Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Minister of Defence): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. The kaupapa for my kōrero today is partnership. I find it really odd that in the seven years of being a member of this House I stood in this House alongside what I at least would consider a giant in the Treaty settlement space. Minister Finlayson for his time premised much of the Treaty settlements under his watch under partnership—not only just the ability to be able to settle grievance but to establish new partnerships. In fact this House passed many bills into legislation making sure that Māori had partnership in many mechanisms through the settlement process whether that be at council level whether that be with Government agencies or whether that be with the Government itself. We all stood in this House and supported those pieces of legislation and sadly what we're seeing today from the National Party is dismissive of those achievements made by Minister Finlayson but more importantly—and sadly—actually attacking the kinds of partnerships we're growing on this side of the House. Partnership: it was partnership that got this country through COVID-19. What I mean by that is our Minister of Finance led a strong team that went into partnership with community. Why? Because community needed strong Government leadership to see them through COVID-19 and they're continuing to get that as we look into how we recover from COVID-19. That's our partnership with the community. The other partnership: the Minister of Finance along with this Government partnered with business and sectors to make sure that their businesses were resilient and strong through a very difficult time when the pandemic grabbed hold of this country. We continue that partnership with them today to make sure that our economy grows back stronger and better. We want to look towards the future not like the National Party who want to return to how it was. After the pandemic lockdown and into the future as we look towards how we grow back stronger and more resilient into the future one key theme comes through and that is partnership. Partnership is what's going to make sure that we have a health service that delivers for its people and—as the associate health Minister—a Māori Health Authority will do that. In fact under the Waitangi Tribunal investigation under many of the investigations that have gone into the inequities Māori suffered under the health sector it's been quite clear that in order for us to turn the dial on that a partnership that sees an independent Māori Health Authority with a strong partnership with Health New Zealand can only lead to better outcomes for this country and I am in support of that. I'm proud of the leadership of the Minister of Health the Hon Andrew Little with respect to the health reforms. He saw the need for a strong partnership not just between Māori and the Government but Māori and the institutions of health that look after this country and I'm proud to support him. I'm proud to support the work that he's doing and I'm proud of his support for the Māori Health Authority. We also meet quite regularly with another mechanism that was established under the National Government and that is the Iwi Chairs Forum. What are they screaming for? Partnership and we're delivering that for them. In fact I can't even remember the last time I saw a National member at any of those meetings with iwi chairs or in any progressive discussion with our iwi to develop a partnership to look at how we can make this country more resilient and stronger into the future. I am disappointed in that side of the House and I look forward to proving them wrong and establishing a strong Māori Health Authority that will serve our people. We've set a tight time frame for our delivery of this particular kaupapa. We've made it clear that within 13 months the Māori Health Authority will deliver primary healthcare outcomes for our people— Hon Louise Upston: How will you measure it? Hon PEENI HENARE: —and we'll make sure that we'll measure it by showing that we've turned around the inequities that were established and supported under that Government—the National-led Government. I'm really excited. That side: their problem ever since they've been in the Opposition benches is partnership. They can't find a partner. Their closest partner is more distant from them than ever before; in fact one would argue they're leading them. Kia ora to the ACT Party—that's partnership. The failure of National to be able to count numbers and have partners at the table is proof today. On this side of the House partnership will lead us into the future. Partnership will make sure that post-COVID this country is bigger better and stronger.