Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise to take a call on this matter. It would be really hard for anyone not to be moved by the many stories that we do hear from our migrant communities and especially just a couple of hours ago when we heard from so many on the forecourt of Parliament. We heard many many moving stories. But I was proud to stand with our Minister of Immigration and I know it was appreciated that he was there at the rally and that he was listening to everyone's concerns.As the Minister already said in his speech the strategy our Government developed to eliminate COVID-19 from our communities and to keep New Zealanders safe meant that we had to take that unprecedented action of closing our borders. As the Minister said in his speech that meant making difficult choices. These were tough decisions. The only people at the time being able to enter New Zealand were citizens residents their partners and children and others who had been given an exception to the border closure. Tight border restrictions were then and are now a key part of the Government strategy to protect New Zealand against COVID. Our closed border is the first and best defence in keeping COVID out of our communities. This is a very careful approach we had to take.We have been able to reunite families support key industries restart our refugee settlement and keep our critical public services running during what was and is a global pandemic. You only need to look internationally to see how different countries responded to the pandemic and how much New Zealand stands out. But I do acknowledge that this has had a large impact on many people causing difficulties for families trying to reunite for our offshore non-resident partners of New Zealand citizens and permanent residents for workers and students stuck overseas and others as is evident from the many petitions we have received and from the many stories that we heard from you and you shared with us also today. The consequences of the actions taken to keep New Zealand safe the decision to close the borders and to protect New Zealand communities from COVID-19 caused real difficulty and heartache for people. But there is a lot of work being done to get people into New Zealand and through managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) as well as the many thousands of border exceptions that are being worked through.Over the past year several border exceptions supporting the reunification of split families have been introduced as circumstances allowed. Work on those new border exceptions is continuing. We've heard from the Minister that around 13000 family members of New Zealand citizens and residents have been granted border exceptions. A border exception was established for partners and dependent children of New Zealand -based work or student visa holders who normally live in New Zealand and that was around 2000 who have been granted an exception. Critical workers who are entering New Zealand through a border exception are able to have their family accompany them. More than 2500 members of critical workers have been able to enter to date.In August last year the Government approved a new exception category that was targeted at those temporary work visa holders who had jobs families and homes in New Zealand but were unable to return back due to those border restrictions put in place. This has enabled to date 1300 temporary visa holders and their families who normally live here and were overseas when the borders closed to return to New Zealand. To date 135000 residents and citizens have returned to New Zealand and gone through the MIQ system with approximately 10 percent of those coming through the exceptions.And the work continues. It was only on 19 April that our Government announced changes to border settings to enable partners and children of temporary work visa holders who are currently working and residing in New Zealand to travel to New Zealand to be reunited. So while these latest border exceptions can't help every migrant family caught in last year's border closures the Government will continue to review options across a range of border entry demands.We had a very successful response to COVID-19 in New Zealand and sometimes it's easy to forget that while our domestic situation has increased and improved since the borders closed there is still a worldwide pandemic raging which is infecting and killing large numbers of people. We are not immune to what happens around the world and we have seen that last year very much. But we absolutely acknowledge—and we heard from many of you today that there will still be people having difficulties because of those borders. But as the Minister said in his speech a review of border exceptions will continue and further adjustments will be made as and when they are possible so we can safely open up again to the world.This is an issue we need to debate. It would be great if we could take the politics out of it and actually show you that we care for you our migrant families. Thank you very much.