4. Question No. 4—Prime MinisterHon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 4—Prime Minister4. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes particularly the Government's decision to fund a new mental health wellbeing package to help Aucklanders who as we can all understand and appreciate have experienced the distress of ongoing restrictions over a period of many weeks. This package is part of wider work under way to address the mental wellbeing of New Zealanders during the pandemic and provides extra resources for mental health and addiction services a targeted mental health promotion campaign and enhanced peer support through telehealth services. The investment follows earlier announcements made in response to Delta to support mental resilience for those in the Auckland region. We understand the ongoing mental and emotional strain of lockdown in Auckland and I thank Aucklanders for the work they're doing to protect the team of 5 million.Hon Judith Collins: Why are some people with COVID being forced to self-isolate in crowded emergency housing and cars while thousands of fully vaccinated COVID-negative Kiwis are being forced to take up space in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ)?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: In response to the first part of the member's question I reject that. The idea that anyone is forced is utterly incorrect. There is a public health assessment that is undertaken to determine whether or not a positive case should remain in home isolation. That includes assessing the current and potential emergent health needs of the case. It includes the suitability of the current place of residence. It includes of course the public health risk of onward transmission and it does take into account also the circumstances of the individual and whānau. Ultimately though those assessments are undertaken by those who work in our health system alongside the person who is COVID positive.Hon Judith Collins: So is the Prime Minister saying that the person who is self-isolating with COVID in his car is doing so by choice?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: It is utterly wrong to suggest anyone is forced. In fact the option of being in a facility where we have capacity is available. We have spaces available in MIQ. They are made available for the purpose of caring for individuals. I cannot speak to the specifics of the example the member has raised. We have asked the health team to look into what has happened in those circumstances because obviously that is not an acceptable situation I'm sure to anyone in this House.Hon Judith Collins: Why are senior Cabinet Ministers disagreeing in public about whether Aucklanders will need to use allocated time slots for summer and does this show her Government is just making it up as it goes along?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: To answer the first part of the question they're not.Hon Judith Collins: Will Aucklanders have to show a negative COVID test or proof of vaccination before they can leave Auckland for Christmas?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I've said many times in the public domain over several weeks that we will use tools available to us to give assurance to the rest of the country if we're able around the protections for the rest of the country around COVID-19 and to prevent or to slow the spread of COVID-19. So we've said that we are looking currently at what we can do with our land boundary. That at the moment would require us to be able to allow the smoothest movement possible of between 30000 to 40000 cars a day and we have talked about the role of testing and vaccine certificates in that regime. There are two things we have to cover: we have given an assurance which we stand by that Aucklanders will be able to move for the Christmas and summer period but at the same time we have to of course give assurances to the rest of country around what we're doing to try and slow the spread of COVID-19 in New Zealand.Hon Judith Collins: When is she finally going to give Aucklanders some clarity on how they're going to be allowed to travel this summer?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I indicated yesterday we will be giving further details next week.Hon Judith Collins: Why are Aucklanders being asked to wait yet another week when they're already now in their 13th week of lockdown?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: New Zealand never in its history has operated a hard land boundary which would require facilitating the movement of 30000 to 40000 vehicles and of course the use of some form of evidence in order to demonstrate the ability of an individual to move. That's because New Zealand hasn't experienced a pandemic of this nature since 1918. It is not part of the Government's long-term plans that we will have hard borders of this nature but whilst it is serving a purpose—to enable us to further slow COVID—then it's a tool that obviously we've continued to use.Hon Judith Collins: Does she stand by her statement yesterday that she won't allow outdoor dining in Auckland because it wouldn't be equitable for restaurants that didn't have outdoor spaces and is it her desire that all restaurant businesses should just suffer equally?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: That's actually not an accurate reflection of what I said yesterday. I was asked a question and my response was that we hadn't specifically looked at provision to only allow those who are able or have consent for outdoor dining but I didn't rule it out. But it is not something we've considered to date and there would be some in Auckland who wouldn't have the consent of council to operate in that way and may perceive there to be equity issues with that.