1. Question No 1—Prime MinisterHon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No 1—Prime Minister1. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Mālō e lelei. Yes in particular I want to acknowledge our work around the vaccine roll-out and I want to note that as of last night we've administered over 4 million doses nationwide and what an exceptional effort given it's only taken us 14 days to reach this milestone after we hit the 3 million doses milestone. I want to acknowledge everyone who already had a vaccine or booked a vaccine and encourage everyone else to go to bookmyvaccine.nz to book now.Hon Judith Collins: Was the Minister for Social Development and Employment correct when she told media on Sunday that the Government wasn't ready for the current lockdown?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I would be loath to have a Minister taken out of context and without seeing the full statement. What I would say is that it was only the week prior that very publicly we were making statements around what would happen if Delta arrived on our shores—that's in the public domain. Minister Hipkins was part of that forewarning and foreshadowing that if we were to see a situation like this we would move into a level 4 environment so I don't think it's fair to say that there wasn't thought given to that kind of scenario.Hon Judith Collins: Why did it take until around 10 p.m. last evening to issue the health order spelling out what rules would apply to businesses opening this morning under the new level 2D?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The Minister for COVID-19 Response could walk the member through the health order processes that are applied any time that we have to make an amendment to a COVID order and that has happened from time to time because we have made decisions based in real time from what we were experiencing and seeing during an outbreak. As I explained possibly in the House or possibly in a previous stand-up some of the research that we're seeing out of Delta is only since June—it's not as extensive as some of the other variants. We are aware of course now that aerosol transmission is an issue with Delta and we've had to amend our alert level settings as a result of that and we've seen that in our real-time experience. The public health advice that we received on variations of that nature to alert level 2 came through on the Sunday prior to announcements and that is why the accompanied orders would be in sequence with that.Hon Chris Hipkins: Can the Prime Minister confirm that the Cabinet tries to convey to the public through the Prime Minister as quickly as possible decisions that it has taken and that the formality of putting the legal framework in place—the amount of time that that takes—will depend on how long it takes the Parliamentary Counsel Office to draft it?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: That is absolutely correct. So the time line for for instance—keeping in mind that the orders around mask wearing where the discussions there and the decisions by Cabinet predated this particular outbreak. So the mask wearing decisions had already been taken. The decisions around where people would be required to keep record keeping—those had already been taken. The only ones that were new information around alert level 2 relate to the physical distancing as a proxy for density in public buildings—so for instance museums libraries and so on. They've been brought into alignment with retail and malls. And the other was the overall cap on the number of people in those hospitality venues. So those were the new pieces of information. Public health advice was provided on the Sunday a Cabinet decision on the Monday we communicated straight away in the afternoon and then the orders of course are completed and drafted.Hon Judith Collins: Why did the Government not develop and consult on the new level 2D rules three weeks ago when it was clear New Zealand had a Delta outbreak or even two months ago when the Strategic COVID-19 Public Health Advisory Group stated that new more transmissible variants were likely to enter New Zealand?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Ah I believe I've actually already really answered the question in some of my previous responses. First of all the research into Delta isn't nearly as comprehensive as some of the other variants. Yes we know it's more transmissible but we have in real time in this outbreak seen—for instance through the locations of interest that we've had—people where we haven't been able to determine an epidemiological link but we've only been able to determine a link via the fact that two people were at a location of interest. So that's really reinforced in that evidence through our public health units the fact that aerosol transmission is very real. So that has formed some of the basis of that public health advice. So that consultation you're right did not take place because that is something that we saw in real time in this outbreak. As soon as we received that public health advice—I got that on the Sunday afternoon. On the Monday morning we reached out to the Hospitality Association. I absolutely accept that it was not a large amount of time but that was soon after we received that advice and it was even before Cabinet took a decision on that advice.Hon Judith Collins: Then why did she tell Radio New Zealand a month ago that we would have greater mask wearing requirements under a future level 2 but only release the new level 2 rules late last night?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: That's actually incorrect. New mask wearing was communicated some time ago at the beginning of the outbreak. Yes the decisions had been taken beforehand but we have shared those new rules prior to just yesterday so that's not correct.Hon Judith Collins: So what's not correct—did she tell Radio New Zealand a month ago that there would be greater mask wearing requirements under a future level 2 or didn't she?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I absolutely stand by my statements yes. We made public the fact that we were considering greater use of mask wearing and scanning. Both those things were in the public domain that we were considering them. Where the member is incorrect is to say that those new rules were shared for the first time yesterday.Hon Judith Collins: Will any support be provided to businesses when the whole country is operating at a new level 2D?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We do have an issue at the moment where—well not an issue; one of the consequences of the current criteria for the wage subsidy specifically is that some part of the country has to be in alert level 3 or 4 to enable eligibility then in other parts of the country. So that is an issue that we're considering in light of the fact that we're very likely in the future to have a situation where Auckland is no longer in those alert levels but may of course still have ongoing need for support. So that's something that we're working through at the moment.Hon Judith Collins: When will the Government consider or complete work on a rental support scheme for businesses suffering under current lockdowns?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Of course the member seems to be neglecting the fact that we not only have the wage subsidy we have the resurgence payment. The resurgence payment was not available in the first lockdowns we experienced. That was an acknowledgment that it was a support for employees but the resurgence payment directly supports fixed costs and is able to be sought and applied for by those businesses who have both at the same time. So that I think has provided some additional support as has been sought.David Seymour: Will the Government give any consideration to extending the resurgence payment—as lockdowns continue week after week—from a one-off payment to a payment that is made further times as the length of the lockdown continues?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As the Minister of Finance has said these matters are under consideration.Hon Judith Collins: So is the Prime Minister saying that there's no consideration being given to a specific rental assistance for small businesses as opposed to simply the one-off payment that she's just referred to in support?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: There's of course two ways to look at this. One is the way that we support businesses who may be seeking arrangements or agreements with their landlords. That's obviously something that we've worked through before when it comes to direct financial support. The resurgence payment is a way to support businesses with fixed costs and as I've just answered to the leader of the ACT Party's question we have been giving consideration as to the ongoing role or otherwise of the resurgence payment.SPEAKER: Before we come to question No. 2 I'm just going to note that there are currently too many Labour members in the House and at least one of them will leave. [The Prime Minister exits] I don't want it recorded that I threw out the Prime Minister!