Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm delighted to speak in support of the Prime Minister's statement and to tautoko the wonderful work that our coalition Government is doing. I must say I am feeling quite forlorn for the member that just resumed his seat—Todd Muller—and I would ask Mr Mark Mitchell to give him a hug or something. Just cheer up Charlie cheer up because this country is moving ahead. Yeah it was very forlorn and it was very sad. It was like The sky's falling in!" but I can say to Mr Muller there's good times ahead because we're in Government and we're a positive Government. We're tackling the long-term challenges that our country faces and we're getting on with the business none more so than the immediate business. I want to acknowledge our Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern and the work that we're doing right at this moment—right at this moment. We have a special Cabinet committee that has been formed to deal with the impacts of coronavirus and the risks it will pose to our country to our economy and obviously to the health of our population. So we are working we are getting on with the job and our special Cabinet committee is meeting right as we speak to deal with all of those challenges whether it is public health at the border or dealing with our economies our regional economies our impacted industries. We've just had our members up in the Tai Rāwhiti yesterday and today we are working closely with all of those highly affected areas and industries and that is what we're doing as a Government. We're getting on with the job because we have stable leadership. We have the stable leadership of the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern. No more has that been demonstrated than in the events which took place coming up to a year ago. The leadership that she showed was absolutely outstanding world class and that has steadied our waka so that we can carry on and deal with the challenging currents and tides that may affect us globally because we know that COVID-19 has a global impact and it is causing problems worldwide. But we are in a very strong position with our Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson. He has looked after us—he is a safe pair of hands. We have a strong set of books. Our economy is strong and we are prepared to weather the storm and the impacts that inevitably have been flowing and we dare hope that it doesn't exacerbate but we are prepared—we are prepared—as a country and our Ministers and our whole team are doing that as we speak. So I want to mihi to our Prime Minister for a wonderful statement affirming the work that we are doing as a Government. I was the first I believe to say that we are like the whakataukī "Mā whero mā pango mā kākāriki ka oti te mahi"—"With red with black and with green the work will be done"—and that is what we're doing with our coalition Government. We are getting on with the job. I want to as the member for Te Tai Tonga acknowledge the work that we are doing for Māori and with our Ministers. Whether it's the Hon Kelvin Davis and his wonderful work with Hōkai Rangi groundbreaking new strategies for the Department of Corrections or whether it's the Hon Nanaia Mahuta we know that there is a housing crisis in this country but we are taking action on that. As we've heard 4000 new houses—the biggest building consents that our country has had in decades. To add to that I want to acknowledge the opening of the very first transitional kaupapa Māori housing up in Ōtāngarei in Whangārei which took place yesterday. That's a great example of papakāinga housing. We're all in this together and we're all finding solutions with the leadership of this Government working with our Māori land owners to build more housing and to provide more support for our whānau. These stories go right across the motu. Whether it's the Provincial Growth Fund or whether it's our record investment in infrastructure this Government is charging ahead no more so than is reflected in my own electorate of Te Tai Tonga. The population of Māori in the South is rising—that's wonderful news. Māori are increasing. The population down in Southland is charging ahead and that's a good sign. When Māori whānau are feeling good well the population's increasing and it's good for the community and our whānau are employed. There is record low unemployment particularly across key regions our productive regions in the South. There's more than enough mahi so our families are well and I commend this Prime Minister's statement. Kia ora."