Williams PotoHon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister of Police): Thank you Mr Speaker. I am reminded today of the words of the song What a Difference a Day Makes". Today when we all arrived at work we probably weren't expecting what has transpired over the last few hours. I just want to take this opportunity to acknowledge all of those who are working at our managed isolation and quarantine facilities at our border our police our health staff particularly those staff that Minister Hipkins said worked assiduously during the night to ensure that those interviews were conducted with close contacts of the person who had come from Australia and now causes us some concern in terms of our COVID response.Can I say that there is nothing like being prepared for this and over the course of the last 15 months or so there's no doubt that our system for dealing with COVID and our response to COVID has been refined. Can I say that whenever I am out and about in my electorate—and I have done so in recent recesses; checked in with local businesses with local community groups and the like—I always ask them "How has it been for you during COVID?" Because I genuinely want to see how businesses particularly have fared. Is there any more that we can do to support? How it is that our young people have fared. Have they returned to school? Were they well supported in their schooling? And by and large most people are saying—small businesses—the wage subsidy helped; the business loans really helped. In that hugely uncertain time they looked to their Government for leadership and they found it. I am enormously proud of the work that has been done by our Government in terms of supporting business.I am enormously proud of the roll-out of devices and the step-up to support our schools to deliver education to children when they were in their whare and how some schools have said that for some of those children that environment actually allowed them to learn some skills about self-directed learning which may not have been an opportunity they could have taken. However we do know that for some children they were desperate to get back to the classroom and get back to working alongside their school friends and their colleagues.Alongside all of that work that happens to ensure we have an appropriate and safe COVID response is all the other mahi that this Government has done and if I think about our children if I think about having a Government that is prepared to put itself on the line in terms of child poverty and say to the country "We want to be measured by the impact we have on our children. We want to be measured by making sure our children have adequate kai in their tummies that they're able to learn that their parents are supported in their income that they have decent housing that they have the necessities of life to thrive." I'm really proud that we can do that alongside all of the other work that is going on—that we can do things like we can ensure that our police are resourced that we increase police numbers that we support them well to do the hard mahi that they have to do. There is no doubt that there are some members in our community that we look to do the hard work that we would not put ourselves up to do and the police are one such organisation that put themselves out there every single day to ensure that we're safe. And whenever these unusual unique and extraordinary times happen like COVID like March 15 they are there to support us to keep us safe and they put themselves on the line. So I'm here to support the mahi of our police—enormously proud to be the Minister of Police; but enormously proud too to support Minister Kelvin Davis in the work that he is doing in Oranga Tamariki to ensure that our children our most vulnerable are kept safe; and enormously proud to work alongside Minister Megan Woods in her housing portfolio to make sure that we provide decent warm affordable housing that we grow our housing stock that we have rental properties that not only meet our needs but where people can put down roots where they can thrive in the communities of their choice.I'm proud to be part of this Government that deals with the hard jobs. They deal with them consistently and with the trust and confidence of the people of New Zealand. Kia ora Mr Speaker."