MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS — COVID-19—Emergency Economic Package

I know that every member of this House, whatever our political differences, is here because we believe in this country and in our people. Today, we face a challenge that requires us to harness every bit of that spirit and give our total commitment to protecting the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders. That commitment is of the utmost importance as New Zealand faces its greatest health and economic challenge in over a generation.

Our response in these times must be to put people first. This is a period of time that will test our resilience but also our commitment to each other. He waka eke noa—we are all in this together.

Today’s economic package is about cash flow and confidence. It is only the beginning of what this Government will do to support New Zealanders through this time of crisis and lead our recovery and rebuilding. We will fight the virus. We will cushion the blow for businesses and workers. We will position for recovery. We have been and we will be swift, decisive, and compassionate.

The global COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc around the world. The virus’s exponential spread has seen whole countries shut down in their attempts to slow and contain the spread. The result has been unprecedented economic and social disruption across the globe, and we are not immune, of course—I cannot and must not sugar-coat this. A recession in New Zealand is now almost certain, with the advice that we are receiving that the shock will be larger than that seen during the global financial crisis. This will affect every part of our economy now and for some time to come. We are going to see many New Zealanders lose their jobs, and some businesses will fail. We will have an extended period of deficits, and our debt as a country will have to substantially increase. Our package announced today and the support that will continue to come—we’ll do our best to cushion that blow.

It is heartening that we face this with our books in good shape. We have kept net debt low, at 19.5 percent of GDP, which is lower than we inherited. We have worked hard to be ready for the rainy day that has now arrived.

There is no costless decision in this situation. The economic impacts of the spread of COVID-19 were clear before our decision to extend border restrictions. I stand by the wisdom and the courage of that decision. We are taking decisive action to avoid what we have seen overseas and to implement measures that give us a fighting chance of mitigating the worst here, and I make no apologies for that. Whatever costs we are now dealing with pale in comparison to the loss of life and devastation that would come with inaction.

Clearly, there are tough times ahead. I acknowledge the uncertainty and anxiety many people will be feeling right now. I want to say directly to those people: we will get through this together.

The Government’s economic response package is the largest investment in our lifetimes, designed for the unique nature of the disruption caused by COVID-19. It comes on top of the $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme. I want to thank New Zealand First and the Green Party for their help in putting this package together.

The overall investment in the economic response package is $12.1 billion across the forecast period—one of the largest responses in the world on a per capita basis. To give you an idea of the scale of the package I am announcing today, it represents nearly 4 percent of GDP and more than the total of all of the new operating spending in the three Budgets in this term of Government put together.

The package has three components: extra support for the health system to enable an increased public health response so New Zealand can slow any potential domestic outbreak, a substantial package to cushion the impact of the economic shock on businesses and workers and to support confidence in the near term, and the first phase of a broader recovery package to support household incomes through the shock and to spur our economic recovery. Obviously, the ultimate recovery package will go well beyond the measures announced today, and this year’s Budget will be the second phase of our broader recovery package.

Our first response is a public health one. It is our fundamental duty. It is also the first and best economic response. The hard work and dedication of our health workforce and the personal responsibility that New Zealanders are showing with regard to protecting themselves and others is a great line of first defence. We must continue that work to smooth the curve of the inevitable increase in infections. Today’s package includes a commitment of an additional $500 million to support our “Go hard, Go early, Contain COVID-19” strategy. There will be further support to come.

Under this plan, the health system is increasing capacity and capability. This will mean scaling up public communications to ensure people have practical advice and support to contain the virus and stay healthy and on how to self-isolate; ensuring continuity of care in the community; strengthening our ability to test and trace cases; and strengthening our ability to treat cases. To achieve this, our actions in the next 30 days will be split into two phases. Immediate actions, including a public information campaign, upscaling testing, boosting Healthline, surging containment and isolation procedures, establishing community-based assessment clinics, and a whole-of-system focus on meeting workforce demand and personal protective equipment needs. Our medium-term actions include further support for hospitals and community providers to deal with a surge of patients, and further advice for caring for people at home.

I want to pay tribute to the health professionals and staff who are working around the clock to protect New Zealanders’ wellbeing. We owe you so much. Today’s package is a sign of our support for your work.

In addition to the significant boost to the health system I have mentioned, we are also introducing a COVID-19 leave payment scheme. This is to incentivise self-isolation by employees, the self-employed, and contractors. Self-isolation is critical to the success of our public health strategy, and we know that some workers are facing barriers—financial ones—to self-isolation.

The scheme will provide support through employers and to sole traders and the self-employed for those people who are in self-isolation and unable to work, or who are sick or caring for dependants who are in either of those situations. Employers will still be expected to meet all of their sick leave and other employment expectations. The key parameters for the scheme are an entitlement period of 14 days for those self-isolating, and for the entire period of sickness for those who contract COVID-19. Eligibility is open to all firms, the self-employed, and for contractors, but not for those who can work from home.

Full-time workers will receive $585 per week under the scheme. The scheme will be in place for an initial eight-week period, at which point the Government will reassess based on the health situation at the time. Employers will have to sign a declaration confirming that they meet the criteria for receiving this funding. Any false declaration would be committing fraud.

Given the size and speed of the economic shock that we are facing, we recognise the immediate need to support businesses and workers to cushion the economic impact on households and firms. We want to help boost cash flow and confidence in the economy through this uncertain period. It is why we are establishing a wage subsidy scheme. The scheme will help people stay attached to their workplace so that both workers and businesses are in a better position to adjust to the difficult prevailing conditions.

The scheme will be available to all businesses in all sectors nationwide, and will include the self-employed and sole traders. Eligible firms will be provided a lump sum payment of the equivalent of $585 per week per full-time employee and $350 per week per part-time employee for 12 weeks, up to a cap of $150,000. I want to reiterate that will be a lump sum payment.

To qualify, businesses must declare that they have had a 30 percent decline in revenue due to COVID-19, month on month, for any month between January and June this year compared to last year, and that they have talked to their bank about assistance. Employers can make applications for the scheme from today by filling out a simple form on the Work and Income website and making a declaration. The Ministry of Social Development have advised us that they will be able to make payments starting in five days’ time.

At this point, I want to acknowledge the extraordinary work by the Ministry of Social Development and other public servants in pulling this package together under incredible time constraints. I ask everyone for patience in dealing with public servants at this time. Depending on the uptake, this package could inject up to $5.1 billion into the economy over the next two months.

Where possible, we also want people to stay actively engaged with the labour market, or in training. To support this, we have established a $100 million fund to support worker redeployment and training. The first announcement on this will be a package for the Tai Rāwhiti region in the coming days. The Government is also undertaking work on how to support large and complex employers on a case by case basis, and is working in partnership with banks to understand the impact of COVID-19 on access to working capital.

I do want to say today that the decision of the Reserve Bank to cut the official cash rate and to delay the introduction of new capital requirements for banks frees up banks to further support customers. The Government and the Reserve Bank are coordinating our actions to support the overall stability of the economy.

Today’s package also contains an indicative investment for the aviation sector that will be finalised in the coming days. It is essential that we keep air routes open to support returning New Zealanders and to keep vital supply chains open, and that we support essential services at our border.

