Rurawhe AdrianDr JAMES McDOWALL (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. It is a pleasure to take the final call for ACT in this debate. It is safe to say that it has been an incredibly challenging start to the year for many New Zealanders and my thoughts continue to be with those who are affected by recent weather events. I also commend the resilience and hard work of our front-line personnel including civil defence Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff Police and the many voluntary organisations and NGOs. I especially want to acknowledge our Defence Force personnel who eagerly deployed at short notice—and that's despite some extensive issues around tasking complexities around the size of the challenge ahead and stretched resources.The cyclone has been a bit of a wake-up call for the Government in the workforce space especially around immigration. Staffing shortages have plagued every sector in this country for quite some time now. The Government's grand immigration reset is not fit for purpose and it created an even more complex immigration system that puts stricter processes around temporary migration—making it harder for businesses to recruit—and a system that actually locks migrants into employment arrangements that may actually not be suitable or healthy.While that project is still under way with changes to residency on the horizon there has been a glimmer of hope in the Government's response to the cyclone. The Government's recovery visa isn't the solution to the regions' workforce shortages though it does signal that the Minister might be taking a slightly more open-minded approach to policy.The problems with the recovery visa are obvious: it is for specific purposes or projects only and it's valid for just six months and it cannot be extended or renewed. The obvious reason for that is that the Government doesn't really want it to eat the lunch of their accreditation scheme. However employers and migrants alike deserve and need more flexibility.One further glimmer of hope is the proposal to remove the labour market test for sectors that can support the rebuild which is—funnily enough—getting closer to ACT's policy of abolishing that thing altogether. If a labour market test makes it harder to fill skill shortages then just get rid of it for every employer.I'll also point out that it was somewhat cynical to hit employers in affected regions with the increase to the median wage close now to $30 in extraordinary circumstances—surely even the Labour Party can put the brakes on these sorts of ideological policies.The effect of the Government not doing enough to support immigration particularly in cyclone-affected regions will be more inflation that infects the entire country and this is unacceptable in a cost of living crisis. The solution is simple: ease up on the red tape and the regulations.There will be many lessons learnt from the response to the cyclone and one important aspect of that is in Defence capabilities and policy. As I have spoken about previously in this House there are real concerns about attrition and morale in the Defence Force and the Government has frankly not done enough to invest in our people nor the equipment available to them.The three branches are doing incredible work but with more support they could be deploying even more assets whether that's getting more ships out of Devonport especially during times like this or simply ensuring that hydrographers—it's a very difficult word to say—and crane operators for example are actually present on the ships that have those capabilities.Defence personnel should have also been deployed to assist police with maintaining law and order by invoking section 9 of the Defence Act. It is frankly not helpful when the Government gaslights communities by saying that crime and looting are not real problems and accuses the Opposition of creating hysteria nor is it helpful when even the Prime Minister doesn't seem to understand how section 9 works thinking that the Defence personnel are somehow going to completely replace police on the ground. The Defence Force needs more attention from the Government in the short term otherwise in the long term there is going to be a serious problem.The recovery should be funded by cuts to wasteful spending as opposed to Government borrowing billions of dollars more in an already high-inflation environment. The Government should also accept when it needs to get out of the way—not doing things like stopping local pilots from flying supplies in and out of Napier airport for instance.Last Friday ACT released 15 urgent ideas for getting Hawke's Bay and Tai Rāwhiti into recovery starting with a special economic zone where red tape is cut and inflation is managed to avoid the cost of living spiralling out of control for everyone. Businesses and everyday people have enough to deal with; they don't need convoluted regulations from Wellington they don't want fair pay agreements three waters ghost ministries and an endless sea of bureaucrats and consultants trying to micromanage their lives.Luckily fortunately there's an election just over seven months away and everyday New Zealanders can be confident that ACT is here—SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired.