Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Mr Speaker thank you very much. There will be fewer restrictions under level 2 and we are well aware of this but those remaining still need to be enforceable and that is the purpose of this piece of legislation we are now debating. We don't want these narrower controls to be relying upon a national state of emergency. So this new law will recognise the central role of health factors and the measures that we need to take to acknowledge the fact that we have saved lives in New Zealand by taking the measures we have taken to date and we must continue to do so in order to make sure we do not yo-yo back and forth to higher levels of warning as we have seen in other countries who have not followed through with the downgraded levels.This new law will also provide that the Minister of Health become a decision maker in the advice taken on board by the Director-General of Health. It will also provide for economic and social factors to be taken into account in determining appropriate measures. The vast majority of New Zealanders do want to do the right thing and they do comply because they know that it is within their best interests to do so.During my time in lockdown one of the things that I undertook to do was make a number of phone calls to those in the community within the Hutt Valley who may have needed extra support particularly those in the over-65 group. And in that group—SPEAKER: I want to thank the member—GINNY ANDERSEN: I did call him. I did call you Trevor.SPEAKER: —for having concern for her local constituents.GINNY ANDERSEN: And in that group there were a number of concerns raised. But the point I would like to make here is the main concern was those New Zealanders that were making sacrifices that were staying inside that were changing their lives—the thing that worried them the most was others who were not. They felt that it was unfair that there could be a group—SPEAKER: I'm now going to ask the member despite her generosity to start speaking to the bill.GINNY ANDERSEN: Sure. So the point of this bill is—I was making my way to the point Mr Speaker—that the regulatory backup provided by this new law allows us to address the behaviour at alert level 2 that is particularly harmful to that public health objective that we have laid out right from the start and to demonstrate to those who are complying voluntarily that non-compliance will not be tolerated. Non-compliance is a real risk to the wellbeing and the safety of New Zealanders. So it is important that this bill provides for the enforcement to enable a quick response if there are situations—whether that be a business that's not abiding by the social distancing requirements or whether that be a congregation of people in a party setting. There are a number of different responses that police have been required to attend and it's important that those abilities to enforce a strong public health response are enabled by the law and that is exactly what this bill does.New Zealanders need to be commended and we have been commended internationally for our amazing ability to band together and to fight back against COVID-19. And we have largely done that. But the time has now come for some of those temporary measures to be made permanent as we move through the final stages and make sure that we are safe in an ongoing way. It does concern me that members of the Opposition do not see the merit and the benefit and the public good in ensuring that we are safe and that we do not put ourselves in positions of spreading COVID-19 unnecessarily. While the vast majority of New Zealanders abide by this we know that some are not and we want to make sure that those instances are minimised as much as possible.I would like to conclude by acknowledging that this legislation is designed for the ongoing management of a situation that has been unprecedented within New Zealand's history and that at this time we need to acknowledge that a new framework is needed that is not relying upon a national state of emergency. It provides a good framework that is able to operate to ensure New Zealanders are safe and that we can continue to live our lives at a new level of freedom without putting at risk those around us. I commend this bill to the House.