Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. Otirā ngā mema katoa o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. As is custom in our culture acknowledging recent losses within whānau throughout the electorate I represent of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti I do want to mention the sad passing of Huhana Rokx of Kiri Kaa and of course Manu Hiri Vercoe née Huata. I mention these māreikuras as we call them because of their tireless work that they have done for their people and the way that they held themselves in terms of integrity and honesty. They could be absolutely sharp where needed and supported in other times. But most of all I mention them because they always put people first and that's exactly what we're seeing from this side of the House under the leadership of the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern and the Government in responding to something that no one—no one—would have anticipated that we would be experiencing in 2020. I mention them because we on this side of the House have listened to the calls of the New Zealand people by putting them first. I come from an electorate that is far removed from Tāmaki-makau-rau but we still have a lot of whānau based there. I want to acknowledge those iwi groups throughout my electorate who have responded and who haven't waited for any guidance and who have treated this pandemic this COVID-19 seriously. I want to mention people like Toitū Tairāwhiti Rongomaiwahine Tamatea / Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua Tīhei Kahungunu Ko Wairarapa Tēnei and Kōkiri Marae here in the Hutt Valley. These groups I have met since our original lockdown and subsequently and they are doing a fantastic job within their communities in ensuring that they have hubs set up ensuring that they are reaching out to our kaumātuas—over-65s—but they are doing it with a Government that is enabling them to do that. They are not telling them what to do; they are enabling them to do that by the policies and decisions that we have made consistently since the original lockdown. The daily updates that the Prime Minister and Dr Ashley Bloomfield have provided give great comfort to the people that I represent—particularly our elderly—and that goes in terms of the resurgence that we have now all experienced. Like I said we have whānau in Tāmaki-makau-rau even though the people I represent come from the mighty East Coast. But they do acknowledge and as an electorate MP I want to acknowledge those often faceless officials because as an electorate MP I am often getting requests for people to get out of Tāmaki to attend tangihanga. I want to acknowledge those faceless officials in the departments in our COVID-19 health response team who are always at the end of a phone call to enable as much as possible life to continue and for Māori to exercise their tikanga practice of farewelling people in this unprecedented and unusual time. I want to acknowledge the maraes who on their own initiative closed their maraes and put in COVID-19 regulations. To this day in the tangi I attended just last week there was a big tracking at the front of the marae ensuring that social distancing even though they were trying to manage a large tangi where you're only allowed 100 there and people respected the decisions of the marae. It's happening all up and down my electorate and I want to acknowledge the marae leaders for ensuring that our people are safe while still trying to practise our cultural practices. But this is a Government that I come back to that puts our people first. I am proud to be part of that and part of the Jacinda-led Government that—SPEAKER: Order! Hon MEKA WHAITIRI: —is making decisions to ensure that our people are kept safe and that we can acknowledge. I want to acknowledge our Māori caucus Ministers particularly Peeni Henare our Associate Minister of Health who supports all our ministerial colleagues doing an absolute stellar job in informing and communicating on a regular basis to all people throughout Aotearoa. Ultimately as members of the 5 million team we will beat this pandemic if we come together and ensure that people are put first as we have seen by our leader the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern.