Sepuloni CarmelHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): Starting on a slightly different tone I haven't had the opportunity to acknowledge the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and I wanted to start my speech by acknowledging her passing acknowledging the dignity with which she held her position over 70 years. I also want to commend this House for the speeches that have been undertaken here and recognise that there were a number of viewpoints expressed in the speeches but they were expressed respectfully and that followed the tikanga that so many of our Māori members from across the House had indicated needed to be done.In the spirit of acknowledging the late Queen Elizabeth II I also want to acknowledge that this week we celebrated 129 years of women's suffrage. I want to acknowledge the many battles that have had to be fought by women over those 129 years the mountains that still need to be climbed the battles that have been won and also the women who led that particular fight to earn the right or win the right for women to vote and the many many fights that have followed after that. I also want to acknowledge that we're on the brink of for the first time ever having 50 percent women in this House. I have to acknowledge that a lot of that is due to the large number of women that we have in our Labour Party caucus—good women women who are capable and have the skills to be here. I also want to acknowledge that that hasn't always been recognised; we have gone through periods where we've been challenged in our attempt to have 50 percent women. At one point in time they were calling it a man ban" by the Labour Party. It wasn't a man ban; it was a "women can stand"—women can stand. And here we are.I want to acknowledge the challenges that are ahead and the work that's been undertaken. As I said there still are mountains to climb and we know what they are for women. They are about our participation in the workforce. They are about things like pay equity. We still are disproportionately impacted by family and sexual violence. And when you attempt to climb a mountain you need a plan and the tools to do that and this Government has been steadfast in making sure that we have those things. I want to acknowledge the Minister for Women and the fact that for the first time we have a women's employment action plan. I want to acknowledge the Government and also the leadership of Minister Marama Davidson with Te Aorerekura and the joint venture and the work that has been undertaken by many Government agencies and community organisations so that we can finally address what has plagued our country: the levels of family and sexual violence that all too often impact on women. There is much more that is in place there is much more happening to address the mountains we still have to climb but we are the Government to do that and I'm very proud of the track that we are on.The previous speaker the Hon Chris Hipkins spoke about the economy. We need to make sure that the economy is working for women because that's when our economy really will fly. But I am very proud of the fact that when we look at the very difficult period of time that we have been through what we are seeing is that productivity is up we're seeing that exports are up we are seeing that tourism is returning and we've got a GDP of 1.7 percent in the last quarter compared to Australia's of 0.9 percent. We have near-record lows of unemployment at 3.3 percent. We are seeing the gaps close for those groups who have been plagued persistently by this increased or disproportionate level of unemployment and we are making a difference as a Government. We are focused on the future we are securing our recovery we have got through better than many other countries a pandemic which has had huge impacts on the world and we are doing that to ensure the future for New Zealanders is bright. As Minister Hipkins said summer is on the horizon. We have just come through a very difficult winter. The future is bright. With regard to Wellington weather though I did say yesterday that it's really good when it doesn't suck."