Today’s package also implements a number of tax changes to increase businesses’ cash flow and stimulate investment. These changes include the reinstatement of depreciation deductions for commercial and industrial buildings at 2 percent diminishing value applying from the 2021 tax year; increasing the threshold for provisional tax from $2,500 to $5,000, also applying from the 2021 tax year; increasing the threshold for writing off low-value assets to $5,000 for the next tax year before reverting to $1,000 in the long term; and giving a time-limited discretion to Inland Revenue to remit use of money interest—that’s the interest on tax debt—if a taxpayer is unable to pay on time due to the impacts of COVID-19.

We also recognise that the Government must provide further support to boost the economy to ensure that a recovery takes hold and that we support our most vulnerable. The first part of this part of the package comprises a $25 across-the-board, permanent increase to main benefits from 1 April 2020; a doubling of the amount paid in 2020 through the winter energy payment; and removing the hours test from the in-work tax credit to assist those who may face variable hours.

The ultimate recovery package will go well beyond these measures, and I intend to re-orientate this year’s Budget to be the second phase of a broader recovery package. Today is not the day to go into detail about the recovery and rebuilding phase. But for now, let me say this: in New Zealand, we have been here before, with major economic and social crises. In my lifetime, we have seen Governments respond with austerity—an ideology that has done enormous damage to the fabric of our society. We have also seen other examples, such as the first Labour Government, who responded with investment, pragmatism, optimism, and kindness. It is from them that I take my lesson on how we recover and rebuild in a just, fair, and far-sighted manner.

We are in for a fight—a fight against a virus, an outside force beyond our control that is wreaking havoc around the globe. We are up for that fight. There is no better defensive line than the All Blacks, and it is just the same with our people as we face this virus. We are in as good a position going into this as we can be, with net debt so low. We are taking bold and decisive actions to respond to uncertain and unprecedented times. My message to New Zealanders is simple: look after yourself, look after your family, look after our elderly, and look out for each other. There are tough days ahead, but we will get through this together. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.

The New Zealand economy is heading into deep recession, and today is the pivotal day in relation to our economy and our health. Today determines how deep and how long this recession is. It determines whether we come out of this sooner and stronger or later and weaker, and whether many businesses and workers—by their thousands—stay in business and whether those workers keep their job. I regret to say that in this package, which I’ll come to, for some of those businesses there’s not much at all.

Last week, Grant Robertson, in the Budget Policy Statement, wouldn’t actually talk about a recession; it was, effectively, in his words, business as usual. I’m glad that Grant Robertson and the Prime Minister now are facing up, with this package, to the seriousness of where we are at today. You go to any business in New Zealand today—from the exporters to the manufacturers to the tourist businesses to the travel agents—and they’d tell you what’s happening in the lay-offs and the four-day weeks and the very significant problems they’ve got with their banks. The same is true—in fact, you talk to any economist, they, like me, have been facing up to this for many, many weeks.

I say to Grant Robertson, in relation to the package—the significant package, $12 billion; $12.1 billion, actually, so they could just be bigger than their infrastructure spend—$12.1 billion is significant. I accept there is, as I have been calling now for weeks, a wage subsidy programme in this. But I say, this shows your confused and your muddled priorities as finance Minister, and I’m going to go through that right now.

You see, Grant Robertson said that it would be the people first. In a $12.1 billion programme—where the Prime Minister has told us we’re best in the world and we’re doing everything right and we’ve got this when it comes to coronavirus—how much does health get? Half a billion dollars; by the way, that doesn’t cover the current deficits that are in the DHBs today, Grant Robertson. You haven’t even done the deficits in the health package in this budget, and the issues that are there right now. It’s too little, too late, and that’s because you’ve prioritised other things—and I will come to that very shortly.

We have a situation in New Zealand right now, when the health officials make quite clear that we haven’t got the ventilators, we haven’t got the overflow, we haven’t got the personal protective equipment and the masks, and we haven’t got the testing equipment that we want. It seems to me that you haven’t put people first in this budget in relation to the crisis that New Zealand and the world has on its hands right now when it comes to health, coronavirus, and testing—as I’ve said a number of times.

See, half of the money of this $12.1 billion—fully half; actually, I think slightly more—is over four years, right? They are baking in the things that they want to see, and some of them are OK. But, bluntly, what we see in this package today is money flowing faster into the hands of beneficiaries than the workers and the businesses that will lose their businesses and their jobs over coming weeks and months. You know, that to me is a crying tragedy. The Prime Minister told us repeatedly, actually—dare I say it, she swiped my line, but that’s OK; it was a good one and it’s the right one for the time that we are in and the deep recession that we are facing—her priority, she said, was to keep businesses in business and workers in jobs. But, actually, what we see is being prioritised is the winter energy payment for wealthy, older New Zealanders—not all of them; some of them are doing it tough, and I acknowledge they will welcome that funding. Beneficiaries baked in: $25 more a week. I acknowledge that for beneficiaries on the breadline that will be deeply welcome.

But I look at the business package and the job support package—12 weeks; let’s be clear there: that is not going to be long enough for the crisis we face in New Zealand or around the world. Five hundred and eighty five dollars—OK—capped at $150,000. So let me tell you what that means: that only pays for the first 21 workers full time for the first 12 weeks.

So let me tell you, Grant Robertson, about some businesses that I’ve talked with personally in the last week. There’s a tourism business just outside of Tauranga; it runs a great operation. He has 40 staff. He begged me to fight for stopping the minimum wage halt, by the way. He is laying workers off right now—and your package, Grant Robertson, doesn’t cover his workers. So they will go on the dole, and I suppose they’ll be glad because they’ll get $25 more a week. But your package, Grant Robertson—$12 billion you’ve spent, and you didn’t even cover medium sized businesses in New Zealand.

This is a situation where I got an email from wool exporters, about 30 workers; they’ve gone to a four-day week. This package does not fully cover them. Now, I acknowledge small businesses and the 12 weeks they’ll get, but there are many tens of thousands of medium sized businesses who are not covered by this package in the way that it has been done.

And they will do it tough now. And this package doesn’t cover them now. It covers year three and year four and the things ideologically that Grant Robertson and Jacinda Ardern believe in—and I acknowledge they believe in those things deeply—but this package has confused priorities and it doesn’t deal non-ideologically with the issues we face in New Zealand right now today.

Our Prime Minister says she’s gone harder, faster. I don’t see it, Jacinda Ardern, I just don’t see it. I tell you again, and I encourage you: go out, meet any 30-person business anywhere around New Zealand and talk to them about the issues they face and the problems they’ll face this week, next week, and the week after—right now. It’s today that’s critical; not what’s coming, not the nice words you’ll have in due course. It’s right now that matters. I note that this is a package in relation to that $150,000 of best endeavours. Do you know what that means? That means the businesses can take the money and they don’t even need to keep the people in employment—right? That’s not what we did in Canterbury, Grant Robertson. We made sure when the business who needs the money gets the money they keep the workers in work. Radical, isn’t it, but that seems to me what is required.

We, in this package, had we had our way, would have invested this money. Now is a time for stimulus, not just reaction. It’s time for getting on with the job. But we would have been harder and faster for those businesses and keeping them in business, and workers and keeping them in work. And that means more wage subsidy, actually, for more businesses than will get this—those medium sized businesses, and, dare I say it, some of the biggest sized businesses who have existential issues as well. And I note, Grant Robertson, absolutely nothing here in this package today in terms of, again, an existential issue for businesses and workers around this country: working capital and guaranteeing some of those debts and problems and issues and loans that they need right now, that they need right now and that you haven’t covered in this budget.

