2. Question No. 2—FinanceGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 2—Finance2. GREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu) to the Minister of Finance: How is the Government supporting New Zealand businesses and workers through the global COVID-19 pandemic?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): The scale of support provided by the Government to businesses and workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented: 1.65 million jobs have been supported by the almost $11 billion paid out under the original 12-week wage subsidy scheme. The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) estimates that around 58 percent of all jobs in New Zealand were supported during this time. This includes $3.5 billion in support of 528000 jobs in Auckland alone. The original wage subsidy injected cash into firms across multiple industries including the construction sector which received nearly $1.4 billion supporting 203000 jobs; the accommodation and food services sector over $1 billion supporting 164000 jobs; and the retail trade sector $1 billion supporting 156000 jobs. In response to this one-in-100-year shock the Government has stepped up with unprecedented levels of investment to cushion the blow to the economy and help keep businesses afloat and workers employed.Greg O'Connor: Why did the Government extend the wage subsidy beyond the initial 12 weeks?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The wage subsidy extension was designed to target assistance to those businesses whose revenue was still significantly down even at levels 1 and 2 such as tourism operators and the hospitality sector so that they could adjust to the new normal while many other firms were able to largely go back to business as usual. The amount of support provided to these sectors is apparent in MSD's data which shows that up to 14 August the accommodation and food services industry was the greatest recipient of the wage subsidy extension receiving $302 million to support 73000 jobs. This brings the total amount to $1.3 billion provided to the industry prior to the current outbreak. With the recent increase in alert levels I would emphasise as the Prime Minister has done that businesses who have not already applied for the extension may now be eligible and can do so up until 1 September. For those firms who have used the extension we have also introduced the new wage subsidy to provide a further two weeks of support.Greg O'Connor: How much support has been provided to businesses through the new wage subsidy announced last week?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Since applications opened on Friday we've already granted $145 million to 45000 businesses through the new wage subsidy. I want to once again acknowledge the work of the Ministry of Social Development in being so swift in being able to allocate that funding. It is worth noting that businesses who have taken on all phases of the wage subsidy have received 22 weeks of support in a period in which Auckland businesses have seen 9½ weeks at either levels 3 or 4. Since 12 August we have also approved wage subsidy applications for 22358 businesses providing them $4686.40 per full-time employee. This has been an extremely tough year for businesses and workers but as we have already demonstrated in this pandemic we are committed to cushioning the blow. We have put the policies in place to support the most affected sectors and businesses and helped keep workers in their jobs so that we can all bounce back stronger together.