Hipkins ChrisSTANDING ORDERSSessional—Epidemic Response CommitteeHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): I seek leave to move the Government notice of motion in my name to establish the Epidemic Response Committee.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I move That the House establish an Epidemic Response Committee to consider and report to the House on any matter relating to the Government's management of the COVID-19 epidemic and that—(a)the committee have the power to send for persons papers and records:(b)the committee be chaired by the Leader of the Opposition:(c)in addition to the chairperson the committee consist of 10 members to be nominated in writing by parties to the Speaker as follows: New Zealand National four New Zealand Labour three New Zealand First one Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand one and ACT New Zealand one:(d)a member nominated to represent a party may be permanently replaced by another member of that party by that party's leader or whip notifying the Speaker in writing:(e)the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington region during a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 191 193 and 194(1) and (3).I'm pretty passionate about this place. It was a bit of a career highlight for me to become a Minister and to become the Leader of the House. I have to say I didn't imagine during that time that one of the acts I would do is move a motion—as I will do shortly—to shut the place down. I don't do so lightly. I passionately believe in the role of Parliament in scrutinising the actions of the executive and running a very fine ruler over any law changes that take place in this country. And to be in an environment where that won't be able to happen in the way it normally would for a period of time is one that certainly makes me very uncomfortable as I think it will make many members around the House feel uncomfortable but I think it's a sign of the extraordinary times that we find ourselves in.There are New Zealanders up and down the country right now doing things that make them feel very uncomfortable. There are people who don't know where they'll be when this period ends and Parliament to some extent finds itself in that position as well. So I do want to acknowledge that. I want to acknowledge that scrutiny during this unprecedented time when the Government is placed in the position of exercising such extraordinary powers has never been more important.I also want to acknowledge the members opposite. I sat over there for nine years and during that time this Parliament and the Government of the day faced some pretty extraordinary circumstances and situations. As an Opposition we often found ourselves in a position of having to ask questions but when it was uncomfortable to do so and where perhaps there wasn't always public acceptance of our need to do so. But that actually again is where that scrutiny is often at its most important.So the motion that's before the House today puts in place a mechanism whereby the Opposition in particular will be able to continue to scrutinise the Government and the actions that the Government is taking even though the House will not be sitting. A special select committee is being established. It will have an Opposition majority which recognises these extraordinary circumstances we are in. It will be chaired by the Leader of the Opposition. It will have the power to require people to appear before it—albeit digitally rather than in person. They will be able to request and receive information about the use of the powers that the Government has been exercising and I think those things are vitally vitally important in our democratic system.I want to thank the shadow leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition for their very constructive approach over the last 24 hours to finalising this proposal and to bringing it before the House. I also want to restate the commitment in public that I have given them in private which is that I will do all that I can to facilitate the smooth operating of that committee and that includes helping to facilitate access to Ministers to ensure that they are doing their bit to appear before the committee and to make sure that they are subjecting the decisions that they are making to the committee's scrutiny and to ensuring that the relevant officials who are exercising the powers on behalf of Government are also made available so that the committee can scrutinise those.I want to thank the Opposition for their ongoing commitment to helping to make this process run as smoothly as we can in the circumstances. The committee will do its meetings digitally and we'll be working together to make sure that there's transparency around that—that it's up online and through other communication channels so that people can see that the Opposition is doing its job and that the Government is doing its job as well.The one thing I'd like to say finally with regard to this particular committee and the establishment of this particular committee is I think we do all need to acknowledge that we are all making decisions at pace and we're all making decisions with imperfect information. Mistakes will happen. It is undoubted that mistakes will happen and I think that's one of the reasons why scrutiny I think is so important—so that where those mistakes happen they can be picked up and they can be remedied. And so I do want to commend this resolution to the House and thank again the members for their cooperation in these extraordinary times. I do say again I think it's important that we all lead by example. I'll be going home and staying home as we're asking all other members to do. That doesn't mean I won't be doing my job; I'll just be doing it from a different place.