Belich CamillaCAMILLA BELICH (Labour): E te Māngai tēnā koe huri noa i te Whare tēnā tātou.[Greetings Madam Speaker and throughout the House greetings to all.]So the Prime Minister's statement is an important part of Aotearoa New Zealand's democracy. On Parliament's first sitting day of the year the Government outlines its intentions and I'm pleased to be able to participate in this debate on the Prime Minister's statement.New Zealanders as the Prime Minister said in her statement have entrusted the Government with a huge responsibility the responsibility of bringing New Zealanders and this country through a crisis. It has been hard. The decisions to close borders to lockdown a country to change the way we live our day-to-day lives are not decisions any Government wants to make but these are decisions that had to be made to keep New Zealanders safe. And I'll pause here to state the reason why this is so important: on this side of the House all lives are important and worth protecting no one is expendable. Protecting the lives and livelihoods of New Zealanders has always been our driving force. No response will ever reach unattainable perfection but most New Zealanders will agree whatever their political stripes there was nowhere else in the world that they would rather be.But our response is not just directed at essential decisions to get us through a crisis on this side of the House we have continually committed—as other speakers in this debate have said—to build back better. This Government will lead New Zealand through this pandemic take on challenges we face as a nation strengthen our economy and we will emerge stronger than before. The Prime Minister rightly drew attention to this to New Zealand's world-leading pandemic response. Despite the one-in-100-year pandemic that we are currently facing unemployment is at record lows record numbers of New Zealanders have moved off a benefit and into work and growth remains strong in our export sector with record export prices on our dairy.But we won't go back to business as usual. The Government will improve our health system so it can respond to the ongoing health needs of New Zealanders and any future crisis that may arise through the establishment of Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority to deliver a genuine national health service for all New Zealanders. As the Prime Minister said We want all New Zealanders to live longer and healthier lives" which is why the Māori Health Authority is absolutely key. As the Prime Minister said about reaching equality "this is because we do not have [it]" and on this side of the House we recognise this as a reality and that something needs to change and so we are taking action.The Government will also set up a new public health agency to ensure we are better equipped to fight outbreaks new variants and new pandemics in the future. We will also provide better support to the estimated 1.1 million disabled people in New Zealand through the new Ministry for Disabled People and we will continue to roll-out primary mental health services in New Zealand.New Zealand businesses and workers as the Prime Minister said have proven to be resilient innovative and highly adaptable during this pandemic because again we are better than "business as usual". Our economic plan still despite this pandemic is to build a high-wage low-carbon economy that provides economic security in good times and bad times. We need to—and we will—increase the value of our exports and develop new markets invest in skills and new technology modernise infrastructure and use research and innovation to drive productivity reduce emissions and increase wages.Much of my work on the Education and Workforce Committee is focused on building skills and training opportunities for New Zealanders. It was great to see the Prime Minister's statement reflecting the importance of skills and training as a key part of this Government's agenda. If we want a productive high-wage innovative economy then skills and training are going to be a huge part of that. We've already committed to raising the minimum wage again this April to support New Zealand's lowest paid workers. As with all economic recoveries it is workers who will in the end deliver this and we will support all New Zealanders—workers their families and the businesses that they work for—to move us past the pandemic past business as usual and into a better more resilient healthier happier Aotearoa New Zealand."