Smith DamienDAMIEN SMITH (ACT): I was reminded of when I first came to Parliament and was watching people's maiden speeches and watching the then MP now Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern talk about her one goal in Parliament and how if she didn't achieve it then she should go which relates to this bill today and the support payments around child poverty. It was a pretty substantial statement to say that her main goal was to lift everybody out of poverty that needed to be lifted and to this date it still hasn't been achieved. And in the bill today there is not much progress on that where we can only see of the 100000 people she promised to come out of poverty that maybe 1500 people will benefit with a net increase of $5 and a loaf of bread to support their families and to actually look at the cost of living index which with inflation rising 5 percent means that no matter what is paid under this scheme the families will not be better off.So we suggest that if this bill does go ahead which we will not be supporting in the ACT Party we have a post-enactment inquiry of the Taxation (COVID-19 Support Payments and Working for Families Tax Credits) Bill including a public submissions process to get to the bottom of how we lift all these and rise the boats with regards to families and people in situations which have become even more extreme in New Zealand. In the ACT Party we believe the best way to do that is to create opportunity to create a tax break that allows people to get thousands of dollars as opposed to $5 in a period. And we also believe that creating these opportunities is the only way forward under a new Government. Something happened today and yesterday that I think has set a rot in with regards to passing laws in this country. Passing under urgency bills like this has brought this House into disrepute. It's brought our perception as MPs into disrepute as well and it means that the confidence in the public about our willingness to solve issues around giving business confidence with support packages where they have moved on and are doing their own thing and also us supporting people with disadvantaged families has become almost a lost cause in the minds of New Zealanders.We actually believe that in eight days' time we've got a situation where nothing much has really changed and these have been passed under urgency without any consultation with the Opposition parties which would have been easy to sit down and resolve. This seems to be a growing trend with regards to COVID matters and COVID bills and doing it under urgency just makes it worse. So when do we stop doing it under urgency? When do we build in proper time frames? When do we build in proper regulatory statements cost-benefit analysis that actually works and when do we start getting real about the fact that it's not enough just to keep saying no but we actually need to work as a Parliament to solve these major structural issues that just aren't going away?So with regards to the bill itself it is something that is not quite necessary right now; life would go on without this and whether Dr No"—Dr Parker—respects this or not the recommendations here are an admission that we are moving into a new zone of COVID management which requires more sophistication requires more ability to look at the macro levels of poverty and actually achieve something that is long standing as we walk through this COVID-mare. We are wanting to create opportunities for families that isn't just giving handouts and people are insulted by the quantums of money. They don't know why this is happening and coming through but it's certainly not making an impact when a petrol tank has gone up $20 from where it was two to three months ago.So we would actually like to be able to sit down with this Government in the future and actually work out what is the best scenario. But why not get the public in to talk about this and why not get businesses in to talk about this and wrap them in a process that actually builds confidence and stop talking to a few pet groups like BusinessNZ talking to associations that are really just there to reinforce the status quo and actually have a democratic Parliament where the people have their say about these matters and actually want to be involved with the solutions as well.So we believe that we need to get thinking really hard and fast about the amount of debt that we're racking up and the value that we're getting. The solution long term is not just to keep handing out money but it's to create value for money and opportunities that even if it's thousands of dollars as opposed to single dollars the country can look itself in the eye and say "Yeah that is contributing to economic and particular value." and to family and households enjoyment for children or parents.One of the things that we would ask—the whole issue of urgency under COVID—is that a special taskforce be set up to talk between the parties and actually give people a head's up that allows not this standoff that's happening across the House today but something that's more integrated something that's more sensible. We are in a pandemic and we need confidence that everybody steps out of this building into constituencies with solutions that appear sensible and actually add value to people's lives.We will not be supporting this bill but we will actually want to work in the best spirit that we can. One of the things we'd like to do is just really look at the whole Working for Families tax credit system and really start a new process and add some sensibility into it."