McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I'm very pleased to be able to stand here on behalf of the Labour Party and lend my support to this bill which we wrote. So the COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill is quite amazing really when you think about it—that something like this can come up so quickly and deal with issues that only eight weeks ago this Parliament I'm sure would not have anticipated that we needed to do. But that is the nature of the crisis that this country and many other countries face is that is evolving it is unprecedented and there is no template—there's no blueprint as to how to go about this.There have been many examples of issues that have come from various sectors that this Parliament is being asked to deal with through this process—45 pieces of legislation are being amended in this bill and I think that's marvellous. I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the officials for the work that they have done because they're often overlooked. To go away and work over the weekend to be able to present the report to the Epidemic Response Committee was I'm sure something that no one wishes to do but they had no choice. They had to do it and they did it because it needed to be done and good on them for doing that.I also want to acknowledge—credit where it's due—the Hon Michael Woodhouse did a very good job of chairing the submission process for this bill so well done. I think that's something that this House doesn't do enough is acknowledge when there is collaboration across the House. I'm one of the first to point out the foibles of the other side so I also wish to take the opportunity to congratulate when there has been collaboration. I know that that is a part of the political process the parliamentary process that the public don't see very much—collaboration does not sell newspapers—so it's great to be able to acknowledge that.There are various examples in this bill of things that—like I mentioned earlier—I don't think we would have anticipated would have needed changing such as as referenced by the previous speaker Stuart Smith the necessary changes to the Gambling Act. Now organisations like the Heart Foundation and Coastguard and Countdown Kids Charitable Trust needed a law change to be able to take payments for their lotteries online or by phone and it is astonishing that that is required but it was. And so it's great that that has been identified and included in this bill.There are a number of changes that are significant such as for example allowing the by-election in Ōtorohanga to be postponed. Now otherwise that wouldn't have been able to happen but obviously with the conditions that are currently in place as a result of the necessary lockdown that we are undergoing at the moment that would have impeded democracy. So it's a good opportunity and a great example of those sorts of issues coming through the hard work of Government departments the Ministers identifying that including that in this response and the other side of the House taking it into consideration hearing submissions on the Epidemic Response Committee and lending their support to this.It's been an extraordinary experience being part of that committee I have to say and I want to acknowledge the submitters because they had to come at short notice. And the submissions that they provided in this allowed the committee to make a number of recommendations for changes in this bill and that's been addressed by the Supplementary Order Paper that's been presented to this House. It just goes to show that even in a short process the select committee process does contribute greatly to this.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Ah not for the next bill!KIERAN McANULTY: There are of course times where urgency is required as the previous Government knew very well—many many many examples of urgency; far more than this Government I might point out. There are many examples where some bills need to go in through urgency. And the next bill that this House is going to consider is one of those because—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Give us three reasons.KIERAN McANULTY: —of course the COVID-19 response requires such an approach.Now I understand that the member on the other side of the House that wants to take the opportunity to interject is under a lot of pressure at the moment because the response has been so strong and it has been received so well that the other side of the House is running out of platforms from which to try and get attention. So if this is the platform which that member chooses to try and grasp attention then good on him—good on him. It's not the approach that we would take of course because we are a party of principle.So—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Back to the bill?KIERAN McANULTY: Back to the bill—back to this marvellous bill. I will not concentrate on the interjections from the other side any more. I will come back to this bill. I don't actually think that there's much need to go on too much longer to be honest because—Hon Simon Bridges: No no give us more!KIERAN McANULTY: I don't know if I will give them more. They plead for more—they plead for more but I will not give it to them. I don't know why but it seems to me that they want this to continue—they don't want to get to the next bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm happy for it to continue if it's about the bill.KIERAN McANULTY: I don't really want to continue Madam Speaker because the point is that this bill has been covered—it's been well covered. It's so broad and so varied. But in such a short period of time it has addressed the things that needed to be addressed. I commend all those that have been part of it and I'm looking forward to seeing it progress through the House. Thank you Madam Speaker.