Hipkins ChrisHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): Thank you Mr Speaker. It has been an interesting and bumpy start to the year for New Zealand and it is useful to reflect as we think about our recovery from COVID-19. It is useful to look back over New Zealand's history and consider other times of economic challenge and economic difficulty for our country and how our current situation compares to those. We don't have to actually look back that far to find a comparable time when New Zealand experienced some economic headwinds. It was during the global financial crisis (GFC). We can compare the success of the then Government in recovering the New Zealand economy from the GFC compared to the success of this Government in helping the economy to recover from what has been arguably the largest global shock that we will experience in our lifetimes. I don't want to speak too soon but there is no doubt that around the world COVID-19 has changed the game on just about every front. So how are we comparing on those things? Well unemployment is lower than it was following the global financial crisis and is at record lows. Our economic growth is significantly higher than it was as we recovered from the global financial crisis. In fact some parts of our economy are absolutely booming. New Zealand will go back into surplus a year faster under this Government than it did under the National Government after the global financial crisis—despite the fact that the economic turmoil caused by COVID-19 was greater than the turmoil caused by the GFC—and that is down to the very sensible and prudent financial management of our Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson. We can reflect on the last two years of the global pandemic with a great degree of pride as a country. New Zealand has one of the lowest rates of mortality from COVID-19 in the world. I'll say that twice because I think it's worth repeating because every New Zealander contributed to that: New Zealand has one of the lowest rates of mortality from COVID-19 of any country in the world. The sacrifices that we made collectively as a people were worth it.The stories that will never be told from our COVID-19 response are the stories of all of those who are still alive because of it. Because there will always be stories of those who were disadvantaged by the response—and I don't for one moment diminish the fact that many people's lives have been disrupted and disrupted significantly whether it's the small-business owners worried about how they were going to pay the bills whether it's the people who have been separated from their families or all of the other consequences that COVID-19 has brought with it. We absolutely acknowledge the huge disruption that we have encountered. But the reality is that when people go and visit their grandparents when they go and visit the people who they know are immunocompromised or who might be otherwise susceptible to COVID-19 they can know that those people are there in part because of our COVID-19 response. Some of them wouldn't be if we were in the same situation as other countries around the world where COVID-19 ripped through the more vulnerable communities including the elderly population in particular and many of those lives were lost. We did not experience that in New Zealand. Even now as we deal with an Omicron outbreak we are still experiencing lower mortality rates from that compared to many of those countries who we normally compare ourselves with. All Kiwis contributed to that success and all New Zealanders should feel proud of it.There are challenges ahead and there is no doubt that inflation and the rising cost of living is having an impact on New Zealanders' households. We have taken action already lowering fuel tax increasing the minimum wage increasing benefits and making sure that things like the winter energy payment are in place to support families who need that help the most. What this Government will not do however is spend a huge amount of money—billions of dollars—in giving tax cuts to those who need it the least. As a high-income earner in New Zealand I am happy to say I am happy to be the last in the queue for any additional financial support because I think there are other New Zealanders who need that more and that is exactly where our priority should be. Finally I want to reflect on another Government policy that is making a big difference to those who do need that extra support. Earlier this week I visited a primary school in my electorate where the kids came up and thanked me for their free and healthy school lunches. That is an example of the sort of spending the National Party has opposed that is delivering a real benefit a real improvement in the quality of life for New Zealanders in this case for our tamariki.