Hipkins ChrisCOVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE ACT 2020ContinuationHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): I move That the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 is continued and that the relevant period under section 3(2)(b) of that Act is the period ending on 31 December 2021.The COVID-19 Public Health Response Act passed on 13 May last year was passed at a time when it was very clear that New Zealand's go hard and go early approach when it comes to COVID-19 was the right one but that the response was going to have to continue over a sustained period time and that extraordinary powers would be required to ensure that we could continue with the success that we had achieved.The Act has been extended twice before on 5 August and then again on 8 December. This extension though is the first time the Act will have been extended under the new scrutiny provisions that Parliament has agreed as part of the review of the Standing Orders. This means that in order for the Act to continue I first as the Minister responsible have to set down a notice of motion. That notice of motion then goes to a select committee for consideration and then the committee reports back a recommendation to the House and then I have to stand up in the House. So there is additional select committee scrutiny of whether or not it is justified for these extraordinary powers to be continued. I am one of the people who believes that these powers should remain in place only as long as they are absolutely essential for our COVID-19 response. These types of extraordinary pieces of legislation have in other countries been the beginning of a demise for democracy. In New Zealand we like our democracy we want to keep our democracy and therefore this Act should only be in place for as long as it is absolutely required.I want to thank the Health Committee for examining the motion that is now before the House. Their consideration was thorough and I thank them for the opportunity to appear before the committee and to answer their questions on why the Act is necessary and any questions that they had on how the Act had been used. Recent community outbreaks of COVID-19 demonstrate that there is an ongoing risk to our community and therefore we need to continue to have these protections in place. The global challenge of COVID-19 continues and in many countries the virus continues to spread at an escalating rate. That means that New Zealand remains at risk.Therefore I'm asking the House to approve the continuation of the Act through to the end of the year. By that time we hope to have the vaccine programme completed or everybody to have had the opportunity to get a vaccine. We'll be able to assess the situation here in New Zealand and internationally and decide on an appropriate way forward. It may be that the Act needs to be continued further it may be that a more limited version of the Act is continued into the future or it may be that we no longer need these extraordinary powers.The Act does allow for restrictions that are put in place to be rolled back quickly once it becomes evident that they're no longer necessary. Again as the Minister responsible I have been very keen to ensure that where restrictions are no longer justified they are removed as quickly as possible. I'm keenly aware that the Act does give me as the Minister responsible powers that just one year ago none of us in this House would have believed were necessary or justifiable in the 21st century but those powers and that ability to move quickly have been essential in our COVID-19 response. And so I am asking the House to allow for that to continue. It is a good legal framework it allows us to protect our borders and our communities from COVID-19 for the remainder of 2021 at which point we can then consider what we need to do in the future.