Hipkins ChrisHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): It's certainly clear there is some tetchiness in the debating chamber today. I'm not sure the Minister of Finance is the one that's most exhibiting that at this point. I do want to start today by acknowledging all New Zealanders who of course will be disappointed that we have another incursion of COVID-19 into our community. We have enjoyed over the last year and a half much more freedom of movement much more freedom to come together than many other places around the world. I think New Zealanders are proud of that but New Zealanders also recognise that they have made sacrifices in order for that to happen and that their fellow countrymen have made sacrifices in order for that to happen. So I want to acknowledge everybody who has done the hard yards to make that possible and who is now doing the hard yards again to help us get back to that point particularly Auckland. Auckland has borne the brunt of a lot of our COVID-19 response and I want to thank every Aucklander for the contribution that they are making to driving the virus out of our community as they have done since we first started grappling with this pandemic early last year.The Minister of Finance has run through a variety of the different people that we should thank: our essential workers our front-line health workers. I particularly want to make note of our managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) workforce who do outstanding work in making sure they're doing everything possible to keep the virus out of the country. Let's consider the number of people who have come back through our MIQ facilities and how few examples we have seen of in-facility transmission or the virus making it out into the community. Bear in mind this is something that we have never had to do before. I think that's really important to recall. We've never done isolation on the scale that we are doing it now and the team have worked really hard to get that as tight as possible. They're constantly looking for ways to do it better and I want to acknowledge their ongoing dedication and their commitment. I have said this before and I'll say it again: I believe that our MIQ workforce are national heroes. They absolutely deserve our thanks and our acknowledgment.I do also want to thank our senior public servants. Now normally I would thank all of our public servants but I particularly want to thank some of the most senior public servants who have been the subject of public attacks in recent weeks that are not common in New Zealand's political scene. Generally I think we have acknowledged that senior public servants are unable to answer back. It does take a cowardly sort of a person to attack people who are not in a position to answer back for themselves. I want to acknowledge those senior public figures that have been subject to the sort of criticism that they would not normally be subject to and have been unable to respond to that because they are upholding the political neutrality of our Public Service. I thank them for that and I acknowledge them for that.I want to acknowledge those who are working from home with young families. I would say it's not so much working from home as being at home and trying to work. I want to acknowledge that working from home is easier for some New Zealanders than for others and so for those who have young families at home trying to work I particularly acknowledge you and I thank you for your contribution. I simply remind you of the overall maxim that we have adopted over the last year and a half of be kind and be kind to yourselves". Don't have the same high expectations you might normally have of yourselves. Do be tolerant of the circumstances that you are in and adjust your expectations of what you'll be able to achieve accordingly.The last group of people that I want to acknowledge are Kiwis who have been separated by COVID-19. Kiwis are separated internally in New Zealand now with much more restricted movement than we are normally used to but we're also a very international community and for a year and a half we've been separated in a way that none of us are used to. I think of my grandmother who made the journey from Scotland to New Zealand and never returned never saw her extended family again. That's not the nature of international families nowadays. We are used to being able to reconnect with one another regularly. Kids are used to being able to see their grandparents regularly even if they're on the other side of the world. For the last year and a half that hasn't been possible. People have missed out on that family connection. They've missed out on significant family gatherings and significant family events. There are a lot of significant emotional issues that go with that and I want to acknowledge that.We do what we can to provide a safe passage of travel for people in and out of the country but there is a limited ability to do that and we cannot accommodate everybody who wants to travel. We'll look to see how we can make the system fairer. There is a constraint there at the moment which means we're not releasing vouchers because we are having to accommodate in our MIQ facilities positive COVID-19 cases from our community and people who are needing to isolate and can't isolate safely at home. We are doing that so that we can get back to the freedom that makes New Zealand such an attractive place and that means there are so many people who are wanting to travel here. So thanks again to everyone involved in this response."