Hipkins ChrisThird ReadingHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): I move That the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill be now read a third time.We are well and truly in unprecedented times here in New Zealand. We're facing one of the greatest challenges in our country's short history. Our New Zealand Parliament has a duty to protect all of our citizens and now is the time that we come together to do just that. Now is the time that we act. We have a duty to protect our people not just from the immediate threat of COVID-19 but we've also got a duty to protect New Zealanders' abilities to feed and shelter themselves and their loved ones.This omnibus bill amends various pieces of legislation to enable a more effective response by the Government to the outbreak of COVID-19. I'm sure members of the House will appreciate the bill's been pulled together at short notice and I will read through some of the key provisions of the bill because the bill hasn't been subject to the usual scrutiny process.Firstly the bill amends the Residential Tenancies Act of 1986 to freeze all rent increases and to protect tenants from having their tenancies terminated. Increases in rent are prohibited for the next six months for any reason. Landlords will be unable to terminate tenancies through the Tenancy Tribunal unless specific justified reasons apply such as substantial damage to the rental property. These termination protections for tenants will last for an initial period of three months. Both of these measures will be re-evaluated at a later date. New Zealanders need to stay in their homes as we go into this lockdown and we cannot have families being made homeless and unable to self-isolate during that period of time.Boarding house tenancies will be able to be terminated by the landlord by notice so that they can effectively manage the safety and security of issues for tenants who share a boarding house tenancy. If a fixed-term tenancy expires it will convert to a periodic tenancy so that the tenants can stay in their rental property. It's critical from a public health perspective that we enable people to self-isolate in their homes by ensuring that they can stay in their rental properties for the duration of this crisis.The Government's announced the most significant financial support package in our peacetime history and that will help us to help people keep paying their rent during these tumultuous times: $9.3 billion in wage subsidy meaning affected businesses receive support directly from the Government to keep paying their staff; $126 million in COVID-19 leave and self-isolation support for the people who are unable to work because they're sick they're self-isolating or they're caring for dependents; and $2.8 billion in income support for our most vulnerable.The bill will also amend the Epidemic Preparedness Act of 2006 to allow judges of the District Court to list the persons that can alter the rules of the court when an epidemic notice is in force. Section 24 of the Act only allows a High Court judge an associate High Court judge a judge of the Māori Land Court or a judge of the Employment Court to modify the rules of court to take into account the effects of a quarantinable disease. The majority of proceedings that will continue while the current epidemic notice is in force will be heard in the District Court and they are focused on resolving matters relating to people's liberty personal safety and wellbeing and where resolution is time critical. So it's important that District Court judges have the ability to respond as issues arise.The bill amends the Education Act of 1989 to give the Secretary for Education the power to issue binding directions to the governing authorities of education providers and that includes schools universities and polytechnics. The secretary will be able to direct education providers to open and to close; direct how they operate are controlled and managed; and direct them to provide education in specified ways—for example through distance or online learning.Schools early childhood education centres and tertiary providers have been incredible in their response to COVID-19 and I want to thank them for all the work that they have done so far but these emergency powers are required so that we can continue to ensure that there is a unified response to the outbreak of COVID-19. Given that there are over 2500 boards of trustees and 4000 service providers we do need to be able to act quickly and with speed and with pace from the centre in order to be able to do this and these powers are required to ensure that can happen.Finally the Local Government Act of 2002 and the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act of 1987 will be amended to enable local government and civil defence emergency management groups to attend meetings by audio or by visual link and this will allow those meetings to continue during the lockdown period.As I mentioned these are very unprecedented times. I do want to thank all members of the House for their cooperation in progressing this bill through the House so that we can all do what we're asking the rest of the country to do and go into self-isolation from later on tonight because we will all get through this if we all follow the rules.