SpeechTERISA NGOBI (Labour—Ōtaki): Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity to speak in this House of change my first speech for 2022. I'm proud to stand here not only as the member for Ōtaki but also in support of the Prime Minister's statement. That's where I'd like to start—just by thanking our Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern and our Ministers for essentially saving my family's life. I mean that not just as a backbencher but as someone who lives in the Ōtaki electorate and knows what could have been if it wasn't for this Government. I know that my mum and my dad are very vulnerable; my children my husband and our neighbours and the people we love around us. I get it every day—messages of absolute gratitude that we put lives and families first. We put the health of our people in New Zealand first and I am grateful to this Government our leaders and especially our Prime Minister for that.This is in stark contrast I guess to the Opposition where you've seen I guess the rolling four leaders saying open the border shut the border open the border shut the border" and more recently Mr Luxon saying it's "freedom day" in December. Thank God we didn't have "freedom day" in December—because God knows what could have happened then. But thanks to this decisive leadership we're in good stead and not just around our COVID response which we know has given us the lowest numbers as we've heard in the House today. Actually we hear it on the streets too because people know the real rhetoric that's happening out there. People know they're grateful to live in Aotearoa and not overseas. They also know we have the lowest number of deaths. We have the lowest number of hospitalisations. For a Pasifika person that's a big deal. Hospitalisation is massive for us in terms of access so we keep hospitalisations as low as we can so we have at least a starting chance of getting in there if we have any other issues is critical for us. So that's massive and again I'm grateful to this Government for making sure that's happened. The other thing I would say is I'm really grateful to the 96 percent of vaccinated Kiwis out there. I'm really grateful that you also are doing your bit to make sure that my babies and my family and the people I love are alive and safe. So I say thank you to you also. This Government is doing what it said it would do. The Labour Government is putting people and their wellbeing first and they're also managing this worldwide pandemic at the same time. But still we are progressing with our plan and that is to make sure we support the most vulnerable—and we see that. Again we've got the lowest numbers in terms of deaths and hospitalisations but if we go further than that we've also got a great economy. We've heard our Deputy Prime Minister talk about the fact that to have good economy you need a good health response. They go hand in hand. We're proof of that—these are facts now. We have seen in terms of the OECD what our economy looks like. People message me all the time to say they wish they lived in Aotearoa. We just have to look at Fonterra who have had a record pay-out this year and that is thanks to this economy and the hard work of our farmers. The dairy the beef and the sheep industries are doing amazing—even in a massive worldwide pandemic. That is thanks to the decisions that this Government is making. We've got a record 3.2 unemployment rate. That's never been seen before and again for Māori and Pacific people for our women and our people with disability that's huge. That's critical. You can't underplay that—and again in the middle of a massive pandemic.There's been over $20 million to support business during the COVID pandemic. Nobody has been left out of this Government's support. We also have indexed benefits to wages. That makes a massive difference. We're making sure we're supporting our most vulnerable but where are those people going to spend that money? In our communities again helping our economy. We're making sure that people on low wages and benefits live with dignity. That is what this Government is about. That's what we promised the people of New Zealand and that's what we're delivering. There has been a minimum wage increase and again on 1 April an increase to $21.20. That will be what the minimum wage will go up to. That is life-changing for some of our whānau out there. I could keep going on all these changes. This Labour Government continues to put people first while still managing a massive worldwide pandemic really well by the way and also focusing on reducing child poverty and making sure we tackle climate change and there are more bills tonight that talk about that—our clean car bill. We are also making sure we're making massive waves on housing with the most that have been built since the 1970s. This Government is doing that for us. We are making changes in our communities. I see it every day. I'm proud to be part of this Government."