Simpson ScottHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. We are sitting in urgency this evening for a once-in-70-year event in terms of a bespoke piece of legislation to honour to commemorate and to establish a one-off memorial day for our late sovereign lady Queen Elizabeth II who was laid to rest in London at Windsor Castle yesterday our time. Like other speakers in this debate I'm one who spent quite a lot of hours late into the night and into the early hours of the morning watching what I thought was a wonderful ceremony an incredible show of affection of gratitude of appreciation by subjects of hers in the United Kingdom. And the measure of that was that today we know that there were literally billions of people who shared in watching those images from London and Windsor Castle last night. That's a measure of the impact and the effect that this one woman had on so many lives.As others have said in this debate earlier on she has been a constant in our lives. We've watched her age. We've watched her family grow. We've watched her be stable and supportive during times of great good but also at times of great stress and trauma. It's been a stable force in all our lives to have that calm influence upon us. Many of us I think will not forget her words during the COVID pandemic when the world was going into lockdown and Her Majesty was able to give assurance to—I think it's not overestimating it—a fearful world that better days would come. It was that kind of stability and rock-solid determination in both her optimistic hope for a brighter future but also her personal faith as leader of the Church of England that I think led her steadfast through her 70 years and into her 71st year of reign as our Sovereign.Many New Zealanders hundreds of thousands—millions of New Zealanders—will have had the kind of experiences that I and others in this debate shared tonight and that may have only been as a child sitting on a footpath waiting for what seemed like an interminable amount of time for a royal car to pass by and a gloved hand to be seen waving from the back seat of the car or in my own case with my very patient mother taking my brother sister and I to sit for what seemed like well actually at the time it seemed like days that we were sitting on the footpath outside what was then the Mercury Theatre in Auckland and the Queen was on her way inside the theatre for a performance. But those are memories that many many New Zealanders will have similarly. Here was a woman who although we didn't meet her many of us—most of us—we felt a connection with her.I was struck this morning as I walked past our Reserve Bank on the precinct just diagonally opposite Parliament buildings here to see the images that had graced our $20 notes over the years and how the images of Her Majesty had changed over those years. It was a very poignant visual display of the presence that she's had in our lives. So it won't come as any surprise that on this side of House His Majesty's loyal Opposition are supporting this piece of legislation. We do so acknowledging the cost and impost that a small business and other businesses will have imposed upon them. But as I said earlier this is a one-in-70-year event. It is a moment in time a moment in history and a moment for us as a nation to share to ponder to reflect on a life of dedicated service—the likes of which we frankly won't see again in our lifetimes.So all around the nation people will have an opportunity on Monday 26 September to use the day that this piece of legislation will create for that kind of personal reflection maybe with their families with their neighbours and with other community members. Not only will there be a service of commemoration here in Wellington at St Paul's cathedral—and I for one am greatly looking forward to attending that both in a personal capacity but also in my capacity as the member of Parliament for Coromandel representing the tens of thousands of people in the Coromandel who I know held the Queen in such high regard and respect—but there will be other services around the countryside because during her reign let's not forget that Her Majesty visited our islands 10 times and she visited 46 towns and cities. Over recent days I've found it quite interesting to watch some of the file TV footage to reflect on some of the media coverage from those early visits particularly that first one very shortly after her coronation—that she should come to New Zealand and spend a very long time here with us on that occasion. It was that first visit that I think actually etched an indelible relationship between Her Majesty and the people of our nation. So notwithstanding the cost that will be an impost upon business we on this side of the House know that the vast majority of business people will understand the reasons for it—as do we as citizens. Therefore we support the legislation. We do so acknowledging that the special nature of the circumstances surrounding this legislation mean that it has been passed under urgency without the scrutiny of select committee or the advice from officials or advisers. But this is a special occasion and it is an occasion where it actually is right and appropriate to use the provisions of urgency that is the prerogative of this House to do on occasions that are very special and this is one of them. On Monday when those of us who attend the service at St Paul's and those others who attend other ceremonies or just take a few minutes to reflect quietly to themselves or with their families it will be a period of time that they will remember as my colleague the Hon Michael Woodhouse said probably for the rest of their days. We acknowledge that; we accept it; we are humans and we feel the commitment and passion that Her Majesty had for us in our own individual ways. So Mr Speaker thank you very much. The National Party and His Majesty's loyal Opposition support this legislation.