Seymour DavidDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Well Mr Speaker I listened to the comparative cogency and coherence of those last two contributions and all I could conclude is there must have been a big swing factor in the Hutt South results of last year's election.But I want to talk also about saliva testing because actually it means so much this week for two reasons. The first reason is that there is a very real possibility—perhaps a probability—that if we had better testing then we wouldn't have needed such a long lockdown because we could have actually found the source of this current outbreak early. So it could have saved New Zealanders huge costs to their healthcare to their education to their anxiety to their livelihoods and to businesses. But the second reason is that the Government's failure to adopt saliva PCR testing the same way that many similar countries have tells us that we have a Government unable to embrace and work with better technology and embrace and work with the private sector businesses the innovators and the entrepreneurs.The problem for the Government is they've now used so many excuses so many false rationales for why it is that New Zealand is so far behind in its adoption of saliva PCR testing—well actually why the New Zealand Government is so far behind. And we see in the news private companies Ryman Healthcare for example already using saliva PCR testing and that's often the difference between the private sector and public. We heard from the Government that saliva PCR testing is not as accurate as nasal PCR testing. Well actually the best studies we have are meta-studies comparing 16 different studies of saliva PCR testing. They find that the difference in accuracy is a percentage point. One's about 85 percent accurate; the other's 86 or 87. There's almost no difference. Then they said Well it's not a substitute. We need to check that it's as good as nasal PCR testing." Well even if we believe the Government for a moment that a one or two percentage point difference in accuracy measured—and even if we believe that testing more often because it's easier to do saliva testing wouldn't make the difference—even if we believed all that it doesn't have to be a substitute. Yet we heard from the Prime Minister today—she seemed to be saying we can't have saliva testing because it's not a reliable replacement. And then yesterday in question time yet another one: the Prime Minister said "Well we need to verify it for New Zealand because it doesn't work in countries that don't have high rates of COVID-19." Well apparently the Prime Minister is unaware that Australia Singapore Taiwan—countries that also have very low rates of COVID-19—are also using it. At one point the Government told us the problem is New Zealanders can't spit well enough. I had to double-check that one; I thought it was being made up. But no it's true. Chris Bishop: The spit's different apparently.DAVID SEYMOUR: Well they thought that the spit was different. And then they said you have to go half an hour without smoking eating or chewing gum. Well I hope that people are capable of doing that. Then we heard from the Prime Minister today that we can't have new and better technologies because it won't be a total solution to COVID19. Well actually we know that every little bit helps and every innovation helps. The truth is that none of those excuses work. The reality is that the Government got a report on 28 September from Heather Simpson and Sir Brian Roche and it said that all efforts should be made to adopt saliva PCR testing as soon as possible. The truth is what this episode tells us about this Government is that they have been captured by the officials at the Ministry of Health. They've been unwilling to follow the science when it emerges from other sources. They've been unwilling to work with private businesses to get better results. They haven't even been willing to work with other Government departments. That's not my view—I've said it many times—that's what Simpson-Roche says. The solution if New Zealand wants to survive as an island nation on a pandemic planet is to sophisticate our defences to have an epidemic response unit that is multidisciplinary and public and private sector and to start adopting better technology with no more excuses. New Zealanders' lives and livelihoods depend on it. Thank you Mr Speaker."