So I say: is it large enough? Yeah, I suppose—$12 billion—but the priorities just aren’t right here. Is it easy to access? That’s hugely important and I can’t tell, in the 40 or so minutes that I’ve had, just how easy it will be for those businesses to access. But it certainly isn’t, overall—on the most critical day this year for workers and businesses in this country—aspirational and long term enough in its focus in terms of those businesses and making sure they can see that there is a plan, that there is confidence, because this is a confidence game, have no doubt about it, for those businesses. They want to know that Grant Robertson knows what to do, that he has a sense of exactly what needs to happen here—the stimulus, the things that show the light at the end of the tunnel—and I don’t see us getting out of this sooner and stronger. I don’t see the “faster, harder”—or whatever it was the Prime Minister says. I see the slower, less assured, taking the opportunity to prioritise beneficiaries over businesses and workers in this country and what it is that they need.

Let’s be clear about this. Things weren’t rosy even before coronavirus. And I say that because if you can’t diagnose the problem you’ve got you sometimes don’t get the medicine right. We’ve been at 1.6 percent growth. I expect that to be confirmed later this week in the official figures. We’ve got a situation where business confidence, whether it’s farmers and the water problems and climate change—things done to them not with them really make them feel under siege. The small businesses, after industrial law changes and minimum wage increase after minimum wage increase after minimum wage increase, feel set upon and unconfident as it is; even the big players right now—the Air New Zealands of this world—are talking about three-some thousand workers being laid off, and nothing here to date says that.

That’s why John Key, Bill English, Steven Joyce, and other colleagues of ours—Gerry Brownlee—they prioritised actually getting us back into black, saving up, making sure we were strong. We were managing the economy well with the team that was competent and had the experience and has the experience to do that. That’s how we got through the global financial crisis, the Canterbury earthquakes, Kaikōura earthquakes, and others. Ready for another rainy day—well, the rainy day is here. We’re in it. It’s pouring. And I don’t see from the Government, other than pet priorities, confused priorities, the plan, the stimulus that is stronger and that is bold enough to do the deal for New Zealand right now that we require.

We know what to do. We’ve made clear our tax relief programme so that actually those workers, those businesses have that confidence from the stimulus. Infrastructure, the Prime Minister and Grant Robertson—hear this clearly, I say to my friends in the media, here this clearly—they talk about $12 billion of stimulus as if it’s happening now. None of it is happening. I for one remember going to Cabinet with a $1 billion road the length of Kaikōura in Stuart Smith’s electorate. I remember the special legislation we put in because we knew we had to get it on. We needed to get going.

I would support that sort of approach today, bringing forward nation-building infrastructure that this country so desperately needs. I would support that sort of legislation and that sort of approach, but we don’t see any of that stimulus, confidence, a boldness that I’ve been calling on for week after week from this Government. There are many other things that need to be in this plan. Job support’s there, sick pay’s there; the minimum wage help for those businesses that aren’t covered—they need that desperately and they need it now. The underwriting of businesses isn’t there.

I could talk at length about health. It is the No. 1 issue. Test, test, test—we haven’t been. We haven’t been. Not even 600 when Norway’s at 8,000. Slovakia’s done thousands more than us. We are not getting our response perfectly right in this area. I don’t mean to be critical. It was good to see something significant in the weekend. But we need to see more pace, and we need to see that harder, faster, like the Prime Minister has talked about.

You know, some here say that it shouldn’t be about politics. I agree—I agree. Frankly, on this side of the House I’m too busy for politics right now. We’re talking to businesses, we’re talking to doctors on the front line, we’re talking to concerned New Zealanders. We’ve got a constructive and moral duty to ask the hard questions of this Government. I acknowledge this package, but in the deep recession New Zealanders will be left asking of Mr Robertson: “Please can we have some more. We’ve worked hard as a country for a rainy day. Give us the plan. Give us the stimulus. We need now”—

Order! The member’s time has expired.

There are moments in our history where it’s not business as usual, where New Zealanders expect us to come together, when we need unity, not politics as usual. And today, Mr Bridges, is one of those days. And on this side of the House, that is what we’ll do.

Saturday was a day when I said that the package we would announce today would be the most significant of my time in this role. Many interpreted that to mean that it was just about the quantum. It was not. It was significant for another reason. The Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, and I, as you can imagine, met over the weekend and spoke many, many times, but on Sunday he gave me a call, and as we were talking about how we were progressing with the work of the package, he stopped to spend a bit of time to talk to me about some of the phone calls he’d had and emails he’d received from businesses, employers, and people who treat their employees like family. That is the reason this package is the scale it is today. It is about people. This entire Government, since the moment we were elected, has been focused on people, and that is why our response right now, in the wake of what is a global pandemic, an economic issue the likes of which we have never seen before, will put people first and foremost.

Now, our response has meant that in unprecedented times you make unprecedented decisions. We had a window as a nation to take some very difficult decisions, to move early and place restrictions at our border in order to protect New Zealanders’ health. We took that opportunity, and it was a big decision. There weren’t other countries to look to and rely on, because other than Israel, no one like us was making that decision. But we did. And it was the right thing to do.

But these decisions will have an impact, and they will be significant. But a strong health response is our best economic defence. Countless stories, though, do sit behind the impacts of these decisions, and, as I’ve said, I totally acknowledge that, and that is why, as I said, we went hard on that public health response, but we will go just as hard with the assistance that we are providing. And it is about people.

Today’s package is designed to cushion the impact as we look to address the impacts on areas where we have traditionally had a large part of our economy facing. We are a nation that likes to welcome and open our doors to tourists from around the world, show off our beautiful spaces, give our visitors an adrenalin rush and show manaakitanga to everyone who comes, and yet our chance to do that now is on hold, and where does that leave so many of our employers who rely on that? Well, today we have been able to provide this response because we have always been prepared for the fact that a rainy day could befall us. As a nation that is a part of shaky isles, who has volcanoes, who experiences extreme weather events, earthquakes—we are a nation who prepares, and we did. We came in and got ourselves in an economic position where our debt was lower that when we inherited it, and we did that just in case we had a rainy day, and it is here.

This package is significant: $12.1 billion represents, as the Minister of Finance has said, the equivalent of roughly three Budgets’ operational allowances. We pulled it together in a short space of time, but we did give it a critique, a lens of people, to give the maximum support we can to try and keep people in work as businesses look to reorientate, to prepare, and to focus on what the future will hold, and what will be a new normal for New Zealand.

We could have done what other countries did: if you wanted to move quickly, in the space of a few days, you could have simply given a bulk payment to business. I know the Leader of the Opposition often looks to our neighbours, Australia, for the kinds of initiatives they adopt. I note with interest that their plan included a business payment of $25,000. It was a cash payment, a bulk payment, a one-off. In our view, that was not going to be sufficient, particularly for the make-up of businesses in New Zealand. We are a nation of 520,000 businesses—70 percent of them have no employees. In fact, we thought about that when we designed our sick leave provisions and our wage subsidies—sole traders. The Uber driver people we’re worried about who might have to self-isolate—they are covered by these packages. We have 100,000 businesses—19 percent—who have one to five employees; the next group, six to 19; that makes another 7.5 percent. In total, we are covering 97 percent of our businesses in New Zealand with this package, for all of their employees—for all of their employees. And whilst we’ve put in a cap at $150,000, that does not stop a larger organisation with more employees accessing this package as well.

