McClay Todd; Salesa JennyHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): Madam Speaker thank you. He weaves a real web that Duncan the last speaker in the debate. Because actually if you just say you have a plan and everything is OK the public will believe you! But that's actually not the case as we look around the country today. Mr Webb said they're not a Government that sits on their hands but in housing if they did just sit on their hands actually the country might be better off because rather than that they're putting their hands up in auctions and buying houses from the private sector that mums and dads those first-home buyers he was talking about are not able to buy because they don't have—it's not the taxpayer's cheque book behind them; it's actually the money the Government is borrowing that the taxpayer will have to pay for in the future to take houses out of supply.He also said—and this is from his notes. He wasn't reading a speech but it's from his notes. So this must be the lines that their research unit have given them after the Minister has signed off. He said For the time we're building more houses than are needed." Well hallelujah. The 45 motels in Rotorua that have people in are full of emergency housing. Those people that were promised a house and have been languishing day after day week after week year after year in those motels all of a sudden don't have to stay in the motels tonight because the Government says they are building more houses that are needed. But here's the thing: they are not. They are buying more than they should; they are not building more than is needed. In fact they are not building anywhere near enough.They talk very proudly of how they are helping people out of poverty. They talk about the minimum wage increase as if that is the panacea to fix everything. They don't say that actually rents have gone up $140 a week over the last 4½ years and they haven't scratched the surface with the minimum-wage increases. Those that have the least in New Zealand have even less because of the cost of living and how quickly it's escalating. And actually the costs they're placing on businesses make it harder—harder—for those businesses to survive. This isn't actually a debate about whether the minimum wage should go up or not; it's that Government action actually pushes prices up. And the $145 a week extra when it comes to rents that people are paying around the country is the reason that we have unprecedented numbers of people in motels and the reason that there aren't enough houses is because the Government is then buying those houses because the individuals themselves cannot afford them.With the self-congratulations we've heard from every single speaker in Government behind that of the great job they've done and how wonderful they are and how lucky the country is are at least 10 to 15 to 20 to hundreds of tourism businesses who are struggling to survive or who have closed. When the Prime Minister announced a few weeks ago—just before one of the TV stations started polling—that the border was opening she forgot to say "The border is opening for everybody except those who we actually need to get here safely." So later this month or next month Kiwis can return if they're double vaccinated and they can go and stay at home for—it was 10 days; it'll now be seven days. But for the tourism sector they are not expecting an influx of Kiwis from Australia to come and start doing tourism. When the Prime Minister says the border's open and there is help coming for the tourism sector what she doesn't say is that the average Australian comes to New Zealand for a holiday for five days. If they have to come here and self-isolate in a hotel for seven days as lovely as it is in Queenstown or Rotorua or the West Coast they're not going to extend the average stay of their visit by two days to look out the window of that hotel or order Uber Eats. They are not coming.Yet next week in Australia if you are double vaccinated from anywhere in the world and you travel to Australia and you've passed a test before you leave and when you arrive to show you haven't got COVID you are welcome. What the Prime Minister hasn't done is send a signal to the tourism sector in New Zealand about when the Government may consider similar rules here. All they've said is October of this year visitors will be welcome if they're double vaccinated but they will have to go to a hotel to self-isolate for seven days. Guess what! They are not coming. That is not a lifeline for the tourism sector who today across the board are calling for help. Some of them are asking for Government money but actually what they are really saying is "We do need help. We need paying visitors. And if you can just Prime Minister for once tell us when this might happen." Not October perhaps maybe we could change the rules but they are going to have to sit in a hotel when actually you may look to level the playing field with Australia. If it can't be today when will it be? Explain why the Australians have different advice than you do so they can start planning.If I look at my home town of Rotorua and what's happening there because tourism is a very important part of our economy I am very sad to say that the Top 10 holiday park in the centre of the town owned by the same family for 30 years has had to close. That business supported a number of families paid for the kids to go to school. It was their livelihood. It's the centre of town. It's heartbreaking that that family has had to make that decision. Why is that? Because they were told they would have a good summer and people would come but it didn't happen. Actually what happened for them and so many other tourism businesses in New Zealand they either just broke even or didn't lose as much money as they had been. And you cannot run a tourism business on school holidays and the odd long weekend. Now that's a heartbreaking decision for that family to have to have made but if they knew—because they were actually reliant upon Australian visitors before COVID came and the Government closed the border—that the Prime Minister would be looking to do the same thing in New Zealand as the Australian Government is doing just next week and if they knew it was three months away or six months away they could plan for that. Perhaps their bank would have said to them "You know what? You had a great business before. We know Australians like to come here. The Prime Minister says they are going to come here in droves. We can get you through a few more months—three or four more months." But the problem they've had for the two years is "We might do it later on. We could do it later on." There has been no certainty. They haven't been able to plan and they have pulled the pin. I hope desperately that they haven't made the wrong decision. I hope desperately that the Prime Minister doesn't announce in a few weeks' time "We will be like Australia." Because this Government does show urgency only when they're forced to and it's always too late. For that business and other businesses around the country it is far far too late already.I spoke about the cost of living earlier and inflation and interest rates. We will hear from the Government again and again that it is happening everywhere in the world. Well for hard-working Kiwis who have done everything asked of them over the last two years who have sacrificed who have taken on debt who have paid others before themselves who have gone through great uncertainty the team of 5 million who have dug so very very deep they're not interested in what's happening around the rest of the world; they're interested in what's happening here. When the Government members stand up and read out a litany of things they believe they are doing well well I'm not sure that's the case on the street because for every protestor who is here outside there are hundreds and hundreds back in our electorates who are law-abiding who have got their vaccines who have done everything asked of them and the contract was—the deal was—"If we just get to 90 percent vaccination rate your life will go back to normal." Well in the case of the tourism sector it hasn't gone back to normal. And of the case of the people who are working in tourism still or in our restaurants and our bars it hasn't got back to normal.Around the country this month the spend in restaurants and bars is down by 27 percent—32 percent down in Queenstown. They are now saying 70 percent of cafes and restaurants are saying they're looking to cut staff or reduce those hours. So how does it work when the Government says "Everyone is better off. We're better than the rest of the world."—that there are still people losing their jobs when the cost of living has gone up and their petrol costs more and their rent costs more and their food costs more and every single thing you can measure costs more? But members of this House opposite in Government stand up and say "Actually Kiwis are better off than their Australian neighbours." Well whether that was the case or not I don't think it works when you say "You're feeling unhappy you can't pay your bills but you're not as bad as the guys over there who can't pay their bills even worse." This Government has an absolute responsibility to the people of New Zealand not to congratulate themselves not to say that they're sitting on their hands but to actually get out there and make life better for everyday New Zealanders.And whilst they may say 'Well businesses can afford everything." this is a country that's built on the back of small-business people. Mums and dads who get out of bed who take the risk who have borrowed against their homes who go to work every day—they pay their bills and others before they pay themselves. It is their pride—that small business that they run—and they haven't had the help actually that they need and they are certainly not getting the help that they need today. They need clarity. They need a decision that the Prime Minister will make—decisions as we see in Australia—but more than that a Prime Minister who will front up and explain to them exactly why it is she won't do—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Order! Order! The member's time is up."