Lee MelissaMELISSA LEE (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'd just like to start by saying that if the Minister of Housing wrote that speech she should fire herself and find somebody who can actually write a speech for her. She talked about a team of 5 million and I'd like to refer to something that my colleague Andrew Bayly has said in terms of the delivery for this Government. That Minister talked about the delivery and what this Government apparently have been doing for the last four years because they were in fact the Government last term and they have already been in Government second term for more than six months now and they haven't really delivered much especially if you—not you Mr Speaker—if one happens to be of an ethnic minority. Consider the fact that the first Asian person a Chinese man who actually arrived here came to Nelson in 1842. He is often known as Appo Hocton but his name is Wong Ahpoo Hock Ting. He was the first Chinese man who actually arrived here but for many Asian people living in New Zealand this Government hasn't really delivered. Can I quote: Kelly Feng the director of Asian Family Services has stated recently in an article Currently the Ministry of Health has no policy for Asian mental health which means [absolutely] no strategy". Can I also quote that the Asian suicide rate increased from 5.09 percent to 7.91 percent per 100000 people in the year to June 2020. One suicide is one too many and we need to take action. I'll also quote Auckland councillor Paul Young who said "The DHB mental health services need to find out the needs [of Asian people] not just give [it] translation services." Even for translation services let me tell my colleagues in the House that often during COVID-19 the translation services were done by volunteers within the ethnic communities. They weren't provided with money. They weren't provided with the budget that this Government seems to think that they have in fact spent on them. Ethnic communities often did it for nothing because they were worried that their own communities would miss out on the information the very information that this Government says they were being inclusive and being kind and had provided to all of New Zealand. A country of 5 million people living in harmony—obviously not because not all New Zealanders received the information and if they were provided with that information it came from their own community. It was done for nothing a pittance—nothing that the Government had in fact provided. The Government needs to pay for comprehensive COVID-19 and health information in a variety of languages. Often when we sit in select committee I have to remind members and I know that my colleagues across the House will often see me doing this that we need to include the Asian population the ethnic population—all of New Zealand—and not just Māori and Pasifika because when you stipulate only Māori and Pasifika are given the attention. New Zealand is now a diverse country and to think that there are many New Zealanders—actually if we look at the Asian population in Aotearoa New Zealand it is the third largest behind European and Māori and it is projected to increase to 22 percent by 2038 surpassing Māori and Pacific population groups. They are the fastest-growing group and yet their needs are often not met. As someone who is actually from that ethnic background a minority in this country I would like for this Government to pay a little bit more attention. When you have the Office of Ethnic Communities which is going to become a ministry of ethnic communities you would like to think that the actual upgrade will mean that there is going to be attention. But guess what? All of that is just a name change. It's still going to be under the Department of Internal Affairs. The finances are controlled by the Department of Internal Affairs. The actual work is just a change in name only and that's what the ethnic communities are quite concerned about. When the Government said they are delivering for ethnic communities I just would like to hope that it is not just lip service that they have been providing like they did with COVID-19. Thank you Mr Speaker."