as a nation as individual communities to fight back and defeat this pandemic and we did so very well with bravery. Extending the COVID19 immigration powers will continue to allow businesses to retain migrant workers the migrant workforce and make them available for our industries who are facing labour shortages and give our Government the ability to extend temporary visas for migrants. Earlier today also Hospitality New Zealand in a press release said that they welcome this move to extend immigration flexibility by two years. They need their existing essential workers to be able to stay and to also have the ability to extend visitor and working holidays. This bill through the ability to waive application requirements just will ensure that. We need to make sure our immigration system has the powers and tools to adequately respond to the dynamic situations that present themselves in an unprecedented period.Lastly this bill will underpin the Labour Government's strategy to eliminate COVID19 from our communities and to keep New Zealanders safe. Our border settings are a critical part of the plan and this bill is very very important for maintaining those settings. On that note I commend this bill to the House. I will also be looking forward to seeing this bill in a select committee and I'm very open-minded and I'm very positive to engage with the speaker on the other side of the House to make sure that we have got a bill that's going to serve our communities for the next two years. Thank you Madam Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The next call is a split call."