9. Question No. 9—Prime MinisterDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 9—Prime Minister9. DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government's policies and statements? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes.David Seymour: What advice has she received from the Strategic COVID-19 Public Health Advisory Group chaired by Sir David Skegg?SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member has asked a very general question and I'm going to let it run but I'm going to ask him in future to relate his supplementary questions to his primary question. That one doesn't but we'll take a British approach and let the Prime Minister answer it.David Seymour: Point of order Mr Speaker. Establishing the group is a Government policy. I don't understand why I wouldn't be able to ask a question about it.SPEAKER: That's right and if it was about setting up a group it would have been fine but it wasn't; it was about the advice from the group.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again in keeping with what Mr Speaker has outlined—that that is a group that's been established and is undertaking work commissioned directly by Dr Ayesha Verrall—when it comes to the advice that we've received that is something that I intend to share publicly once it's gone through a bit more of a fulsome process amongst Cabinet colleagues. But very much we've been of the view that as we work towards reconnecting New Zealand as we work towards changing up our settings at every point we discuss not only the scientific advice research and evidence that we receive and that form the basis of our decision making; we also allow the public to have good notice of the decisions we've made and why.David Seymour: Has she seen Australia's national plan to transition Australia's national COVID-19 response which ends with Australia managing COVID-19 consistent with other public health management of other infectious diseases and if so when does she expect her Government to produce an equivalent plan?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes I have. I've also seen the Canadian Government's recent decision to open up to those who are vaccinated without quarantine. I've also seen the UK Government's decision to lift all of their restrictions that they've had in place from 19 July and statements that Boris Johnson has made telling the public to prepare for upwards of 50000 cases a day as a consequence. Everything that we're seeing around the world at the moment is experimental. At the moment we don't necessarily have an evidence and research base to draw on. Countries are trying new things as vaccines are rolled out. The advantage New Zealand has always had is that we've looked outwardly to the world drawn on that evidence and made decisions in New Zealand's best interests. My final note would be we actually set out some of our views around reopening prior to the Budget. I note that Australia's plan and the phase that the member has spoken to they haven't put a date around but obviously based on what they have said they're looking into well beyond mid-2022 for their decisions.David Seymour: What is it about Scott Morrison's Government that allows it to produce and share with the public such a plan while her Government can't?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I refute the premise of the question.Hon Chris Hipkins: Did the Prime Minister set out in a pre-Budget address some of the thinking that the New Zealand Government has been doing about re-opening and would she encourage members of the House to read it?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes I did. That was in fact in May. We also at that point pointed out that as new research and evidence emerges we will continue to draw on that. That is why we created the group that Professor Skegg chairs and as we see some of that new and emerging evidence around the difference that both a combination of the vaccine and a change-up in public health measures will make we will share our view on how that will change up our border settings. We won't be in the current state that we're in for ever. It will not be the case that we have 14 days of managed isolation for every single traveller. However I'm not in a position right now where I would hedge our bets on the way that New Zealand will definitively manage it beyond for instance getting in place our vaccine roll-out which is the most important thing we can do to change up border controls.David Seymour: Why is it taking so much longer for her Government to publish a plan when as she's noted in earlier answers other countries are publishing theirs and sharing theirs with the public of their countries? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I've said I would characterise them as experiments. If the member is promoting that we have a plan like the UK then that member is—absolutely it is his decision to promote that as a plan. It is not in keeping with the strategy New Zealand has had. Secondly at the moment Australia's decisions actually don't have dates. They don't have percentages for vaccines. We have since May been talking about what our intentions are so again I wouldn't suggest that somehow this is something that is particularly detailed beyond what we have already set out. The final point I would make is that at every point that member has urged us to do something another country has done. We have carved our own path that has been right for New Zealand and in my view that is the reason why our economy and our health have been held in such high regard by others. Hon Chris Hipkins: Can the Prime Minister confirm that following Australia's decision to halve the number of international arrivals they are willing to accept into their country New Zealand is accepting on a per capita basis three to four times the number of international arrivals into the country? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes I would point out that Mr Seymour is currently promoting a plan that does halve the number of people currently arriving in Australia which would mean that New Zealand on a per capita basis currently has three to four times the number of people arriving at our border. If he is also supporting that plan then he would be looking to the beginning of 2022 before they would restore the number of people that would be coming in under those caps. That's actually not something we support. Our view is that we can manage the numbers we've had and that is why we've had 150000 people safely enter into New Zealand. Chris Bishop: Why has the Government indicated they are now looking at purpose-built quarantine facilities having previously dismissed the idea when it has been raised by other parties and public health experts? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: When the party the member speaks of mentioned the idea of purpose-built facilities it was seen as an alternative to what we were using at that time. The idea that purpose-built facilities at that time—which the member also promoted—be in rural isolated areas away from a workforce would not have been able to cater for the 150000 people we have since catered for. All we have simply said is as we have more certainty around the way we're likely to need to manage COVID into the future that we will continue to look at the leasing arrangements we have into the future. That may well mean that we continue with some of our existing arrangements. It may involve more purpose-built. We're keeping those options open.