Seymour DavidDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT in support of this motion to approve these 12 orders that the Government has made under the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act. We think that it's been a good system such as things go to be able to give the Government the power to act quickly but also have the laws clearly written down so people know what their rights are and have ultimate parliamentary oversight and have those laws eventually debated even if they couldn't be debated at the time they were introduced. It's a good compromise for an emergency situation but not the way that we'd want to have lawmaking done in the long term. I hear the Minister talking of sitting up late signing papers well into the night and I think about other historical figures who have done that and it's never a good company to keep.This particular set of orders has for example rescinded the alert level 3 requirement that was briefly in place for the very tip of Northland. It's an alert level change that never made any sense from a public health point of view. That particular alert level requirement meant that an area at the very tip of Northland where there were a couple of cases—the line went through the centre of the Hokianga Harbour and then across to Kaeō and blocked off Kaitāia and the rest of the northern tip of Northland. Interestingly the same day that that line was drawn the Prime Minister of New Zealand had been visiting Rāwene on the south coast of the Hokianga Harbour and Kawakawa just south of Kaeō. How convenient that the Prime Minister was never quite north of the line that went to alert level 3 and yet there's so many reasons why that line might have been drawn further south. There were suspected cases all the way down to Wellsford and even Warkworth but isn't that interesting that the line was drawn just north of where the Prime Minister had been that day? [Interruption] I'm sure people will draw their own conclusions about that. Members at home might be able to hear Willow-Jean Prime the member for Northland chirping up there. I think she knows there's something in that and that's why she's a little agitated by hearing it said.This legislation also puts in place the vaccination mandate for the health and disability sector. It required people be vaccinated with at least one dose by actually today or as of last night. I'll make a couple of comments about that. One is that it would be better if it was a vaccine or test mandate. That's what they've done in Denmark. They have allowed people to demonstrate on their app. They've got their app rolled out already which is helpful and it says either you're vaccinated you've recently had a negative test or perhaps you've recently recovered from COVID. In any case you're not a danger to people around you in so far as passing COVID on to them. I think it would have been helpful if it was a vax or test mandate. That's what Air New Zealand will be using from mid-December to fly domestically on their aeroplanes. I hope that the Government will consider making it vax or test because vaccine-only is rather blunt. It's creating disruption and division in New Zealand. We need to think about our social cohesion in the long term as well as our immediate battle with COVID-19.The other thing about that particular order that brought in place a health and disability mandate is the way that it was introduced. It was two weeks. There were three weeks from when it was announced that health and disability sector workers would have to be vaccinated to the day just yesterday or today—last night—that they had to be. In those three weeks it actually took two of the weeks from the time the announcement was made to the time that the order was actually put in place and that's something people need to understand about how the Government is using these powers under the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act. It's getting up and making announcements and then it's taking two weeks to issue the paperwork. I can tell the House that the implications of that for people in the health and disability sector were immense. They found themselves in a situation where they didn't know exactly who was covered exactly who was liable for enforcing it exactly who was in a position where they would be punished if they didn't comply. It led to chaos in the health and disability sector for a fortnight and I just wish the Government having been given these powers would actually get a bit more organised itself so that it didn't impose disorganisation on the very people being regulated.It allows for more frequent saliva testing and I think that's a very welcome thing but I just echo what Chris Bishop has said: every 72 hours in a Delta environment—arguably even that is not regular enough. There's certainly under-utilisation of saliva testing. It was interesting in question time today that the Prime Minister really gave some quite lively answers actually. Uncharacteristically she really let rip in a couple of instances. One of the things she said is we are no longer in an Alpha environment: we have Delta now. I think the Prime Minister is right to observe that. It's very true. But you know the funny thing is our testing is still Alpha. We still have nasopharyngeal testing and sometimes only once a week or once every three days. We should be moving to much more frequent saliva testing and even rapid antigen testing. But three days is certainly what Air New Zealand will be using as a standard and it's an improvement on once every week.There's something here about Waiheke Island. You'll only be able to go there if you live there and I know from people I know on Waiheke that they'll be very pleased because they don't like Aucklanders visiting their island. I also just beg the Minister: can he make it symmetrical? Because while they'll certainly enjoy not having us Aucklanders over there if he made it both ways then potentially we could enjoy them not coming over to see us either. There's the potential for a real win-win and I know Aucklanders and Waiheke residents alike will be really pleased not to see each other for as long as possible. So thank you for getting half the job done Minister. Please complete it.There's also an amendment here that allows people—an amendment to a prior order that is—to travel back to their boarding school. Now I had several constituents—we have a number of boarding schools in the Epsom electorate—who had to basically miss out on sitting their exams if they weren't able to get in from the Waikato or from Auckland. Thankfully the Minister actually changed the law apparently and coincidentally just after myself and a local principal had written to him and we're very grateful for that change because it meant that those kids were able to sit their exams. But it also showed how illogical some of these laws were. If you were the cook at the hostel then you would have been able to travel because you're doing food and accommodation. If you're the kid trying to sit the exam going to the school you weren't allowed. I'm glad they changed it.There's also vaccine tests for schools. Now that's in a way expired but for a while there unvaccinated teachers could get tested instead. This again is why I think if there's going to be a mandate it should be vax or a frequent negative test. It will be a lot more inclusive of people who really frankly need a way back into inclusion who are feeling very alienated from society right now and it would also help us achieve our goals without the disruption and division that we have. The fact that the Government policy was vax or test up until yesterday I think is why they should bring it back.Recognition of overseas vaccines—again very sensible. A lot of constituents I've had—people that like to travel. Kiwis can fly. They get vaccinated overseas and then they find that their vaccine is not recognised. I even had someone who participated in a French trial in New Zealand of a French vaccine—only recently been able to have their vaccine recognised. So they'll be very happy that now it can be. There's an MIQ trial there that allows people—150 business travellers. Look this is something ACT floated and actually really we borrowed from Singapore in March in our COVID 2.0 paper. We should have a business travel network. Very good that 150 business people can travel but it's not soon enough.And just finally I appeal to the Minister: there's a number of orders here about movement across the Auckland and Waikato boundaries. I've got a constituent right now who has a $200 million residential and shopping centre being developed in Tauranga and they cannot open it up. It should have been finished three weeks ago. They can't open it up because it's not disability friendly because they can't get the people from Schindler Lifts to go down from Auckland to Tauranga and sign off the lifts. This is totally insane. So Minister I hope you'll actually grant an exemption to them because they've tried every other way to get through to you and right now you've got $200 million people trying to move into their apartments people trying to open their shops and they can't because a few lift engineers can't go down. The same lift engineers have just been installing lifts in a retirement village. Apparently that counts; shops and apartments don't. So I really hope that the Minister will listen and make an exemption so that shopping centre in Tauranga can open up and those people can move into their apartments. Thank you Mr Speaker.