Upston LouiseHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): Thank you Madam Speaker. I want to put on record the things that the National Party does agree with. We do agree that the COVID virus and the lockdowns that followed have had a significant impact on all New Zealanders and we do agree with the Greens that we are all in this together. It would be completely naive to expect that people aren't doing it tough as a result of the virus and the lockdown. And we also agree with the Government that it is far better to keep someone in a job than to have them experience the challenge of losing their employment and having to seek support from the welfare system. The welfare system is absolutely there at times like this for times of need and I accept that all New Zealanders are making sacrifices during this time.What we don't agree with however though is that there are two types of job seekers—that there is the job seeker who lost their job last year and the job seeker who lost their job last week. We don't agree that those two New Zealanders in those two categories of job seekers should be treated differently and that the group that lost their job last year should get half what the other group are entitled to. We also don't agree with the two tiers being the person that lost their job in forestry for example in February when the borders with China closed compared to the one that lost their job on 1 March. They are both directly COVID-related. So there are two clear tiers both within COVID and outside it for the very different and in our view very unfair treatment of those who need support from the welfare system. We fully accept they need it and should get the support they need.I want to come back to some of the options that the Government obviously faced and I want to come back to the comment around keeping someone in work. The bit that really worries me is the Government may have additional information about the fact that that gate of saving jobs is closed and that's the bit that really worries me. So we know that there is already an expectation of a large number of job seekers—more than double is one of the estimates. For those that have been surviving on a benefit it is tough—I'm not for a moment saying it's not—and so the Government made the decision to increase benefits across the board. That's fine. Australia has also increased benefits across the board during the crisis and that was one of the options the Government had during this time instead of introducing an unfair two-tier system. If the question is about supporting those people who have lost their jobs as a result of COVID and no other reason there's still a huge gap and that's the group of migrants who are in New Zealand that aren't entitled in this piece of legislation or in other proposals. So I accept what the Minister said in terms of officials working incredibly hard during this time but I also question why if there was a known number of job seekers coming and that hasn't changed it is that this bill's being introduced now under urgency as opposed to in the Budget. At the end of the day if someone can stay in a job that is far better. So the $590 million—in our view if that had been invested in saving jobs and keeping people in work then actually the hardship and the loss of agency that New Zealanders will experience in losing their job would be a whole lot less. So we won't be supporting this bill. It is unfair and it creates two tiers of those who are reliant on the State and we don't think that's fair.