What we’ve also said is we’ve recognised there will be larger firms that might need specific support, have unique circumstances. We are a nation small enough that we can deal with those on a case by case basis, and that is what the Minister of Finance is focused on. The package includes that wage subsidy I’ve described. It includes support for those who may be required by health authorities to self-isolate, and may, for instance, be a food truck driver at a festival who operates their own business and cannot afford to sustain their family while they self-isolate and can’t work. We have thought about all of that.

It also, of course, includes a considerable boost to our health response. I do want to say that on our health front, we are gearing up every day. Every day that we have this additional time we are utilising to make sure our response is ready for the cases we inevitably continue to receive. Our testing, for instance, by the end of the week will be up around 1,500 per day, and that puts us on an equivalent footing with those nations, on a per head basis, in our capacity, such as the likes of Korea. Now our plea is to clinicians: if you believe you should test, test—if you believe you should test, test. The capacity is there.

We were better placed than most countries in terms of our financial position and in terms of our debt position to weather this storm, and now that means we are better able to respond. I have not seen a nation in the world who has yet put up a package of this quantum, and that is because we recognise our situation is particular. We are an island nation who trades, exports, imports, who relies in many quarters on tourism, and that is why we have gone hard with this assistance package.

But the other point I wish to make, of course, is that we have included three particular parts of this package that are designed for consumer spending. I’d say to the Opposition: they used the in-work tax credit during the global financial crisis, and we have to. I would have thought they would support that change. That helps people whose hours drop and who might have otherwise lost eligibility for the in-work tax credit. We’ve doubled the winter energy payment because that goes to over-65s, who we must keep well this winter. It is a practical initiative. And finally, on benefits—again, Australia did the same thing. If you want to stimulate an economy, you give extra support to those on the lowest incomes. Because they have a lower income, they spend it, and that is what our economy needs right now. It is a known tool in situations like this. Other nations are using it, and we are too. I will point out, though, that of the $12.1 billion package, $7.9 billion—$7.9 billion—is focused on continuity for business, certainty for business, and stimulus for business.

My final word is for New Zealanders. As the Minister of Finance has said and as I’ve said many times before, there is huge uncertainty out there right now, but one thing I’m certain of: we are a nation that has been shaped because of our experiences, and they often have been tough, harsh, and unpredictable. That is when New Zealanders are at their best. That is when we rally: when we look after one another, when we care for the most vulnerable. So my final message is this to New Zealanders: be strong but be kind—we will be OK.

Well, thank you, Mr Speaker, and I echo the comments of the Prime Minister in terms of the strength of this country during difficult times. We do look out for each other and are conscious of the strength of our communities and our families, and we’ll work together to get through what is definitely going to be a difficult period over the next few months. We are facing one of the greatest health and economic challenges we have had in recent times.

We have all, throughout this House, no doubt spent the weekend hearing messages from individuals concerned about their health, about their kids, about going to school, about getting the virus and the implications of that. We’ve also heard many, many stories from people in business worried desperately about their businesses. I’ve spoken to a number who are employing over 100 people and looking at massive job cuts over the next few weeks, and they’re desperately worried: desperately worried about their businesses but desperately worried about their employees, the people that they have worked with over many years to build up businesses. It’s a big family, in those circumstances, and they’re desperately worried about them.

So we acknowledge this package in so far as it concentrates on wage subsidies in order to keep those businesses going. We do make the point that about half of the $12 billion is focused in that area, and our fundamental view is that, actually, we should be doing more at that end of the spectrum now. We started off talking about how the package should be swift, substantial, and effective, and what we’re seeing here at the moment is that about half of it is swift. We think more of it should have been swift and more of it should have been getting into the hands of those businesses right now.

Now, the best response of all is the health response. That is to make sure that this health crisis that is binding up the whole of the economy has as short a duration as possible. So we have said a number of times—we’ve encouraged this Government—to be faster and more responsive in the health space. We’ve heard the Prime Minister saying we’ve got the toughest border restrictions in the world, and that just doesn’t mesh with people’s experience. Everybody’s heard of people arriving in the last day or two, coming straight out of the airport, getting a pamphlet, and going on their way. So our strong encouragement is to keep absolutely focused on tracing people as they come in, and getting that message through, and more rigour at the border to ensure that people aren’t coming through who aren’t well and spreading the disease. So that’s the critical response that we need to see.

Meantime, the economy: we’re facing recession and job losses and many failures. I did want to acknowledge, right here, right now, that the strength of the economy, the strongest part, of course, will continue to be the primary industries that have been the backbone of this economy. Right now, every day, right out there in the rural areas of New Zealand, the farmers are out there making the living that will sustain us through this crisis. I do want to acknowledge them and their hard work. They’re a group that have felt set upon over the last few months, and I think it is important to acknowledge that in times of crisis, the New Zealand economy falls back on that rural community and provincial community, which is the backbone of this economy. We acknowledge them and their work today, and we wish them all the best to sustain our living standards as best we can through this difficult time.

Because of the decisions made over the weekend around boundaries, we do have this immediate short-term—what we hope will be short-term, but we don’t know how long it will go on for—real economic crisis that we’re facing. It is important that we get all the detail around the decisions that were made over the weekend. We need to see all the advice behind Saturday’s decision, all the advice behind today’s decision, the modelling, and this Government, which is committed to openness and transparency, should release those papers now so that we can understand what the situation is.

And we do rest on the fact that we have come into this crisis—this rainy day—with a strong debt situation, and we do acknowledge that, in the first two years of this Government, debt has continued to decline. It had been on that trajectory for a number of years, and we also acknowledge the work of Bill English—

💬 Hon David Parker: You increased it to 23 percent of GDP.

That’s right, and we got through the last global financial crisis, which was a massive expansion of debt, and the Christchurch earthquakes, and we continued to reduce that debt so that we were able to pivot today. Successive Governments have done that—I acknowledge the guardianship of even Michael Cullen and Helen Clark in that period. Over a long period of time, New Zealand has kept debt low so that we can cope in these circumstances.

So what we’ve got in this package is the $5.1 billion in wage subsidies, and we acknowledge that and we commend that; that is absolutely the right thing to be focusing on, which is keeping people employed in business right now so that they can carry through this period and increase the chances of businesses staying afloat. Not all businesses will; some businesses will fall over, and some people will lose their jobs, but this lessens the chance of that happening in many sectors. The only point we’d note is that this is the critical issue, and when we talk about helping businesses right now, it’s over the next month that they really need it. This is going to be the critical time; it’s not going to be in four years’ time with depreciation rates. They’re all worthy—the other $6 billion in this package are all worthy. Taxes around provisional tax thresholds and reinstating the building depreciation and writing off—that’s all worthy stuff over four years, but it’s not going to help right here, right now. What we needed today in this package right here, right now was a maximum focus on effort in keeping those businesses afloat, and our frustration with this package is that there isn’t the maximum focus on that hard goal right here, right now. If I was to ask Mr Robertson exactly how much of this $12 billion will be reaching businesses over the next six weeks, it wouldn’t be all that much of it. It would be about somewhere between $3 billion or $4 billion—I don’t know; I’d be interested to get the answer for it—and we need more of that money right now to keep those businesses afloat.

