Pallett SarahSARAH PALLETT (Labour—Ilam): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'm absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to speak following what might have been a rare misstep by Simeon Brown because I am so proud—so proud—to be a part of this Government. I'm especially proud and grateful to stand here as the member of Parliament for Ilam because Ilam has played a pivotal role in keeping New Zealanders safe from COVID-19. The moment you land at Christchurch Airport you find yourself in Ilam and you know that you're in safe hands. Four out of six of our managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities in Christchurch are in Ilam and of course we can't fault the staff at the airport itself. I just wanted to take a moment to express my profound gratitude to all of the staff at our MIQ facilities but in particular of course those in Ilam. I'd like to reference Michael Patterson who is the manager of the Commodore Hotel who I've met with recently and who expressed gratitude for the fact that the Government was in fact running MIQ facilities through these hotels which has enabled them to survive since this virus hit our shores. We also have a testing facility at Orchard Road. It's a big testing facility and I again want to express my gratitude to all of the staff members there. They're part of a testing regime through Canterbury DHB that's processed 68782 tests which I think you'll agree is a large amount of tests and a good commitment. I also wanted to express gratitude to the team of 5 million. But I'm going to revise that to the team of 4999967. I'm proud too of this Government for taking decisive swift and effective action which has accelerated our economic recovery. The wage subsidy has supported 197000 jobs in Canterbury alone in the first week of the 12-week roll-out. Businesses like Untouched World in Ilam run by an extraordinary woman CE and founder Peri Drysdale described as a treasured Canterbury company—we have our own manufacturing facility there in Christchurch in Ilam. They were beneficiaries of the wage subsidy for the first two rounds and have also used other support packages from the Government to re-position their business to create masks. They're producing a lot of masks—very high-quality masks—and they have a great reputation for having the best masks in the business. They're quoted as saying the support that they received would make the climb out of this much more effective". I quote Peri in saying it "set [them] up for growth" and that's what we want. We want us to set up for growth. The strategic asset funding and the Department of Conservation funding as well as the wage subsidy has kept our penguins alive in the International Antarctic Centre. They say that without Government funding they would have had to shut their doors and go into hibernation. I don't know an awful lot about penguins but I'm not sure they're supposed to hibernate and obviously they have to be kept fed so that they can be entertaining everybody in Christchurch domestic and international tourists alike whilst the International Antarctic Centre provides an extraordinary education actually making us better informed about our environment conservation our precious seas and obviously our resource of Antarctica—to which you'll be aware Ilam is through Christchurch Airport one of the few gateways in New Zealand. The school holiday period for the International Antarctic Centre has been good. Things are looking up but they do still need ongoing support. I'm proud too of the controlled thoughtful and flexible border reopening. I'm looking forward to enjoying more family reunions as we continue to keep New Zealanders safe. I'm looking forward to encouraging international tourists as well as obviously domestic tourists back into our outstanding attractions like Orana Wildlife Park and the International Antarctic Centre. Thank you so much Mr Speaker for giving me the opportunity of expressing how proud and grateful I am of being part of this Government and how we're continuing to keep New Zealanders safe. The debate having concluded the motion lapsed."