Bishop ChrisCHRIS BISHOP (National): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. On Sunday I visited Auckland for the first time in 13 or 14 weeks and it was not a decision that I took lightly. But I had had a number of people reach out to me in the preceding days saying You've got to come up here and see for yourself the scale of the devastation and the anguish and talk to people face to face." So I visited Auckland and unlike another prominent political leader who also went to Auckland the week before I actually went and talked to people on the ground whose businesses were affected by the COVID restrictions.I've got to tell you that what I discovered was actually really heartbreaking: hospitality owners who are just thinking about the Christmas period knowing that Aucklanders will probably leave Auckland over Christmas and that that time of year in January when it's a bit of a slow period will be even slower. They're trying to make money now and they can't open. When they hear that they can't open right now because the vaccine certificates aren't ready because the Government only signed the contract with the IT provider a month ago there is going to be outrage and rightly so. I talked to people who are mortgaging their homes who are selling their cars and who are just doing what they can to get by and what they don't want is platitudes and they don't want this bill—which does nothing to make life better for them—they just want some certainty. They want a date and they want to know what the rules are and they want to get back to business so that they can start employing people again and start making some money to try and get through the next few months and this bill does nothing—it does nothing for them. It does nothing for Auckland hospitality it does nothing for Auckland small business it does nothing for Wellington small business and it does nothing for Christchurch business. What it does is continue and perpetuate the Fortress New Zealand mentality that underpins this Government's COVID response. Even despite the changes in terms of vaccination it continues the idea that we can be locked away in splendid isolation for ever. It reflects a world in which the Government cannot move on from elimination which failed. It reflects a world in which the Government is psychologically incapable of acknowledging that elimination failed they didn't have a back-up plan and we have to move to suppression and it reflects a world that's actually quite scary. Shanan Halbert: Welcome to Delta. CHRIS BISHOP: Oh well the member says "Delta". Yeah exactly—exactly. The member says "Delta". Yeah Delta turned up in April. Delta turned up in April. What did the Government do? The Prime Minister thinks it arrived in June. It arrived in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) in April. When did the Government establish a COVID-19 testing group to tell them about rapid antigen tests? Did they do that in February March April May June? No. They did it in August—August. When did the Government authorise vaccine certificates? Did they think about vaccine certificates in February March April May June—like every other country was doing? No. The Government authorised vaccine certificates to be developed in July and they signed the contract with the IT company on 13 October. So everyone listening out there needs to know if you're in Auckland and you want to leave the "Auckland Prison" you want to go back to work or you want to go and have a beer outside on Ponsonby Road in a courtyard and you can't the reason you can't is because there's no such thing as a vaccine certificate in New Zealand yet and the reason there isn't a vaccine certificate is because the Government was lazy and incompetent and didn't do the work earlier this year. That's the reason. Vaccine certificates could be in place right now. If we had vaccine certificates in place right now Aucklanders could leave they could go to the pub they could go outside and go for a meal they could go shopping and they could go back to work. They can't because this lazy useless Government assumed that elimination would work and they had no back-up plan whatsoever. So we'll oppose this bill for three reasons: one it's predicated on the wrong assumption Fortress New Zealand; two it reflects a world in which elimination is the mentality not suppression; and thirdly—this was the point I was coming to before the soon to be former member for Northcote interrupted me and made the point—it reflects a world in which the Government thinks that confiscation of private property for no reason is acceptable. The member—Terisa Ngobi: You're angry eh? CHRIS BISHOP: Yeah I am angry. The member who's soon to be the former member for Ōtaki interrupts from way down the back of the House and says that I'm angry. Yeah I am angry. I am angry. I am angry and there's a reason I'm angry because unlike that member I have visited the people in Auckland who are locked down and who have been in one of the longest lockdowns in the developed world and I'm angry because I stare at a Government—an arrogant Government—that pretends that the developed world's slowest vaccine roll-out is acceptable and frankly it's not. This Government is overseeing a public policy disaster of epic proportions and it's not good enough for the Government to say "Oh well Mr Bishop's angry." Yeah I am angry. This side's angry. We are angry and I'll tell you what: if the Prime Minister were to visit Auckland and not just go to a manufacturer that never had to close but if the Prime Minister walked down Ponsonby Road and went into the Longroom or went down to the Viaduct or went over to Takapuna like I did on Sunday she would discover anger and despair and venom because people are furious. They have mortgaged their livelihoods just to get by and they stare at a Government that has overseen the developed world's slowest vaccine roll-out that was slow to order boosters and now they're slow on vaccine certificates. The reason why Auckland remains the "Auckland Prison" is because of this Government's incompetence. Let me talk about MIQ because this bill is littered with the re-erection—in fact the reinforcement—of the MIQ regime. Here are the facts. There are 4000 people isolating at home right now in the North Island: 2000 of them have COVID and the rest of them are close contacts. These are the numbers. There are 35 people in MIQ with COVID: 4000 of them are in the community and three people have died in home isolation—at home—and yet this Government oversees a regime in which when fully vaccinated travellers with no COVID arrive in New Zealand do they go into home isolation? No they go into MIQ. So we have this perverse system where if you come in without COVID you take up a space in MIQ with the doctors and with the nurses and with the public health protection and if you do have COVID and you need that support and you need the testing and you need the support of the nurses and the doctors you're stuck at home. "Good luck to you" says the Government. "Don't go into MIQ. We're reserving the MIQ space for fully vaccinated people without COVID." How ludicrous is that? How bizarre how perverse is that scenario? Fully vaccinated no COVID: "Good luck in your 14 days"—or now seven but—"your seven days plus your three in MIQ." But if you've got COVID: "Good luck in the community." It is bizarre and it doesn't make any sense and it's not lined up with the science because Professor Michael Baker who's the architect of the elimination strategy—he agrees with us. He says that it doesn't make any sense and that those spaces would be better used for people who actually have COVID. We need to end MIQ right now end the lottery of human misery and allow fully vaccinated Kiwis to come home. Finally on private sector testing capability the Minister says very blandly "Well yeah the bill allows us to requisition private sector capability and make use of all the capacity." Here's an idea: don't just give yourself the power as a Government to steal their property. Why don't you just negotiate and contract which is what most normal Governments do? You've got a contract with Asia Pacific Healthcare Group for nasal PCR testing. Do the same thing with Rako Science and the other testing providers. Rako can do 10000 tests a day. I got one on the weekend. It took nine hours. Here's a point: while Aucklanders were waiting 10 hours to even get a test at the start of this most recent outbreak Rako Science was saying to the Government "We're prepared to help." and the ministry told them "Sod off. Don't requisition your testing capacity. We don't want you." What a disgrace—just like this bill and just like this Government."