We see $126 million put aside for leave isolation to help businesses cope with the costs of that, and we support that; we agree with that. That’s an important part. The thing that is missing, though, is the working capital support for small and medium sized businesses, because what the problem is is that, with so many businesses around the country seeing their revenues collapsing over the next few weeks, they see their sales going down, they’ve got their employees that they’re trying to keep in place, and they’re immediately going to the bank and saying, “Well, I’ve run out of cash. How am I going to pay my bills?” and they’re having very awkward conversations with the banks. Now, the natural reaction for the banks in a situation like this is that they’re feeling the pressure, and they will start calling in on those loans and closing down those businesses. That’s the spiral that we want to avoid, and so the wage subsidies will help to a small extent. It’s been counteracted by the insistence—and, I think, quite reckless insistence—by this Government to carry on with the minimum wage increase on 1 April, because that money is not coming from the Government, it’s not coming from a magical place; it’s coming from those very businesses that are struggling to survive.

We all want higher incomes, but we want jobs as well, and so at the same time as they’re trying to give assistance to those businesses, they’re insisting that they pay substantially more for their wages, and that doesn’t make sense, and it’s reckless. So they’re struggling with their banks in order to keep the cash flow going and the working capital coming through, and we see at the end of this package that the Government has said that officials are meeting with banks to discuss the potential for future working capital support. We think that’s too slow and inadequate. The United Kingdom has already made moves in this area around guaranteeing loans for small businesses, and I would have thought that this package right here, right now would have had some answers on that critical area today in order to get people over the line.

The other point, of course, is having that longer-term vision, and we’ve heard many times the Minister of Finance say that this country went into this crisis with strong momentum. That, of course, is false; we had 1.6 percent growth last year. So those long-term drivers of growth are critical, and that’s why a clear plan around infrastructure—not just announcing infrastructure but actually getting on with infrastructure—is the critical thing, and I absolutely agree with what Simon Bridges says: we would support right here today urgent legislation coming in to say, “This project and this project we’re going to start next week or the week after. We’re going to crack on to it and actually get the infrastructure spending happening right now in this country, not in one year or two years’ time.”

So, overall, there are a number of other useful things that have been done here and signalled, with smaller business having to pay provisional tax—extending those thresholds, increasing the amount with which businesses can invest in buying capital assets. We agree with all that; that all makes sense. But the critical message that we need to get across is that this is a threat to the New Zealand economy such as we have not seen in a generation, and we need, right now, maximum support to keep people in their jobs. This package announced today goes halfway, and roughly half of the $12 billion package will actually get into their hands immediately. We think that there should be more and it should be more swift and more effective in order to save those jobs. Thank you very much.

Prime Minister and colleagues, today the coalition Government took unprecedented steps for an unprecedented challenge. That’s the reality—not the greatest challenge in a generation, but maybe since the Second World War. No one understands the dimensions of what we face, but we are certainly getting ready for it. We don’t underestimate the challenge in front of us—the health challenge, the economic challenge, and the recovery challenge.

Most nations face an uncertain future under COVID-19, but it’s no time for us to be clouded by doubt. It’s vital that we demonstrate leadership and clarity, and today you saw exactly that. As the coalition partner, New Zealand First is united in its support. We acknowledge the Prime Minister’s leadership and the work of Ministers who have developed and delivered today’s package. We have many challenges to overcome. The implications of the global spread of this virus are occurring in real time.

💬 Hon Gerry Brownlee: Timid! Timid!

What was that, Mr Brownlee? You want to know where to get a test? In the last few days, we have witnessed rising infection rates, stringent border control measures, cancelled public events, financial markets suffering, plunging visitor numbers, and airline job losses—just to name a few. That’s why, today, the $12.1 billion support package is vital, it’s essential, it’s critical, and it follows a $12 billion package announced only three months ago. This is the biggest injection in recovery any country in the world has seen, when you see it in tandem. The scale of today’s package is already greater than the operational spending of the last three Budgets, as Mr Grant Robertson spelt out. This coalition Government is motivated by protecting the health of our people, protecting our vulnerable, protecting our economic livelihood, and ensuring the quickest possible recovery on all fronts. Make no mistake: this is a critical Government response and a challenge to us all. And as the Minister of Finance has pointed out, the economic package is appropriate by international per capita spending comparisons. There is a massive boost in spending for health measures and an equally big spend to build a real buffer around our economy, our businesses, our workers, and our livelihoods—and we have only just begun.

Let me speak directly to one part of our community, and that’s the elderly. You are our mothers and fathers, our grandparents, and senior citizens—a respected part of our community. You are amongst the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Naturally, many of you will be concerned about what COVID-19 means, both as a health and financial risk. Be assured—and be reassured—the Government is here to particularly help you. As part of the economic package, there is a doubling of the winter energy payment. It will double payments to become $1,400 for couples and $900 for single people. It’s a one-off, but it’s a measure to ensure that the conditions that might worsen this prevalent outside imposter do not prevail in our country. We estimate 850,000 of you will gain from this measure to help you keep warm this winter, and once we include partners of recipients, more than one million are expected to benefit by this measure as well.

All New Zealanders will read the news reports about the Government’s actions, but that is only part of the picture. Our greatest weapon is to be found in what each one of us does for all of us. Our individual steps will make the difference in our resistance to this pandemic. Day-to-day, practical health steps are powerful weapons of choice to beat this outbreak. Be careful with hygiene, regularly and thoroughly wash and dry your hands, and follow sound medical advice. Listen to our health officials—they are out there in the thousands, dedicated to helping you. It’s important we look after each other, especially the elderly and the vulnerable in our community.

Can I just say, the Government is taking the necessary steps and more measures will be delivered. But I want to refer to the speech we heard from the Leader of the Opposition.

💬 Hon Grant Robertson: Do you have to?

Frankly, I do have to because it was shallow and it was graceless, and the New Zealand people will judge him for it. He talked about health and $800 million. He knows the level of the prior—

💬 Hon Member: $500 million.

$500 million, sorry—$500 million. I’m certain before too long it’ll be $800 million. [Interruption] I’m glad you’re listening! He referred to $500 million, but he didn’t refer to what we’ve inherited and how much money in the billions we’ve already injected into it. And, Mr Bennett, there’s no use shaking one’s head though there’s a good reason why you should. The reality of it all is that this Government is adding a serious top-up right here, right now. And clearly, Mr Bridges, you don’t understand the package announced today.

He referred to “baking in”—whatever that phrase means, it sounded like it was half-baked in terms of his analysis. And then he had the audacity to talk about the debt. Well, the global financial crisis found them with $10 billion in Crown debt, and they took it to what? To $82 billion—$82 billion. [Interruption] And the member for Epsom says, “So what?” So you don’t understand; that’s what. Never had a business, never had a company mortgage, never had a business mortgage—

💬 Hon Gerry Brownlee: That’s what happens in a crisis

No, no, I’m not talking about running an illegal casino; I’m talking about real life, where out there there’s going to be a struggle for so many New Zealanders—and this Government’s here to help.

💬 Hon Gerry Brownlee: You don’t let them sink with—

Mr Brownlee, the Christchurch earthquake still has my colleagues wrestling with the outcome nine years later. That member was the Minister in charge of the Christchurch earthquake, and when that first happened I realised that a disaster was coming. Let’s face it: we are facing a crisis here and we have confidence in the personnel, not somebody who jumps up, opens his mouth, and lets the wind blow his tongue around. That’s not good enough. Not in this crisis, Mr Brownlee.

