Bayly AndrewANDREW BAYLY (National—Port Waikato): Madam Speaker thank you. Well I think some of the points that Mr Robertson's just been talking about need to be discussed and I think the first thing is that to say that 17000 skilled workers have been allowed through the border and I presume that's over the last 14 months that he was quoting that figure from. Given there are about 2.5 million people employed in New Zealand that represents 0.68 percent or less than 1 percent of all the people working in New Zealand. I think if Mr Robertson was to properly engage as I know he has been in going around the country and actually talk to the manufacturing people in places like Canterbury talk to farmers or to some people like the horticulture industry even in my electorate in Pukekohe or to a whole raft of other industries—and Mr Brownlee talked about some that he's aware of—everyone is crying out for skilled workers. That doesn't mean that we're looking to replace whole stacks of people involved in various businesses or industries. What we're asking for is a specific targeted approach. Where there are operators of machinery that may be one person who has a crucial skill who should be allowed into New Zealand but right now cannot get into New Zealand because we've got a Government that has locked down the borders. Worse than that they've not only locked down that but they're not even using all the managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities. There are reportedly 2000 MIQ rooms that are not being utilised and that is the issue. Why should the industry be forced to go through the trials and tribulations and absolute stress of not being able to operate their businesses? Actually a lot of them are telling me now they're having to turn away customer contracts. They've been offered the work but they simply cannot do it because they do not have access to certain skilled staff. That is the crucial point that we're talking about which a number of my colleagues have raised tonight. We're not talking about a wholesale opening of the border—that's far from what we're suggesting. What we're talking about is using all the MIQ systems and rooms to bring people in. Make sure that they go through the proper quarantine make sure they're COVID-tested but make sure we're prioritising the skilled workers that come into New Zealand and utilise the 2000 rooms that are sitting vacant. That's the issue that we're talking about tonight and talking about 17000 coming through the border is just a ridiculous proposition when not only are we waiting for skilled people but also we've got many New Zealanders wanting to be reunited with their families. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! I'd invite the member to come back to the bill. ANDREW BAYLY: Yep. So that is a really really crucial point—that we do need the skilled workers. In terms of auditors in New Zealand as the Minister himself quoted twice now there is a shortfall of 200 auditors in New Zealand. Two hundred is not a lot of people—200 accountants—because effectively auditors are junior accountants rising up to very senior accountants. But for many many auditors it's the first job they get when they get their accounting qualification or as part of getting their accounting qualification. We should be focused on the top end of those and allowing those types of people to come in. I imagine that out of the 200 there will be a varying level of expertise. The important people to use and to allow into the country would be the most skilled and that is where the Government should have been putting its priority. At the moment we've got a Government that's blind to that and that's said to every industry in New Zealand—all 325000 businesses—Hard luck. You just get on. Don't worry about getting that contract. Don't worry about that stress. You just pay workers more if you can get them locally." which is obviously the big issue. But when it comes to a Government entity it thinks it can just automatically pass a piece of legislation to give a special dispensation to one entity. As I've said in my opening speech we think the Audit Office does a wonderful job. It does a wonderful job and is very diligent in performing its duties. But simply for the Government to say "Look we are going to pass a special piece of legislation because our immigration strategy or policies haven't worked." it is just an outlandish proposition. That's the first thing. The second thing we haven't heard is the issue about why these auditors are actually leaving. That is about the terms of work conditions that these people work under at Audit New Zealand and an element of that will be pay. If there's a short-term issue I think the Government could have been much more proactive in terms of dealing with some of those issues that are leading to people leaving the Audit Office and going and joining the private sector or perhaps emigrating. That is the issue I think that we haven't also heard from the Government on. Why aren't they addressing that issue? Even if you pass this piece of legislation over the next 24 hours there will be no doubt if there's no other changes made—it is almost inevitable—that we're going to see the Audit Office requiring a similar dispensation for next year and possibly the year after depending on where we go with COVID and depending on the level and type of immigration policy the Government wants to have in place at that point in time. So I think there's no creative thinking about the way that the Government's approached this. The third element if you really wanted to be creative would be a question of prioritising some of the work that Audit New Zealand should be focused on. My colleague the Hon Michael Woodhouse was talking about this in his first reading speech talking about the wide range of work that Audit New Zealand is proposing to undertake in this financial year. One of the options—the third option—is to say to Audit New Zealand "Maybe you should put on hold some of that work so you can focus on doing the audits." Again a responsible Government or a creative Government would have looked at those options. What we haven't heard and haven't heard from any of the speeches given tonight nor even from the Minister is any of those things being canvassed. All we see is a blunt tool from the Government which is saying "We are going to pass a special piece of legislation to deal with this issue and this deficiency in the way that the immigration policies have been applied by the Government." and I think that's the crux of the matter. That's the crux of the matter and that's why National has a fundamental issue with this urgent bill that we're looking at tonight and tomorrow. We need the Government to be more receptive. Every business person watching and listening to this debate tonight will say "If they're doing it for one industry why aren't they doing it for mine?" and that is the stress that we're putting on these people. We've heard all about the training that the Minister for Social Development and Employment talked about earlier today—doing the mahi as she likes to talk about—about training up New Zealanders. Well where's been the issue around helping train some of the early-stage auditors? What is the plan about that? We've heard nothing about training about that or even the concept of trying to get these people working in organisations like Audit New Zealand. We need to see people actually focus on trying to achieve a proper enduring solution. That's not what we've heard from the Government tonight at all and I think it's very disappointing that the Government just resorts to a quick fix without actually dealing with the substantive issue that we're all facing. I'd just implore the Government members talking tonight to just bear in mind the electorates that they represent or the areas that they represent as a list MP and just think through all the different companies and business activities that you know are going on in your area and just ask yourself—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! The member must not bring the Speaker into the debate. ANDREW BAYLY: Sorry. I would ask each member to think: if we passed this bill tonight is that fair on those businesses in the area where you represent? If you go back through the period of recess over the next three weeks and ask businesses whether this piece of legislation that's being passed tonight is fair on them I think you will get an answer that is very firmly saying to you "No that is not fair. You need to give us a fair shot and help us so that we can carry on and be successful as business people and continue to employ people and hopefully in time employ even more people." which is really what we want to see in New Zealand."