SpeechHon RON MARK (Minister of Defence): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise to make a short call to once again reaffirm that despite all the conversation the debate we've heard—and I acknowledge that there has been some serious and genuine debate and some serious and genuine expressions of some concerns from the Opposition—New Zealand First will be supporting this third reading of this bill.I've got to say I am reminded at times like this of a view that I've long held from 20-odd experiences in Parliament that 90 percent of the people that come to this House come here for genuine reasons; they truly do want to make the lives of New Zealanders better. We may approach some of the problems from different philosophical views and we may approach them from a party perspective but generally speaking in all my time here I stand by the view that 90 percent of the people that come here—probably 95 percent—come here and strive to do the very best they can for New Zealand. There are also times when one finds themselves here in Government and other times when one finds themselves in Opposition. And there are times in Government when some hard calls have to be made and one does reflect and wonder how one might approach that particular decision being made by the Government of the day if one was in Opposition.And it's interesting to hear—and it's good to hear—Minister Hipkins say that if he were in Opposition right now he might well be expressing some of the same concerns. It's good to hear him acknowledging the Hon Gerry Brownlee who carried the torch for his Government through the difficult times of the two Christchurch earthquakes and through Kaikōura. My children and my grandchildren still live in Christchurch and have lived through all of that and have noted that it is tough being in Government at times. There are decisions that have to be made that don't sit well with our norm—the way we normally would do things. COVID as Minister Hipkins said does not respect any of the norms and we have to as a nation be proud of the fact that at this point in time we've taken some hard decisions. We've paid a massive price and the price is still going to continue to be paid for a little bit longer yet—we know that—but we have smashed COVID. Let's be clear about that: we've made massive gains. The danger is one that every corporal who becomes a section commander of an infantry section knows; that every second lieutenant who becomes a platoon commander knows; that every captain or every major who becomes a company commander or lieutenant-colonel who becomes a battalion commander knows and knows well and it is this: you are your most vulnerable at your time of victory when you have taken the objective and you think you've won. That's when an astute enemy knows you're weak. We're at that point. We're at that point right now: where a good decision or a bad decision can undo everything in the blink of an eye.None of us likes what's happening. I've had to deal with people through my electorate office who have lost loved ones. Do I like the fact that we've imposed these restrictions on them? No I hate it. It cuts. If it were one of my family how would I feel? No one likes some of these restrictions that we're now going to have to put in place through this piece of legislation but it's better to have a ball-peen hammer to deal with the challenges than to be exercising the sledgehammer that a state of emergency would have us do. On balance I want to recognise and pay tribute to the Opposition for doing their job but this is the right decision. This is what we need to do. If we come out of this harder and faster and moving quickly as we re-establish our businesses re-establish some norms in our lives and are able to hold memorial services for our loved ones that we have lost not necessarily through COVID—I've got a string of veterans and every day on Facebook I see another veteran has died every day; very often two or three. It pains me to know that all their mates will not be able to attend those funerals. There will be no guards of honour there will be no gun carriage there will be no gathering at the RSA after. It pains me that that is the reality we are having to deal with and we will pick these things up with memorial services in time in our own little ways. My heart goes out but this is the right thing to do. New Zealand First will support the third reading of this bill.