For example, can I ask Mr Bridges, who compared the struggle he had to find money for the Kaikōura road—remember that? Mr Bridges, the road between Tauranga and Katikati, how much did you find for that? Come on—can I hear? How much did he find for that? The road, can I say to Mr Reti, from Whangarei all the way down to Warkworth—the four-lane highway that’s seen all these advertisements up there—how many dollars did he and you find for that? Can we hear it now? OK, now, I didn’t want to turn this into a petty matter, because this is a response from a Government—

💬 Hon Members: You’ve done well. You’ve done very well.

Well, I mean, pointing out hypocrisy has always been important. But I want to make it very, very clear: this Government is facing a massive crisis. I believe it’s possibly unprecedented, and we are as hard-nosed—and yet empathetic—to know we have got to get ready for the very worst. And if we do that, we can turn it around faster than any other country. I’ve got confidence in New Zealanders, I really have, but they don’t want naysayers and they don’t want people who are critics and who spend all their time trying to drag them down. We’re all human, there’s going to be mistakes—get past it. In the main, in 99.99 percent of the time people will be doing God’s work and turning this around. So I’m saying to every New Zealander today: the Government is aware of the plight, has a grasp of the magnitude of the event we face. One little thing, Mr Bridges, whenever did you make a prediction that came true?

💬 Hon Gerry Brownlee: In 2008, I think.

Just one? No, not once. This is a business, right now, facing a health and economic crisis which requires a resounding quality, and it’s called experience—having known what to do, been there before, seen how it has to happen—and this Government’s exhibiting that classically in this announcement today. We have a very real public health crisis to overcome in coming months, and we will. We have an economic storm to get through in coming months, and we will.

💬 Hon David Bennett: No, you won’t.

Now, there’s somebody who’s shouted out “No, you won’t”. So he’d rather, for the political preference of his party, that the Government fail—just for the preference of his party—than hundreds and hundreds and maybe millions of New Zealanders get a turnaround result. That is the ultimate in selfish, egregious behaviour, and it came straight from their back-bench. He doesn’t want us to succeed. Not even an offer of hands across the sea—so to speak—so we might have a collegial parliamentary effort. No, it’s going to be lousy politics, and I know the Prime Minister hates this—and so do I most of the time. But I want to say, we have set upon a path of recovery. We have set upon a path to utilise the grind, and the grit, and the talent, and commitment of our fellow New Zealanders. We have utmost confidence in them that we will, together, work our way out of this and back to success.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I want to commence by joining with the Minister of Finance in commending our health professionals for the outstanding job they do for the health of New Zealanders, but most of all for the work that they are going to need to do over the next days, weeks, and months. This virus is going to spread, it is going to hit hard, and the economic package that we are hearing about today, and how long we’re going to need to support workers and businesses and those job seekers who are affected by this, is clearly a function of the degree to which our health system can respond nimbly and energetically.

I say more out of sadness than anger that the comments that are made in the ministerial statement about “go hard, go early” are hollow in the context of the things that the Minister said about a public information campaign, upscaling testing, boosting Healthline and so on—the things that I and my colleagues have been talking about since 23 January. And there is a need, I think, to reflect somewhat on that before we look forward, because there is still time. It’s pleasing to see the Government responding finally with an energetic package. But is it too late? We will soon find out.

On that day, Hubei Province, an area of China of 56 million people, closed down on the back of 540 confirmed cases—just 540. The Director-General of Health in his first speech said, “There will be imported cases, but the likelihood of a sustained community outbreak remains very low.” Why? Because they had the systems and the resources to deal with this. How many times have we heard the Director-General and the Minister of Health say that the likelihood of a sustained community outbreak was very low? It started as “very, very low”, then “very low”, then “low”, then they stopped saying it at all. But they had a pandemic plan and it was a very good plan, according to the Minister. Yet in his press release today, he admits now, “Staff in our Public Health Units are our first line of defence against infectious diseases, but they don’t have the resources … to handle a pandemic.” Well, we haven’t heard that at all in the last 11 weeks. In fact, we haven’t heard much from the Minister of Health at all, who has issued just five press releases since the Ministry of Health first communicated with GPs on 6 January. Weak and late.

I am very mindful of the Director-General of Health—in fact, the World Health Organization was itself somewhat slow, I think, to declare an international emergency. But he’s got it, because his advice at his press conference yesterday was simply this: “This is a serious disease. Although the evidence we have suggests that those over 60 are at highest risk, young people, including children, have died.” And his advice? “Once again, our key message is: test, test, test.” I have been calling for weeks for a more liberal approach to the testing regime, because it’s only when we know who are the cases who have the virus, who could be at risk of spreading it, can we control this outbreak.

We are spending billions because of the effect of the closures of our borders, for the next weeks and months, yet we’re nickel and diming the testing regime. Now, the Prime Minister in her intervention did say the capacity has now grown—or will, as a consequence of this package—from 1,000 to 1,500. Very good, but, Prime Minister, there’s no point having the capacity if it’s not used. We have 9,950 people who are or were in self-isolation since that requirement was put in place, but we’ve had 540 completed tests. That’s only 5 percent of the people in self-isolation, Never mind the people who could have been tested, who wanted to be tested, whose employers told them that until they were tested, they weren’t allowed to go back to work.

Why are we nickel and diming that? The Minister and the Prime Minister say it’s over to doctors. Well, that’s not what doctors are telling us. Doctors are saying they’re being stopped from testing and that the criteria are far too narrow—two things: close contact and symptoms. Well, I have said and the Leader of the Opposition has said that close contact is enough, frankly. The fellow that came in from Brisbane at the start of the week, who took a test before he got on a plane, was completely asymptomatic. It gives lie to the question of symptoms. We know that people, from the experience in China, can be spreaders despite having very low or no symptoms, but we refuse to test. Why? We are trying to stop the spread of this virus. So the testing capacity is one thing, but it is the actual test that’s going to matter.

Now, the issues at the border remain problematic. Even after 1 a.m. on Monday morning, or Sunday morning—whenever that change came in—we still have reports of travellers coming home, shocked at the lack of questions and information and screening at the border.

There is the issue of thermal testing. I actually support thermal testing, because despite the fact that we could pick up false positives and false negatives, every single person who’s coming across the border with a temperature of 38 degrees or more should be taken away, isolated, questioned, and tested, and it should be suggested that they might go into self-isolation until that test result is back. Do you know that we’re actually doing that for people leaving the country? We are now testing people leaving the country to go to the Pacific—very good, happy with that—but why on earth are we not temperature testing people coming into the country? It is inconsistent. It is late. It is weak.

I am pleased there is a $500 million investment in our health services to meet this, but I respectfully point out that while the aviation sector also needs support, more money is going to go in to support the aviation sector than is going in to support our health service. And I do worry, as the Leader of the Opposition mentioned, that we already have DHBs with combined financial deficits of much greater than this amount. They will be $600 million to $700 million in deficit again this year. How can we be sure that this investment actually goes to net new services to keep New Zealanders safe? I would be pleased to hear from the Minister of Health if he is taking a call on this ministerial statement—because there is much to do.

I note in the details of the $500 million that there are two stanzas to this support. But in the second stanza—yet to be announced; probably in 30 days’ time—we’re talking about things like increasing the amount of protective equipment, buying more flu vaccines, and making sure Pharmac brings in more antibiotics. Why is that a next stage thing? We should have been doing that last month, not next month.

