Edmonds BarbaraBARBARA EDMONDS (Labour—Mana): Thank you Madam Speaker. It is a peculiar time here in our House. I know I have a lot of colleagues who are coming on through Zoom. We thank you for your cooperation and for your help keeping your colleagues and keeping other people safe by Zooming in.I said it in the House last week and I say it summarised in the House again this week: Labour is in the fight against COVID-19 because we do not take lives for granted.David Seymour: It will be for as long as possible.BARBARA EDMONDS: To the family and friends of the 10 people currently in the intensive care unit (ICU)—perhaps Mr Seymour would like to listen to this rather than interject. To the family and friends of the 10 people currently in ICU or the high-dependency unit our thoughts and our prayers are with you and your loved ones as they fight this virus. To the family and friends of the 56 people who have died from this virus—Simon Court: Including the guy who got shot in New Lynn?David Seymour: Yeah was he admitted for COVID?BARBARA EDMONDS: Point of order Madam Speaker. I understand that interjections can be varied and in between—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Yeah thank you very much—thank you. This is a robust debate. I haven't heard anything that has crossed a line.BARBARA EDMONDS: Thank you Madam Speaker. So I summarise again to the family and friends of the 56 people who have died from this virus—Hon Michael Wood: If that lot want to join the COVID deniers then head out the front.Greg O'Connor: Ignore the little twerp.BARBARA EDMONDS: —our thoughts and prayers are with you.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! But it is a little ironic that the member's own colleagues now start interjecting long and loud. So let's just calm things down a bit.BARBARA EDMONDS: Good robust debate! Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your loved ones as you walked this different chapter of your lives without your loved ones: manuia lau malaga.We are in a different phase in this response to this virus. We all probably have family and friends who are now infected or are recovering. One of my first family members to be infected by this virus was my six-week-old niece Pei. Pei's parents noticed that their new-born child wasn't breathing properly. They noticed her nose was blocked. She wasn't feeding. So there is an intuition that parents have: they know when it is time to move. So her parents trusted their gut and they took her to hospital. When she took her to hospital straight away the doctors and nurses tested her for COVID and she came out positive. But this has a good ending. Pei received exemplary care in Te Puke in Tauranga. She is recovering really well at home with her parents who also tested positive. Her parents are incredibly grateful to her community in Te Puke especially the Poutiri Trust for their help for checking in on them and for all the prayers and messages they've received from afar. As we experience this outbreak it is those community groups and welfare providers that will be at the forefront of caring for our community as people self-isolate.A member today in question time questioned our support for Māori during this pandemic. In my area of Mana however I've seen the total opposite. Our local iwi Ngāti Toa are leading both our vaccination programme our testing station our rapid antigen test distribution and they are also responsible for the community-and-care model Tiaki. To our police service—who are currently dealing with a lot of pressure on our front lawn which we can also smell within this House at this moment—many of those police officers are from my area of Kāpiti-Mana. I've been speaking to your area commander regularly throughout this particular protest. I thank you for your service and together our community will come to thank you once this protest is over.To our Māori wardens from across the Wellington region: they have provided a safety corridor for our school children who either have to go up the road up this hill to their schools or to the buses which are at the Wellington train station. We thank you for looking after our children.At this time I reflect on the words of Tā Hemi Henare: We have done too much to not do more we have come too far to not go further." Now more than ever Kiwis need to support our families our neighbours and our communities as we get through this outbreak. As the Deputy Prime Minister said earlier today: "Now is the time to care for one another. Now is the time to give a damn." So on this side of the House we do give a damn. On this side of the House we do care. So once again Labour is in the fight against COVID because we do not take lives for granted. Thank you Madam Speaker."