4. Question No. 4—Prime MinisterHon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 4—Prime Minister4. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government's statements and actions?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes.Hon Judith Collins: Will she travel to Auckland to announce her enhanced business support package and new COVID protection framework tomorrow?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister no; that announcement will be made here in Wellington. The member will be well aware that travel for members of Parliament up to Auckland and back down to Wellington has some restrictions around it in light of rulings by the Speaker.Hon Judith Collins: So will she travel to Auckland at all during the current lockdown to speak to businesses struggling after 65 days of lockdown?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister the Prime Minister speaks to people in Auckland on a daily basis. Her Ministers are in constant contact with businesses and business organisations across Auckland.Hon Member: Helen Clark doesn't count!SPEAKER: Order!Hon Judith Collins: If the Director of Public Health can travel to and from Auckland why can't the Prime Minister?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I've already answered that question in the answer to the first supplementary question. There are restrictions around being able to be in this House. I'm sure the member would be criticising the Prime Minister for not being in Parliament in the debating chamber if she was travelling to Auckland.Hon Judith Collins: Does she agree with Steve Gillett owner of The Kingslander pub in the Mt Albert electorate who said a $100 dine and discover voucher is a brilliant idea a very positive idea"; if so will her enhanced business support package be adopting this policy to support struggling Mt Albert businesses?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister the Government has contributed since 17 August close to $4.5 billion to support businesses to be able to support them to keep their staff and meet their fixed costs as well. We are always looking at ideas for how we can develop that response.Hon Judith Collins: Does she agree with Auckland Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Michael Barnett in relation to his comments yesterday that National's Back in Business plan was a better balance of health and economics and addressed some of the failings and weaknesses in the Government's response?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister I've a lot of respect for Mr Barnett but I'm not sure whether he would have had time to go through all of the mistakes that were in the plan that National released yesterday.Hon Judith Collins: Well does she agree with Viv Beck Chief Executive of the Heart of the City that the Government needs to take heed of the National Party's plan and deliver for business on Friday?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister the Government has been consistently working with the business community not only in Auckland but all around New Zealand to support people to stay in work. Over the last 20 months working together with business we have seen the economy grow better than many other countries around the world; we have seen unemployment go to 4 percent—that's 4 percent—which is an incredible result; and we've managed to keep our levels of debt lower compared to many in the rest of the world. We are working closely with business. That has delivered to New Zealand a strong economy and we continue to do that.Hon Judith Collins: Does she agree with Retail New Zealand Chief Executive Greg Harford who said yesterday "It is really important a date is set for when we start to open up."; if so when will she announce a date for opening up?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister as was covered in the House yesterday the most important thing in terms of keeping New Zealanders safe and being able to make sure that as a country we move forward positively together is getting the maximum number of people vaccinated and making sure that those vaccinations are spread across our communities. Setting a date without being clear about that seems to me to be a recipe for disaster.Hon Stuart Nash: Is the Prime Minister aware that the total of all three rounds for the Resurgence Support Payment in Greater Auckland alone has been around about $582 million to help businesses with fixed costs?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister yes and in fact the proportion of Auckland businesses receiving the Resurgence Support Payment has now grown to around 70 percent of the payments. It is targeting businesses in Auckland who are finding it tough. There is no one in this House who underestimates how difficult it has been for businesses and communities in Auckland. What we do have to do here is stay the course to make sure that New Zealand builds on the gains that we made last year and make sure that we come out the other side of this outbreak strongly. That requires all of us working together with strong health advice backed up by a good economic support programme.Hon Judith Collins: Why has the Government still not delivered a system verifying vaccine status which would allow a million fully vaccinated Aucklanders to safely get back to work?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Well on behalf of the Prime Minister we have a vaccine certificate regime. That is being developed. We have already begun people being able to use and sign up to it and we will be able to roll that out further in the coming weeks.Hon Judith Collins: Why eight months after she told this House in February this year it was being worked on has she still not delivered the system and why are we still hearing from the Prime Minister that it's being worked on eight months—SPEAKER: Order! Order!Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister there was an excellent presentation given by staff members of the Ministry of Health on exactly how the vaccine certificate programme would work. There are people today who are already signing up for that programme. And there will be more to say about the role of vaccine certificates tomorrow."