Brownlee GerryHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National): I want to start by acknowledging the comments made by the Hon Grant Robertson the member of Parliament for Wellington Central. There's no doubt that the protest out the front has been a disruption to people in this part of the city and many across the country have looked at it with some wonderment as to how long it's been able to go on for. I want to in the same breath though acknowledge that the police have done a very good job in trying to ensure that there was the right to protest upheld; at the same time not wanting to see it turn into an absolute debacle as it so easily could have. While today there will be some skirmishes as they undertake the clearance of the protests I think it would be unreasonable for anyone to say that protesters haven't had a fair opportunity. And if there is one thing I'd regret in all of this it's that the underlying issues that were raised by that protest have not seen the sort of debate level that might have been expected. There's been a lot of talk about the removal of mandates. I'm encouraged by the Hon Chris Hipkins indicating that post a peak in Omicron they would be reconsidered because we cannot go forward with two classes of citizenship as we see at the moment. We are also at the moment in a very interesting position where the country is facing as the Hon Simon Bridges said some extraordinary prices in supermarkets and service stations and in almost every other service that is provided within the economy. It is too easy and far too glib for the Government to simply say Well it's international conditions and there's not much we can do about it." The price of beef for example at a retail level has gone up by over $7 since the start of this year—$7 a kilogram I should say. If you exacerbate that across all of the staple items it is becoming increasingly difficult for families in this country to live well. So it is something that we can't ignore and for the Government to sort of say today there's going to be an additional $6 billion worth of expenditure by the Government in the coming Budget and then turn around to the Opposition and say "What would the Opposition cut?" that is a stupid question in my opinion because firstly if money hasn't been spent yet it can't be cut. And that's an argument interestingly I heard many politicians on the other side of the House make when they were in Opposition. And I can tell you that it is a fact that when a Government spends heavily—and sometimes that's necessary; sometimes yes go to the balance sheet and that's what the Government has done and we don't disagree with that—and at times when inflation starts to run away it simply exacerbates that because of the demands that that extra expenditure places on the economy. So an interesting time ahead. Then of course we also face the prospect that one or two items that we use in our daily activities could be affected in price by the circumstances in the Ukraine. But what's most at stake there is the change to the order of the world that we've understood post the Second World War. The aggression by Mr Putin and his regime against the Ukraine is unprecedented it's unnecessary and most of all it's unprovoked. It is a vanity project on his part and his part alone. So there needs to be extremely strong sanctions levelled against him. No matter what the Government says our response so far has been light and it has been somewhat weak. To suggest that we've got a travel ban on people associated with the Putin regime is ridiculous when the whole country's been under a travel ban for the last two years. Then of course the idea that we will no longer have diplomatic discussions. Well I'm sure that when the piece of paper indicating that to Mr Putin was pushed down the long table so that he could reach out and get it without coming into contact with anybody personally he would have shaken in his boots at the prospect that New Zealand was no longer talking to Russia! We should be part of the international sanctions that are putting a real squeeze on the Russian economy. It's sad to say that everyday Russians need to wake up and realise who's sitting in the Kremlin and who's doing things on their part. They are losing so many of their young people without even recognising—for their families—that they were being sent off into a war zone. We will support the sanctions bill. I look forward to the briefing next week."