Bishop Chris; Mallard TrevorGENERAL DEBATECHRIS BISHOP (National): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. Last Friday Aucklanders in the midst of one of the most crushing lockdowns in the world tuned in at half past 10 in the morning and what they were looking for was a plan and some certainty. They were looking actually for a bit of hope. That's what they tuned in to find. The Monday before they got picnics; this time they got platitudes—platitudes from the podium of truth".Here is the plan—"the plan"—as I understand it. Once everyone gets to 90 percent double-vaccinated in every DHB we go to the traffic light system; that would be orange. Aucklanders can go to the traffic light system of red once all the three Auckland DHBs get to 90 percent except for if the Government decides to allow the three step levels in advance of that. The South Island has to wait for everybody else including Tai Rāwhiti to get to 90 percent except for if we get to 29 November when the South Island may be able to go down steps earlier and Wellington may also be able to go earlier. In fact Auckland may be able to go earlier if the Government decides. I hope that's clear! That's literally the plan.When can Aucklanders leave the Auckland prison? I don't know; neither does the Prime Minister—they have no idea. When do freedoms start to return? We have no idea. When will vaccine certificates be available that might let Aucklanders leave the Auckland prison? We don't know. Last month it was "They'll be ready in November." Then the website was updated and it became mid-November. Then somebody turned up at the 1 p.m. "podium of truth" and it was actually the end of November. Last week the website got updated randomly and it became mid-December. Then an hour later it changed to the end of the year and now it's back to November. When will they be available? I don't know.Grant Robertson's got the solution though: paper. It's literally like the train system in Wellington when you get on and you use paper tickets. Grant's system is this antiquated 100-year-old technology of paper—simple paper—that will allow New Zealanders access to greater freedom. This is embarrassing. The certificates aren't ready we were late to order the vaccines we were late to roll them out and now we're going to be late to give people the proof to actually allow freedoms.Why are we here? Here's the truth: the truth is the Government spent the first six months of this year in smug self-congratulation mode. They sat back and they said "Look at us aren't we so amazing. We've got this big majority. We smashed COVID." They looked at the Bloomberg rankings and they took the international plaudits and they sat back and they crossed their arms and said "Aren't we clever? We've done so well in New Zealand." And while all that was happening the COVID virus was mutating and Delta turned up and it turns out that the vaccine roll-out that we were so proud of in December—remember when Chris Hipkins said we were at the front of the queue for the vaccine—it actually turns out we were one of the slowest in the developed world to roll out the vaccine. This is a public policy failure of epic proportions and when there is an inevitable commission of inquiry or royal commission it needs to examine exactly why New Zealand spent the bulk of this year as the slowest country in the developed world to roll out game-changing revolutionary vaccines.Because here's the truth: when Delta turned up in August and escaped 20 percent of New Zealand was fully vaccinated—20 percent. That is shameful and there was no excuse for New Zealand not to have vaccinated earlier. It was a deliberate policy decision by Government. Why do I say that? Because I look at the words of the Prime Minister in April: "We can afford to take our time. We're lower in the pecking order and actually I support that." That's what she said. The Government was comfortable with the slowness. In fact they published ads they published Government-funded propaganda that everyone got saying "We can afford to take our time."Here's the truth: you're only as good as what's gone before and you're only as good as what comes next and this Government was an epic failure when it came to vaccinations. We were slow to order we were slow to roll it out and we were slow to get going on vaccine certificates. And when Delta turned up we weren't ready. And I fear we are going to make the same mistakes when it comes to boosters and now 5- to 11-year-olds' vaccine. This Government has failed—SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired."