Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Minister of Defence) (remote): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Tēnā tātou katoa. My first offering in this general debate is to endorse the words of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Wellington Central MP the Hon Grant Robertson. The way he described what Wellingtonians have endured over the past weeks is I think testament to the challenges that our people have faced in Wellington and in other parts of our country. What we want though is for our country to go back to normal as quick as possible and this Government's focus is to make sure that where we can we will secure our future off the great health decisions and the great health leadership that we have done to make sure our country comes through this particular pandemic. The Hon Chris Hipkins talked about the change of isolation rules. I want to as defence Minister thank all of our defence force personnel for their contribution to Operation Protect which has seen hundreds of our defence force personnel represent us all in this country. As they continue to carry out their duties at managed isolation and quarantine they have done it with aplomb they have done it with extreme professionalism and I want to acknowledge them. I want to acknowledge them because as well as that they have continued to be ready to respond when Aotearoa New Zealand needs them the most. It is that reason that as we look towards our priorities for the defence force I want to once again reiterate the priorities that this Government has agreed to and two of those particular priorities are people and infrastructure in the defence force. Investing in our infrastructure ensures that our defence force personnel live and work in buildings that are not only healthy but they are safe and fit for purpose. It also provides much-needed economic stimulus for the regions where our people are based. A good example of this is the Manawatū-Whanganui region. The new $250 million facility to support the new P-8A Poseidon aircraft being built at the base in Ōhākea currently provides work for 250 people and it is expected to grow to 400 at its peak. The workforce consists of 25 main subcontractors of which a third of them approximately are from that particular region. These are good examples of strong investment that will continue to secure our resilience and our future. Also for the defence force the Linton maintenance support facility replaces the aged and obsolete army workshop used to repair military equipment. Construction for this commenced in July 2021 using a local Manawatū contractor and it is progressing to schedule and budget and is due for completion in May 2023. The project employs up to 180 people in the region directly and 360 indirectly through local subcontractors and suppliers. Approved funding for the build is about $53.5 million. These are the examples of securing our future as we come towards this stage of the pandemic. I'm proud of the work that we've done and I'm proud of the decisions that we've made to continue to support our recovery and our resilience. But let's be quite clear: we are in the grip of Omicron. Last week Māori Ministers made the announcement of a further $140 million to continue to support Māori Omicron and Pacific Omicron response in our community. I'm proud of the work we've done. The Prime Minister has already shouted that praise in answer to oral questions today and I want to commend her support and the support of this Government for our Māori health providers and our Pacific health providers. I've spoken to a number of them and they're absolutely thrilled that there is more money there to continue to help them to secure their workforce into the future to continue to add to the capacity to allow them to respond to Omicron. In my final seconds: 12 months ago I started out on one of three tours around the country to push the vaccine amongst Māori communities. We still have a challenge up in front of us whānau and this is my plea to all Māori health providers and our communities: while tamariki vaccine rates continue to fall behind and Māori rates lag behind that of non-Māori my plea is to every member of this House and to our community to bring our tamariki forward to make the right decision and to vaccinate. Kia ora Mr Speaker. SPEAKER: Kia ora.