Mahuta NanaiaHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Local Government): We are indeed in unprecedented times but when our children and grandchildren look back in 10 20 30 years to this moment and this time and the way in which this Government has acted they will know that the health of our people is inextricably linked to the health of our economy. The actions that this Government has taken has ensured that yes while we were indeed suffering some very challenging circumstances we are making the types of decisions that will take our people and our economy through and we will be stronger for it because that team of 5 million people who have acted on the information that we have received in relation to COVID-19 forcing us to take some very significant steps a four-week lockdown and then looking towards how those levels can be reduced and how a new normal can be created—I am absolutely sure that our children and our grandchildren will reflect well on what we're trying to achieve. But we are not there yet and many New Zealanders as they are coping with the realities of what they have been working through over the last few weeks—we are asking people to continue to stay the course stick to our bubbles and let's finish the job that we started because the results are starting to come through. Day by day when the Prime Minister is reporting back on the confirmed cases and probable cases we have seen what many other countries have not. Our strategy is working but we must stay the course. Just today in the House the Prime Minister said that everything that we have done has tried to maintain the balance on people and the economy. We have tried to ensure that we're keeping people in jobs. Why else then would 1.7 million workers be taking up the wage subsidy scheme? Why else then would we be putting out a redeployment package of $100 million to ensure that the workforce we currently have can be repurposed? We are supporting businesses and small businesses. We're ensuring that those supports are there.But let me come back to the day-to-day challenge that New Zealanders face in these very trying times and I too want to acknowledge the essential workers. Let me say for local government those essential workers are those who are contributing to the civil defence emergency management (CDEM) response. The profile of that means that a lot of the people are working in local government to make sure that we've got clean drinking water that our wastewater system is working and that our rubbish collection systems are working and that we have a network through the CDEM units to ensure a welfare response that complements the health response. There are so many people to thank but I want to recognise them.I also want to recognise that the Government knew that it was important to ensure a Māori-specific response because of the potential impact on vulnerable communities and that response has meant that Māori health providers Māori welfare services and iwi have also been integrated into the type of response to ensure at a community level—hard to reach communities—that we have networks of support that are working together in ways that they have never ever done before. That's what's required when we try and balance the needs of people and communities while also being mindful that the economy must be where we continue to place our thoughts and actions to ensure we come out the other end more resilient and stronger for it. That's why the conversations around recovery are about central and local government partnerships alongside iwi and the private sector to ensure that from a small provincial community to a large urban metro city we're all in this together. Just like the health response the economic recovery response will be the same too. I want to come back to some challenging circumstances too because level 4 meant that tikanga practices had to change for Māori in relation specifically to tangihanga. But do you know what? When they got the information around the overriding health advice about how tikanga may need to accommodate the reality of what we were dealing with to stop the potential of any spread in any community kaiwhakarite and iwi got alongside the initiative to ensure that whānau in their absolute time of grief and need where they would want to come together and grieve—we were trying to work through a process that worked well from a cultural context. I want to acknowledge iwi kaiwhakarite and communities of funeral directors who have supported cultural practices in this instance. We must stay the course. We need to be vigilant. There will be a new normal as we decrease the levels when that happens. But the important thing is an economic recovery requires everybody working together and that's what this Government is committed to.