Tinetti JanHon JAN TINETTI (Minister for Women): No matter where we are in New Zealand each and every one of us has a role to play in our COVID-19 response and recovery and vaccinations are our golden ticket to a life where we can be freer from the restrictions that we're experiencing now. I would like to take the opportunity—and I know we all would—to thank the millions of people who have come forward to receive their vaccination. Over 5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been administered so far and it's great to see so many people that are banding together to encourage everyone 12 and over to get vaccinated. It's amazing and wonderful to see all the innovation that's coming forward and to see communities bonding together to encourage those members of the public to come forward. We've seen the buses. We've seen my colleague here Tāmati Coffey. I saw on your page recently hāngī being delivered out with each vaccine—how innovative—and I saw a big line-up of people wanting to get that vaccine at that time too. Getting vaccinated and encouraging loved ones to also get vaccinated is our best protection from COVID-19. That's my why. It's my why of why I am vaccinated. It's because I care deeply about my loved ones and I want them to experience the freedoms that we all deserve. While relentlessly working though towards those freedoms this Government is also looking after those who are being hit hard by COVID-19 and as Minister for Women I have recently announced a $2 million community fund to support vulnerable women and girls adversely affected by COVID-19. The Government has acted quickly and rapidly in this space to look after those who are most vulnerable and I would like to acknowledge the previous speaker the Hon Julie Anne Genter who started that fund last year in the first of our nationwide lockdowns. It proved to be an incredibly popular and successful fund. It is $2 million and it funded over 155 organisations and helped and supported over 10000 women and their families who were really struggling through the lockdown last year which is exactly why this Government has instigated and started that fund once again. While there are other Government funds that will support vulnerable New Zealanders including women through schemes such as the wage subsidy we know that there are additional gender-based needs. These could include things like helping with leaving an abusive partner and very sadly we know that that has seen an increase. Some of our refuges have seen an increase of domestic and sexual violence over the lockdown times. So the fund can be used for things like help with leaving an abusive partner providing culturally appropriate supports for networks for migrant women mental health support for LGBT-plus women and addressing a lack of access to basic toiletries—some things that some of us take for granted but they are an exceptionally gendered problem during these times that makes those women so vulnerable. The funding is to support organisations who work to improve outcomes for women and girls and who are seeing an increased demand for services and/or reduced resources because of COVID-19. We also know that some of our grassroots organisations who get very little other funding or Government funding do struggle over lockdowns and in times of lockdowns because other funding sources are prohibited from them during that time. So that is why we want to act quickly to support those organisations who see so much hardship on the front line. I do want to mention the objectives of the funding very briefly here towards the end because the funding applications are open at the moment. I encourage organisations to make an application but it does close this Friday which is why I want to be clear on the objectives of the fund. They are to prioritise grassroots investments and making sure funds are spent to improve outcomes for women where they are most needed to support women in all their diversity who face intersectional challenges within their community such as Māori and Pacific and to support the Government priorities such as ensuring healthy and safe communities reducing family and sexual violence and improving child wellbeing—and I remind people that it's open until 1 October.