There will be a run on the seasonal flu vaccine. There is no doubt. Why are we not buying it now? The Minister and the Director-General have assured the country that we have enough protective equipment. It’s in storage in Taranaki or somewhere. Remember, he said that? Why, then, are we now saying our pandemic plan is going to be overwhelmed by this, our resources are going to be overwhelmed by this? Weren’t we ready? And if we’re not ready, why are we waiting a month to make those investments? Is that, I ask the House, the actions of a go-hard, go-early plan or a go-hard, go-early Government?

The National Party wants to support the Government in this effort. The National Party stands ready to support, whether it’s legislation, emergency appropriation. We certainly support our health professionals right across the country, who could well be overwhelmed by this outbreak. But I worry that despite the rhetoric, this could be too little, too late,

E Te Māngai o Te Whare, tēnā koe. The job of any Government, including ours, is to be equal to any challenge that we face. Over the last few weeks, the crisis of COVID-19 has continued to grow around the world. The impact that this could have on New Zealand is unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes, and we have been absolutely clear that we must act accordingly. Our response as a Government, as communities, as New Zealanders needs to meet the scale of this crisis head-on. The health and wellbeing of our families, our friends, and our communities depends on it.

Over the weekend, we agreed to a number of strong actions that will help to keep the number of people in New Zealand with COVID-19 as low as possible. These decisions will give us the time that we need so that no matter what happens, we are ready. What the Minister of Finance has announced today is a comprehensive and compassionate approach to managing the impact that COVID-19 could have on our daily lives. It’s a package of measures designed to help us manage the crisis in a way that makes sense to people and their families, ensuring that whatever happens, people can continue to support their families, pay their bills and put money back into their local businesses and into their communities. It was clear from the Minister of Finance’s speech that what he was saying boils down to this: none of us are alone in this. We are all in this together.

There are thousands of New Zealanders up and down the country who are living pay cheque to pay cheque. And then, of course, there are those who work tirelessly to improve our communities, or put on events that bring our whānau and our friends and our neighbours together. Now, I’m sure that nearly every single one of them has been sitting around the dinner table over the course of the last few days asking themselves what COVID-19 means for them and for their families, wondering what additional support they would get so they can continue to provide for their family, and thinking about what will happen to the great businesses that make their communities such great places to live.

Every conversation that we have had about how to manage this crisis, every decision, every single dollar allocated is about these people. It has been about making sure that we are doing everything that we can to care for the communities likely to be most affected by the health and economic challenges ahead—those on low incomes, our older friends and whānau, working families with children, and people with disabilities.

The Minister of Finance has made it clear that we have three priorities for doing this: more support for our public healthcare system, extra help for those who need it the most, and assistance for businesses so that they can keep people in work. So first: the public health system. Now, as most would agree, a public health system that can care for us and the people that we know and love, no matter what our income is or where we live, is the foundation of a fairer and a more equal and a more resilient New Zealand. None of us can go about our daily lives or raise a family or stay healthy without it. The additional support that our public health system will receive as a result of this announcement will help to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus and keep the number of infected at any one time at a manageable level.

Money will be spent on making sure that care in the community continues, on testing and tracing any cases that come up, and on communicating more with New Zealanders about what we can all do to help to limit the spread of the virus.

Evidence tells us that Māori, as a population group, are likely to experience significantly worse effects from COVID-19, so we must make sure that our Māori whānau, hapū, and iwi have the information and the support that they need—the same is true for our Pacific friends and neighbours. Wherever we are from, whoever we are, every one of us values similar things: the health and wellbeing of our communities, of those we love; safe, healthy, and secure places to work and to live. Let’s make sure that we provide all of that for those people.

Importantly, our public health package also includes a comprehensive leave payment scheme to help people who have to self-isolate, because when people need to go to work in order to take care of their family, the last thing we want is people going to work who are sick and who can spread the virus.

Now, even with those measures in place, we know that if the virus does spread, it will be those on the lowest incomes who will be the worst affected. That is why the second area that we are prioritising is extra support for those who need it the most. We are increasing the rates of all main benefits by $25 a week, changing in-work support, and doubling the winter energy payment, all of which will help more people to pay the bills and to put food on the table, and to stay well.

That brings us to our third priority, which is business. At times like this it is important that people continue to have access to good, stable work that they can count on. A temporary wage subsidy will support businesses to keep people in work, so that no matter what happens, as many New Zealanders as possible can continue to provide for their families and contribute to their local communities through their work. There will also be some support for people who do lose their jobs so that they can access other work or retrain.

Now, there are two other areas that I’d like to touch on, and the first is mental health. We know that some of the social and psychological factors that can lead to poor mental health include hardship, loneliness, and disconnecting from others. So with more people working on their own from home or going into self-isolation, or possibly losing some of their income, it is critical that we keep the mental health of New Zealanders at the forefront of our minds. It’ll be all too easy for people to feel like they’re all alone in this, but this is a moment where we need each other. So if anyone out there sees someone struggling, please reach out and ask if they’re OK. Put them in touch with one of the many incredible organisations that are out there supporting our people. Above all else, we are here today to say to people: “You are not alone.” We are always stronger when we have each other’s backs and when we’re looking out for one another. Let’s just make sure that we keep it that way.

The second point that I wanted to raise is a reminder to all of us to treat each other with humanity and respect as we face the challenge. People are understandably concerned about what is happening around the world, but that must never be an excuse to lash out against our neighbours or to engage in xenophobia or racism. Making sure that everyone is aware of the facts so that they understand what COVID-19 is and do not direct their concern at others is critically important. We can all play a part in this, and remember, our kids and our grandkids are watching. How we act in these situations will be a valuable lesson for them to follow.

On behalf of the Green Party in Government, I would like to conclude by making clear our full support for today’s announcement. It is the first phase of our Government’s plan for managing COVID-19 and its impacts. Further announcements will need to focus on what we can do next to build a better New Zealand from everything that we’re going through right now. But managing this isn’t just a job for the Government. So to all New Zealanders, I would like to say this: please also show leadership in your homes and in your communities by looking out for each other, by supporting the older people that you know, and please, please, please wash your hands. We will pull through this when we all pull together. Nō reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT to welcome the Government’s initiative today. Humanity is being ravaged by a virus that has three particular characteristics: it is spreading fast, it potentially has a high death rate, and it has an incubation period which is quite long so it can spread undetected. And that is creating enormous uncertainty for people around the world. Every school I’ve visited in the last few days, every business, every household is facing uncertainty, and COVID-19 is the only topic. But it also creates uncertainty for our Government. I don’t know if they’ve made the right decisions through this crisis, but what I do know is that they’ve had to make critical, high-stakes decisions with limited information in a fluid situation.

The role of Parliament in these circumstances is to be supportive, to offer constructive criticism and helpful suggestions where applicable, but in that spirit it is also important that the Government does not take political advantage of the situation. I heard the Minister of Finance trying to use this crisis as an opportunity to shout from the rooftops about the Government’s economic credentials. He said, “We’re in a strong position.” Well, actually, the truth is this Government has taken the future forecast from a $6 billion surplus to a $1 billion deficit. It would have been more honest for him to say “Lucky the virus got here in time before we spent all the money.”, but we don’t actually need to have that kind of political squabbling in these circumstances. I would say—[Interruption] Well, the Government started it and I just responded, and they don’t like it up ’em. But the fact of the matter is what this country actually needs is some certainty and some principle, and I would say that this Government, first and foremost, should not introduce permanent policy changes under the guise of a crisis.

