Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Well National might have changed its leadership but it hasn't changed its negative rant its negative questioning. Instead of celebrating what this team of 5 million has achieved with the COVID pandemic instead of celebrating the leadership that our Prime Minister and this Government has shown it keeps harping on and being negative—undermining the confidence this country has in our recovery. That is typical because how did National respond to the global financial crisis? It slashed investment. In conservation it slashed funding. It cut hundreds of jobs. How is this Government responding? With a nature-based recovery—investing in nature; investing so that $1.1 billion can provide 11000 jobs over the next three to four years. We have an investment in our environment because we recognise that our people won't survive our people won't be healthy unless we have healthy nature. I was very proud to stand alongside fisheries Minister Stuart Nash today and announce new measures to protect Hector's and Māui dolphin—unlike National. When they were in Government you had a Clayton's sanctuary. You had Simon Bridges opening up the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary to oil and gas exploration and seismic surveying. In this Government we are doubling the area of our marine mammal sanctuaries extending the west coast North Island sanctuary up to Northland down to Wellington; the Bank's Peninsula sanctuary south to Timaru up to Kaikōura. We are putting in place over 1300 square kilometres extra of exclusions from set-netting both recreational and commercial to better protect this taonga species—to better protect the Māui dolphin which are down to the last 63 adult dolphins. We are proposing to ban seismic surveying and seabed mining within these sanctuaries so that they are real protection for these dolphins—not like National. It stood by even when the International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee Dr Jane Goodall and the International Union for Conservation of Nature called for greater protection for dolphins. National ignored that. It has taken a Labour - Green - New Zealand First Government to respond to the 15000 submissions from New Zealanders and the 78000 people who signed a petition to put in place real measures to protect the dolphins. I pay tribute to all of the school children around Aotearoa who have written in and said that they support better protection for dolphins. So it's this Government that is delivering that in the same way that our response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been to ensure that we eliminate the virus in New Zealand that we work really hard on that and that we take measures to ensure that businesses across Aotearoa are supported through the $11 billion that has gone into the wage subsidy through the major investment that we're seeing though the Ministry for the Environment the Department of Conservation Land Information New Zealand and the Ministry for Primary Industries in projects like wilding conifer control. This Government is serious about controlling pests and weeds: $100 million is being invested through Budget 2020 and the COVID recovery package to provide people with jobs to ensure that people who are guiding in Franz Josef—whose jobs have gone through no fault of their own through the redundancies that have been associated with the closure of our borders to protect our country and the drop-off in tourism—can work. They've moved from Franz to Springfield Arthur's Pass and are working now on protecting the landscapes protecting our tussock grasslands. It is a sign of this Government's commitment to investing in people investing in Papatūānuku so that we have a healthy future. National should look out in terms of 19 September. The Hon Nikki Kaye can give a rant in this House. Chlöe Swarbrick is going to give her a run for her money in Central Auckland. She looks forward to ensuring that all those voters in Central Auckland can vote for a member who will represent them to advance people and planet—to ensure that the Greens are a heart of the next Government continuing to strengthen the protection for our native species and continuing to respond to New Zealanders who want us to care for species like Hector's and Māui dolphin. This Government is going to be re-elected in September and come back with stronger measures to invest in the environment to invest in people and planet.