van Velden BrookeBROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of the ACT Party in opposition to the COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No 2) and I do so on behalf of the ACT Party because this bill is a sad indictment on the Government's COVID response.If we think of New Zealand and our position in the world we have one of the best natural advantages against COVID-19: we're a small island in the Pacific but we also have low population density. We have people who by and large want to do the right thing and work together to stamp out COVID. We have everything working for us but unfortunately the Government has been slow. It hasn't taken a wellbeing approach to COVID and it hasn't tried to be forward-thinking and it's imposed a lot of costs on a lot of people and not taken that into consideration in wanting to progress and do the right thing.Now if we go back to the original bill this is a continuation of that. Back in March last year we had COVID come into our community and we put in place lockdown restrictions—alert levels—to make sure that we could keep COVID out. And by and large most people were wanting to do the right thing because that was the only thing we could do at the time. We had a long summer we managed to stamp out COVID a lot of people managed to get a lot of their freedom back and a lot of that livelihood that had been lost for many in months under a lockdown but then once again we saw COVID come back into our community. And once again everybody did the right thing. We locked down again and we stamped it out but the Government just got complacent. The people did the right thing and the Government didn't.We had about 18 months when we knew that Delta was circling us. We were hearing stories from overseas from family members and friends living with Delta in their communities who told us that it was different to the COVID that we had initially experienced and that we needed to be ready for it. But the Government didn't do anything. We saw no increase in ICU bed capacity. That's a sad indictment on this Government. And when the Government answered my written parliamentary question in October when I asked Has the Government heard of pulse oximeters or received any advice on them?" the Minister said "No I haven't had any advice on those." And what's happened now? It's one of our greatest strategies for home care and self-isolation in the community and it was only after this current lockdown started that the Government even started to receive advice about that. In Ontario in Canada they had this self-isolation method in their community for months. Other countries had picked up on that model months ago and our Government just sat there complacently thinking that the rules that were still in place from last year would be adequate this time round.They didn't think of getting vaccines in time. They thought "Oh well it's all pretty lovely here. We haven't had COVID for a while. Maybe this will just continue for us." They didn't actively plan to think how they could help New Zealanders in the long term and when vaccines finally did come they never even thought "Well how can we make sure that people have access electronically to a record that says they've even had one?" They were so far behind the ball. But they didn't even think of planning and preparing for the future: new technologies rapid antigen testing. Unfortunately Delta did get through our managed isolation and quarantine—it was only a matter of time; we couldn't keep it out for ever—but the vaccines weren't rolled out in time. And so what did we have to do? We had to lock down again. Businesses suffered. Families have suffered. It is a tragedy that we are still looking at that same piece of legislation and wanting to update it.What the Government should have been doing is putting into this bill a better plan and a better way forward—things like how we incentivise people to make sure that we get our vaccine right up there. Incentives partnerships thinking about new ways to get those last few thousand New Zealanders vaccinated—there's nothing about that in here. It could be about new technologies but it's not. There's nothing here about rapid antigen testing and making sure that people can actually go about with a bit more freedom. This bill is about reinforcing the Government's command and control over the people of New Zealand. And it's extraordinary power. If you take one example which is the ability for the Government to take over private property; I mean that's incredible. They're saying that it's important for New Zealand to be able to have testing. When you've got companies that have invested their time and their money and their energy why would another company in the future decide that they want to invest their time money and energy in New Zealand when the Government can pass legislation to say that they'll just take it? Where is the ambition there? Where is any faith in business? This is all about the Government commanding and controlling and it's outrageous. If testing is so important then they would allow for rapid antigen testing to be in the community.The ACT Party opposes this bill because the Government should be more ambitious. It should be more future focused but instead it's kind of happy with the status quo and I think that's heartbreaking. I've had people writing in to me who have been locked out of this country—people who are pregnant who are so worried about the country that they are in that they're beside themselves wondering when they'll actually hear back from someone to know if they can get through the border or will they just have to go this alone? It's horrible. We've got pregnant women in New Zealand whose partners are locked out overseas and it's only until they take the Government to the High Court that the Government actually lets their partners through the border. I mean that's crazy. We have people who are missing the funerals of their family members and they'll never be able to get over that because they haven't been able to see their family members pass in peace and I think that's a tragedy. We have tourism businesses that are hurting. We have businesses up and down New Zealand that are hurting with COVID restrictions. We have businesses that are wanting to take on new staff and they can't get the people that they're wanting to recruit through the border. We have forgotten that we are a team of 6 million and not a team of 5 million and we should allow our family members home.This bill doesn't allow for new technology and we oppose the lack of planning and forward-thinking of this Government in general but in particular in this bill. Thank you Madam Speaker."