Smith StuartSTUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Well that was an interesting contribution. It talked about a prompt response. Actually if it was a prompt response the Minister of Immigration would've brought this bill to the House last year and had enough time in front of the select committee to go through a proper process. Unlike the member that just took her seat Angela Roberts I did actually sit on that committee the COVID response select committee last year and listen to all of the submissions that we had. It was a very quick and fast process to get this through. No one's denying we needed the bill at the time and we probably need it now but I do have some serious concerns about this.What we've seen with the pandemic around the world is a grab for power—a grab for power from Ministers like we're seeing now—and I think we should all be concerned about this no matter what side of the House you're on. Very very attractive if you happen to be a Government Minister but is it a good political process? I don't think it is—I don't think it is at all. Having the power in a Minister's hands on things at a time of an emergency we understand but we are reaching far further than that. This is not just about opposing for opposing's sake. We are in fact voting for this bill—Hon Member: Support it then.STUART SMITH: Well unfortunately we are supporting it. I think it is needed but only just and it is not needed for two years however. I think one year is more than enough and the Minister could bring it back to the House. To go through it in such a truncated process when we did exactly that last year in a time of emergency I think is not justified. We've not heard the justification for that at all. It's been very weak actually. I think the speeches from the other side of the House have been nothing more than grandstanding actually. We needed to hear really good sound arguments about why this is going to be such a short process why we're not going to be able to have the adequate scrutiny that a select committee could bring to it because we didn't do it last time because of the state that the country was in at the time. We're not now and we owe it to the people who are affected most by this. So we're going to have a short process we're not really collaborating I don't think—if we were collaborating as I said we would've been talking about this a couple of months ago.When we have this in place it's all very well that the Minister can make decisions and the argument is that this will all happen quickly but let me remind you that last year we had in Central Otago a large number of Recognised Seasonal Employer workers who were almost begging for food because the Minister wouldn't make a decision. All they had to do was utilise the powers in this bill to allow those people to go up to Marlborough where they had a job where they could be paid. Instead they were living off the charity of the people in that area who kept them in warm clothes and in food. So we have the Minister now saying he needs this bill because he has to be able to move quickly. Well you don't have a track record of doing it actually and it is appalling. We have these people in our country who've come from overseas to work here to do us a favour actually and also to have an opportunity for them to make money in their own homes and make a better life for themselves and then we treat them like we did then. I think it's appalling. It's embarrassing and the Minister should be—I know he's covering his eyes; he must be appalled. He needs to take responsibility and move quickly. We've heard—and we still hear it—every public servant when things are slow: Oh it's COVID. Oh it's COVID—it's a pandemic." What a load of nonsense. The whole immigration system is a mess it's poorly led and it's poorly run by—and the leadership I'm talking about is starting at the political level. We have to do much better than this. I think we're very bad hosts in our country and I think that's because of the way we're getting the leadership from the top and the Minister of Immigration. He needs to pull his socks up and do the job properly.This bill is being supported albeit reluctantly and let's hope that we might see some better performance out of the Minister. I don't know how that's—I mean you've got lots of people in the caucus now; surely there's someone that can make a decision in a timely manner. So it's with reluctance that I commend the bill to the House."