Bishop Chris; Salesa JennyCHRIS BISHOP (National): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. The National Party opposes this bill wholeheartedly. I want to start with a comment made to me by a bar owner in Auckland on Sunday because I think it summarises accurately the feeling of a lot of people who live in Auckland right now. She said to me It feels like we're collateral damage in the Prime Minister's personal legacy project."—it feels like we're collateral damage in Jacinda Ardern's personal legacy project.Because that's the situation Aucklanders find themselves in right now. Stuck in the Auckland prison—90 days and counting—and still no clarity as to when they can leave. Still no clarity as to when they can go and have a beer outside in a hospitality venue with their friends over Christmas. People who work in hospitality in fact people who work in many businesses across Auckland—and in fact it's not just Auckland; it's Canterbury and other parts of the country—look at our Government and they say "Yup they did pretty well last year actually. But now we find ourselves miles behind the rest of the world and we are the damage. We are the collateral damage. We're the people mortgaging our houses selling our cars dipping into our personal savings putting money on the credit card—just to keep paying the bills keep paying the staff that we haven't laid off yet. Worried about summer. Worried about the start of 2022." Worried about how they're going to get through the next week and actually be able to pay the bills. And worried about the tax bill that's coming the provisional tax in the first quarter next year.They don't want a lot actually. What they want is hope. What they want is some certainty and they want a pathway. I'll tell you what they don't want: they don't want continuous platitudes from the podium. Because that's what they get every week. And they don't want a Government that clearly is just making it up as they go.So what did we learn yesterday from the Government? Well the 90 percent target doesn't exist any more. So the thing that was the "pathway to freedom" to use the Prime Minister's words three weeks ago that's been unceremoniously dumped; no longer the target. Righty-o. Got that. On 29 November there'll be another announcement. Actually yesterday we got "Cabinet will decide." presupposing that they will but you know I assume that's the case. On 29 November we'll get another announcement about something that will happen later—date unknown—when we all enter the traffic light system. So no idea of the date. No idea of exactly when this will happen. And the traffic light framework will start some time and Auckland will go to red straight away.Now the thing about red is if you're a hospitality venue you can have 100 people seated even if you're vaccinated—even if you're vaccinated. So Auckland will start in red. So is that a step forward? I suppose in the most marginal sense possible it's a step forward. But it's hardly progress.In every other place totally unclear. So Wellington? Ninety percent double vaccination probably be higher by the time we roll around to 7 December or whenever it is. Do they enter in green? No idea. Is it orange? No idea. Is it red? I don't know. What about the Southern DHB? Are they orange? I think they're 87 percent double dosed—Penny Simmonds tells me I'm broadly right. Double dosed—they'll be 90 percent double dosed by 5 December. Are they going to enter in green? I don't know. Is it orange? I've got no idea.My colleague here Nicola Grigg the MP for Selwyn—Nicola Grigg: 100 percent.CHRIS BISHOP: Well I doubt it's 100 percent but it wouldn't be too far off 100 percent double dosed. Do they start in the green traffic light system? I don't know; they probably do but let's have some clarity. How are the good people of Selwyn or East Coast Bays or West Coast - Tasman or Invercargill—how do they make plans for December? They can't because they don't know because we've got no certainty about the date and no idea what system people will enter at. And so Christmas is coming down the line very quickly and people are trying to make plans and they've got no idea.What's very clear from this bill—and the Minister even accepted that the bill was drafted at a different time when we were running on elimination strategy. What's very clear is that the Government's had no plan for the circumstances we find ourselves in. They literally started the plan for Delta when it turned up. It's not just me who says that; that's Government documents say that. There's been articles about it. Government documents official advice to the Minister for COVID-19 Response from the start of August saying "We're now starting to plan for Delta." Well Delta turned up in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) in April. What were they doing for three months? What were they doing for the first six months of the year?I'll tell you what they were doing. They were sitting there with self-satisfied smirks on their face thinking "Oh we've nailed COVID. We eliminated it last year. We're the best in the world and we're on the front cover of Time and Bloomberg and all the rest of it. Aren't we awesome?"Well actually reality caught up with them and it turns out that that's not the case. They started the work on the certificates in July; they only signed the contract in October. We had the world's slowest vaccination roll-out for most of this year. Rapid tests are still banned. I can walk into a supermarket in Melbourne and buy a rapid COVID test; here I can't and we've never had an explanation from the Government as to why that's the case. They didn't invest in ICU; they wasted the COVID response fund.A smart Government would have taken all the borrowed money and not just spent the COVID fund on things like art therapy and three waters and food in schools and all the other things the Government spent the money on; they'd actually spend it on ICU. I mean how is it the case 18 months after the pandemic started we have fewer ICU beds now than we did in April 2020? How is that the case? Literally when you explain it to people it's impossible to explain or understand. Eighteen months after the pandemic we have fewer ICU beds now than we did in April 2020—fewer. It's just ridiculous.This bill is a disgrace and in the time I've got remaining I want to comment on three things. Firstly it's ridiculous and obnoxious. The first bit is the ridiculous bit. The ridiculous bit: new section 32T requires a person liable for the cost of managed isolation to provide contact details. Well that sounds reasonable. Hang on a minute—why has there not been a power before now for people who go to MIQ to provide their contact details? Government doesn't like to mention this but they're quietly slipping this through and here's a clue. Now we know why $36 million is owed to taxpayers through MIQ before March this year. Fourteen thousand people haven't been invoiced yet. Seven thousand people they don't know if they have to pay and if they do have to pay how much they have to pay—7000 people—because the Government didn't pass a law to collect the contact details.Obnoxious point of this bill: MIQ. It's a lottery of human misery. It is not kind or compassionate or fair; it is cruel inequitable and callous. Greg Murphy couldn't go over to Bathurst because of MIQ. Today we learnt the news of the New Zealand Under-19 men's cricket team can't go to the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2022. They are just the high profile examples of the misery that this stupid system causes. Five thousand people isolating in Auckland right now with COVID or close contacts. Five thousand people. New record. Thirty-four people in MIQ with COVID.Here's how stupid the situation is. If you test positive in Auckland for the most part you isolate at home. You don't go to MIQ where there are nurses and doctors and regular tests. If you're fully vaccinated with no COVID you don't go home where you could look after yourself you take up the space in MIQ that should be being occupied by someone with COVID. How perverse is that? How bizarre is that situation? It's not just me who says this; Michael Baker says it Lucy Barnard says it and Nick Wilson says it. It's ridiculous. Fully vaccinated Kiwis should have freedom returned to them under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. The team of 5 million is not just a team of 5 million; it's a team of 6 million.And finally the other obnoxious part of this bill is the Rako Science confiscation provision because that's what I call it. Rako Science came to the MOH—the Ministry of Health—at the start of the most recent outbreak and said "We can do 10000 tests a day. You've got people lining up for 10 to 12 hours at a time; we can do 10000 tests a day. Let us at them." You know what the Government said to them? They gave them the middle finger. They said "No no we don't need your help. We've got it under control thanks." Well people lined up for 12 hours and gave up being tested. At the start of the most recent outbreak the Government said to Rako Science "We don't want your help." and now what are they going to do? They're going to give themselves the power to steal their property instead.Hon Member: Disgusting.CHRIS BISHOP: This is disgusting. It is abhorrent. It is an obnoxious piece of legislation and we oppose it.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Order!"