Hipkins Chris; Rurawhe AdrianCOVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE ACT 2020ContinuationHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): I move That the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 be continued and that the relevant period under section 3(2)(b) of that Act is the period ending 31 December 2022.This is probably—well this absolutely is—my last formal act as Minister for COVID-19 Response a job that I've already given over in fact to my colleague the Hon Dr Verrall. But it is a job that I have had the great privilege of holding at least since the election and then for a brief period as Minister of Health before that. I have been the Minister responsible for this Act almost since it was passed by the Parliament in 2020 as we came to grips as a country with what the global pandemic would mean for us. Let's cast our minds back to 2020 when this law was first put in place. We still didn't quite know what we were dealing with at that point. The world was still grappling with COVID-19. The science was evolving and changing. New Zealand was at a point where we had managed to by and large eliminate COVID-19 from our community and we were certainly for the foreseeable future endeavouring to keep it that way. The COVID-19 Public Health Response Act provided the Government with the relevant tools to be able to continue to pursue elimination as we did for at least the 18 months following that. So I have to say I have some mixed emotions when it comes to continuing this legislation which will be now administered by my successor in the role Dr Ayesha Verrall.I do want to reflect a little bit on what's happened over that last 2½-year period that we've been grappling with the global pandemic. If we want to talk about results there is one result that stands out above all others and that is that New Zealand has within the OECD depending on which day of the week you look at it—we're sitting right alongside Japan—the lowest rate of death related to COVID-19 in the OECD. If we want to talk about results that is a result that all New Zealanders can be incredibly proud of. There are many stories that will be told of our COVID-19 response in the years to come and those stories will typically be of people who have been in some way disadvantaged by the response whether it was the impact that it had on their business or their livelihood and we absolutely acknowledge that our response to COVID-19 has required a great deal of sacrifice by many people. We will also hear the stories of people who found that their plans to enter or leave New Zealand were disrupted by the border restrictions that we had in place. And again I don't think anybody on this side of the House would discount the significant impact that our border restrictions have had on people.But there are stories that we won't hear because we simply don't know who these people would be. We won't hear the stories of people who would not otherwise be alive today were it not for the success of our collective efforts as the team of 5 million—a phrase we don't use very much these days—in keeping COVID-19 out of our community for such a long period of time. We have in addition to having one of the lowest rates of COVID-19 - related death in the OECD if not the lowest one of the highest vaccination rates in the OECD. In fact we were more vaccinated as a country than almost any other country when we peaked in terms of the number of cases that we were seeing. I think the lower rate of hospitalisation and mortality that we've experienced in New Zealand overall compared to other countries really does reflect the fact that we got the vaccination campaign right and we got the timing right when it came to a transition to a different phase of the response.I must confess on election night in 2020 while my colleagues up and down the country were celebrating enormously I wasn't quite in such a celebratory mood. While I was enjoying the victory I was nervous for two reasons. One is that at about 6.50 p.m. Ashley Bloomfield had rung me and ruined my evening by telling me that there was a COVID-19 case that had been detected in the community. The other—and actually more fundamental—thing was that New Zealanders I think and clearly evidenced by the election night result were very invested in an elimination strategy that was never going to be a strategy for ever. How we got from an elimination strategy to where we are now was always going to be a bit of a bumpy road. I have to confess on election night in 2020 I could not see how we were going to get from point A to point B without there being quite a significant number of bumps in the road and that has certainly proven to be the case.But I want to reflect a little bit on the period of time that I've been Minister for COVID-19 Response with a few numbers which I think are useful: 1058 ministerial briefings have been signed by me during that period of time—many of them on the same day and many of them signed on the same day in which the decision was made. I've responded to 232 Official Information Act requests taken 136 papers to Cabinet answered 41 oral questions in the House—and that's only the Opposition oral questions not the ones that were posed by Government members. But it is also worth noting that I have responded to 5038 written parliamentary questions as the Minister for COVID-19 Response signed 49 different orders made under this Act 22 exemptions or amendments to exemptions and done countless media briefings most of which were in the Beehive theatrette only two of which I remain embarrassed by. I did learn a few lessons along the way one of which is if you're going to use metaphors you should make sure you don't mix them! Because it turns out that stretching your legs and spreading your wings are two entirely different things and if you accidentally mix those two things together the entire country will have a good laugh at your expense! But contrary to popular opinion at the time there is no evidence that there has been a spike in the birth rate as a result of that press conference.I want to take a moment to thank everybody who was involved in New Zealand's COVID-19 response over the last 2½ years including those unsung heroes who went to work every day during some of the most difficult periods of the response—our essential workers who kept the supply chains open kept us all feed keep the power on keep the country moving at a time when we were all staying at home. I want to particularly thank our health workers who continue to experience the pressure of the global pandemic now even more so now perhaps than they were over the last two years and acknowledge their commitment and dedication and thank them for their work. I want to thank our managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) workers who went to work and put themselves between the virus and New Zealanders. It is worth noting that of the nearly 230000 returnees who returned we stopped more than 4600 cases at the border before they made their way into the community. We also supported through our MIQ 5000 cases in the community so that they had somewhere safe to recuperate and recover from COVID-19. I really want to thank those MIQ workers for their commitment and their dedication. It was not an easy task.So turning our minds now to the purpose of this motion that extends the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act for a further period through to the end of the year. I started as Minister a programme of work that I know Dr Verrall will be continuing to look at the provisions of the Act that are still in use now that relate to measures that may well be ongoing as part of our ongoing response to COVID-19. That's one strand of work. The other strand of work is to look at our future preparedness for both new variants of COVID-19 but also future pandemics. It's likely that legislation will emerge from both of those pieces of work and Dr Verrall I know will shepherd those through the House in due course. This legislation is still required at this point although many of the restrictions that were put in place under it have already been removed. The pandemic isn't yet over. Our health system will tell you that. Experience around the world will tell you that. I've had my first opportunity to travel internationally since the pandemic began over the last month and I can say that the world hasn't completely gone back to normal. Other countries still do have restrictions in place. Other countries are still grappling with having large proportions of their workforce disrupted by COVID-19. New Zealand is not alone in that. We have actually weathered the global pandemic better than most of the countries that we would compare ourselves to and we continue to do so but the pandemic is still having an impact and we still do need to respond to that.Finally I want to thank New Zealanders for the feedback that they have provided me over the last 2½ years in this role. Most of it was positive quite a lot of it was humorous at various points and some of it constructive and some of it perhaps less so. But I want to acknowledge that the results that we've achieved as a country were only possible because New Zealanders bought into what we were trying to achieve as a collective team and I hope that we can continue with that—that spirit of solidarity with one another and consideration of one another—as we approach whatever future challenges COVID-19 might throw at us. Thank you.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.