Stanford EricaERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Madam Speaker. All New Zealanders played their part in flattening the COVID curve. We all stayed home. We took care of our neighbours: we shopped for them we picked up groceries we delivered prescriptions. We cared for our community and it was hard but this hard action was required and credit where credit's due it was well led by our Prime Minister. But that hard action was necessary because we didn't go early. Despite the Prime Minister telling us at every possible opportunity trying to rewrite history that we went hard and early the fact is that our borders remained far too porous for far too long and anyone coming back in or seeing those tourists wandering around knows that very well.We went hard despite some of the terrible consequences that we knew would happen: the massive loss of civil liberties tens of thousands of jobs lost businesses collapsing livelihoods lost our elective surgeries cancelled cancer diagnoses not happening people dying alone horrific sexual and domestic abuse suicides and the inability to say goodbye to our loved ones. But thanks to our efforts we're almost at level 2. We did what was asked of us despite some of those horrible consequences. We trusted our Prime Minister and credit where credit's due as I said she led us deftly through those times but surely as an acknowledgment of our combined effort that she continually thanks us for day after day she would now treat us with some respect and give us some of the same trust that we instilled in her to keep this virus at bay at level 2?But this bill suggests this is not the case—quite the opposite in fact. This is quite frankly a Thanks very much but we don't trust you one iota" bill. They've introduced a piece of quite Draconian legislation that curtails our freedoms at the whim of the Prime Minister and descends us into what has been described as a police State all rushed through under urgency without the public scrutiny that is usually afforded to bills like this. The Government are basking in the glow of what they believe is public adoration. They're acting in the mistaken belief that their powers are limitless that they can do what they like without question and in that belief they have made a misstep. This bill is a giant leap too far. This is a bill that allows our Prime Minister—not the Director-General of Health that we are so used to making decisions but the Prime Minister waking up one day and deciding what we can and can't do where we can and can't go which roads we can and can't travel on and so on.But the real kicker is in the enforcement powers. Clause 20(3) allows a police officer to enter a private dwelling without a warrant if they have reasonable grounds to believe that people have gathered in contravention of the Prime Minister's order. I'll say that again: without a warrant. We've had fear instilled in us and that has done something unusual. Don't get me wrong; we've done all that kind stuff I talked about earlier but there's been a fair amount of behaviour of a different kind. Barry Soper pointed out that we've turned into a nation of "grumpy narks" sounding off at each other on Facebook dobbing in our neighbours on the hotline and I'm not surprised because fear does that to people. So when the police get a call from your terrified neighbour believing that thousands of people will die and that everyone's to be treated as if they have the virus telling them that you've got a gathering of potentially too many people the police can enter your private dwelling and shut down your kid's birthday party because there may be 11 kids there.But let's delve into that just a little bit further. We all know about drug houses. We all know about gang houses. Even in the East Coast Bays we're not immune to these things.David Seymour: Surely not!ERICA STANFORD: Even in the East Coast Bays—peddling drugs and misery and targeting vulnerable people. All of these drug houses gang pads and dodgy premises continue to operate despite the police's best intentions and best efforts to close them down. They don't have the power to go in and enter those places without a warrant; yet here we are. Never mind that—never mind that. We're not even in level 4 we're not in level 3 but we're about to go into level 2 and here we are setting aside the requirement of a police officer to gain a warrant before going into a private dwelling because your neighbour might think you've got too many kids at your kid's birthday party. The Government had the numbers to pass this law today to allow police to enter your home without a warrant—not because of legal firearms not because of methamphetamine but because the Prime Minister has decided that your kid's birthday party is too big and the cops can go in and close it down.We did what was asked of us—99.9 percent of us followed the rules. We can be trusted. We can be treated like adults. We do not need to impose such Draconian measures and descend into some kind of police State for level 2 and for that reason I cannot support this bill.David Seymour: Madam Speaker.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is this a split call?David Seymour: Doesn't have to be.Hon Chris Hipkins: Yes.DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is a split call? This is a split call."