Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Whangaparāoa): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'm very happy to stand and take a call on the COVID-19 Response (Vaccinations) Legislation Bill. I just want to reiterate some of the earlier comments. I just think that bringing this bill to the House like this and laying it on employers that are already under enormous financial pressure and stress in relation to ongoing lockdowns and the measures that had to be taken to try and contain and fight COVID-19 and then of course the Delta variant—which they've done in many cases recognising that there is a responsibility on all of us to do the best that we can. However they have carried a much heavier load than any of us sitting in this House because when we go into lockdowns we all still have the peace of mind and the security in the back of our minds that we're still going to get paid in a fortnight and that actually we've got a bit of job security. Small-business owners don't have that. They're worrying about making payroll. They're worried about how they're going to make up for the revenue that they're losing. They're worried about their staff. They're worried about their customers or their clients and about how they're going to continue to provide the products that they have done. So what we need to be doing as a Parliament is focus on the best measures and steps that we can take to support them and make sure that they keep their heads above water make sure that they can continue to employ and keep people in work and make sure that they can continue to provide the services and make the products that they have been and to support and prop up this country and our GDP because there's no way to pay for a health system and there's no way to pay for a police service or for our teachers if we haven't got those businesses in the productive part of the country out there supported and working. So what does this Government do? It brings a bill to this House which we're debating now that tells an employer—and I didn't believe this when I first saw the announcement. People were asking and I said No that can't be right. Government support will have to kick in." but it hasn't. The fact is that now if employers have an employee who is not vaccinated and who is still going through the process of deciding whether or not they will be vaccinated they can take a month's leave and the employer has to pay for that. As we try to emerge out of one of the longest lockdowns that the world's seen and as we try to get back on our feet what does the Government do? The Government gives them another upper cut—small to medium sized businesses get another upper cut—and it says "You're under strain and pressure in terms of trying to get your businesses back up and going again trying to get that revenue going and trying to get people back to work and by the way now you're going to have to pay for a month someone that isn't actually working inside your business." It's a ridiculous notion. It just shows how disconnected the Government is because the Minister knows that he's going to get paid in a fortnight. The Minister's got some job security. The taxpayer—the small-business owner that's out there working hard to pay their taxes—they're the ones that are fronting this place and actually we should be looking after them. We should be acknowledging them. We should be acknowledging the importance that they play in our recovery as we come out of this long lockdown trying to fight Delta. The one question that hasn't been answered—and if the Minister has answered it I apologise because I want to acknowledge as my colleague Michael Woodhouse said that he is making an honest effort of actually standing and addressing the issues that are being raised on this side of the Chamber. But the one issue that Michael Woodhouse raised—and I agree with him because I heard the Minister say this in his opening statements to the House—is that there were large companies in New Zealand and I don't know whether it was Countdown or whether it was The Warehouse. I don't remember. But he said that they're already using current health and safety law in the legislation to put plans in place and he said that that's great and that they can do that. They've got the option. They don't have to use this legislation. So if that's the case that means that the legislation contains within it the ability for an employee to take action against the employer and the Government says that "Although we're laying this new requirement on the employer we still want to keep those protections in place for the employee who can choose to take a month off while they debate whether or not they want to get vaccinated and the employer is going to have to pay them." David Seymour has come to the committee and asked permission to debate Part 1 again because he—[Time expired]"