I talk to schoolteachers and principals and I look to the Minister of Education, and I say that it would be wrong to significantly change the curriculum and the NCEA while the education sector is busy bracing for this crisis. That should be delayed.

I think it would have been helpful for this Government to have put a 12-month moratorium on new regulatory initiatives that add cost to business. I think it would have been helpful to give tax relief to businesses at the same time as the Government is giving money to businesses. I support the relief package—I think that those businesses do need the relief—but it seems illogical to be introducing a minimum wage increase at the exact time that the Government is giving money to businesses to pay wages.

We could make comments about the requirement for testing. We heard the Prime Minister say to medical professionals that they should test if they want to. If that is the new Government’s policy, that is wonderful news. But I hope that the Prime Minister will clarify that that is truly the policy, because what international experience has shown us in the last few weeks is that we need to test more.

We are going to see the private sector take a hit. We’re going to see people go to four-day weeks. I suspect we’re going to take pay cuts throughout the private sector, and I don’t know if I can become any less popular amongst some of my parliamentary colleagues, but I suggest that we parliamentarians should show solidarity and take one, too. If the private sector’s going to do it, I think Parliament should do it for the period of this crisis. I think that would set an example where Ministers can go to their senior executives and say that those civil servants who are earning over $100,000 should also do that, because the private sector, businesses, and households in New Zealand are going to be hurting. The only way we get through this is if we all, as New Zealanders, pull together, and that includes parliamentarians and that includes the public sector.

As other speakers have said, we are a nation that has faced uncertainty and adversity before. But we are also a nation of people who have travelled further to be here and have a better life for ourselves and our children than any other people on earth, and with that pioneering spirit of entrepreneurship and resourcefulness, I believe we will come through this crisis strongly. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, thank you. I want to start by recognising the significance of the unfolding events for so many New Zealanders—so many New Zealanders who face uncertainty in the coming weeks and months in respect of their health, so many New Zealanders who are unsure about the longevity of their employment, and so many hard-working New Zealanders who today are still unsure about what this means for their businesses. I also want to start by thanking our health workers and those on the front line, because as information has come slowly to us through the media, these doctors and nurses, health professionals, and front-line staff have been also working in uncertain times, not knowing fully what risk they were exposing themselves to as they were caring for those who maybe had visited New Zealand or New Zealanders who were not well.

I want to recognise that the Government has decided that it is important to put more money in health, but I think that the $500 million that they’ve allocated in this package today is just not enough, because, actually, our hospitals have been struggling, and we know that. We know that for many New Zealanders who have faced a growing wait to get to hospitals for operations and so on, actually more resource is needed than this $500 million, particularly when we consider just how significantly this disease, this virus, has escalated in other countries.

A recession is all but here, and I want to say that I do believe that the response from the Government, until today, has been slow. I think it’s important that last week we saw the media and Simon Bridges, the Leader of the Opposition, start to mount quite considerable pressure upon the Government to increase the pace at which they were reacting to what was obviously a growing crisis. It was slow and it should have been faster. There should have been controls at the border greater than the ones that we had seen and they should have been there sooner. There should have been temperature checks of people coming off flights—taken aside and questions asked of them—and testing of visitors to see whether or not they had this disease, rather than actually the assurances we were given not being delivered on.

This brings me to the issue of self-isolation that the Prime Minister announced just on Saturday night, and I must say quite clearly, from the point of view of the Opposition and so many New Zealanders, it is not clear to us quite how this would work. So we could have had 10,000 people getting off aeroplanes yesterday who had to self-isolate because they had just arrived in New Zealand, and where were they doing this? There are reports of them checking into hotels, and the hotel workers and the owners of the hotels are very uncertain about what that self-isolation means.

The only way we stop the spread of this disease in the way that the Prime Minister has given assurances and commitments to the public over is actually for there to be clear and precise information given. To say people should self-isolate without clear guidelines or rules, that weren’t delivered on Saturday night—

💬 Hon Members: There are.

They are not. They are not clearly there. Members of the Government may say they are, but up and down New Zealand, on social media and through the media and on talkback radio, New Zealanders are confused. So the point that I am making to members of the Government is rather than saying it’s there, what we need to see is much more information being made available more readily and clearly, so that everyday New Zealanders are clear about the implications of how self-isolation will work.

This is not a political plea; it’s actually just a plea to say that New Zealanders are concerned. The concern is growing. Parents won’t be sending their children to school this week, and that information about self-isolation needs to be much, much clearer.

That brings me to the issue of testing. We know there have been around 500 tests done in New Zealand—maybe a few more—but testing, testing, testing is what the World Health Organization said today that other countries are doing. I really would ask the Government to be able to provide information clearly. If we haven’t been doing enough testing—the testing we required—how do they know exactly how many of these cases of people with this virus there are out there? I think it’s very important that people know the scale and magnitude of this challenge.

As I said earlier, the recession is coming. In fact, for some, it was already here. It will be deeper, and it will be longer. There is a small business package here today, but I think that has been delivered later than it should—almost, for some, too late. Too late for the 200 workers in an engineering workshop in Rotorua who were laid off on Friday because their employer was not able to continue to pay them. Certainty should have been given to those employees and that employer earlier.

Too late for the large tourism business in my home town, who is, in the coming days, about to lay off 50 workers because this support will not go far enough for that employer. I suspect that business will have to close in the coming weeks and, with the exception of a few workers there, every single one of them will lose their job.

Too little for the hotel chains that may have 500 or 600 workers around the country that this package, announced by the Government, doesn’t deliver for, who will have to lay so many people off who will actually not be kept in jobs, and will be on the unemployment benefit. Chris Roberts from Tourism Industry Aotearoa said today that after seeing the Government’s plan, he expects that of a workforce of around 230,000 New Zealanders who were involved in tourism and accommodation, at least 100,000 of them are likely to lose their jobs—not in the coming year, but in the coming weeks. For those New Zealanders, much more should have been done to give them certainty much sooner.

The first thing the Government should not have done was look to make it easier for people to go on the unemployment benefit. The package we’ve heard about today that does give some certainty to some businesses should have been delivered at the same time weeks ago—should have been delivered at the same time weeks ago. Because the Government is right when they say that it’s easier to keep somebody in a job than it is to get them off a benefit, back into employment.

But I’m saying that the timing of this, the priority of the Government, was wrong. These announcements today should have been there weeks earlier, as the private sector was asking for, as the tourism sector was asking for, as Simon Bridges was asking for and demanding, and have only just arrived today.

That brings me to something else the Government says that they won’t do that I actually plead with them to go back and reconsider, because it’s a plea that comes from businesses throughout New Zealand, and predominantly smaller businesses. It comes to the heart of the increasing cost that’s been placed upon businesses before the magnitude of this virus has hit them. That’s around the 1 April increase in the minimum wage. Now, this isn’t a debate about those who earn the least and whether a sharp increase in the minimum wage will deliver for them, because in the tourism sector we’ve had one of the experts, Chris Roberts, say 100,000 New Zealanders, in the coming weeks, are going to lose their jobs.

I ask: how many people are likely to lose their businesses? I asked the Government to reconsider their view last week that they wouldn’t put the minimum wage increase of 1 April off by just six months so businesses can adjust. We can see what’s going to happen.

There is a cost of $300 million coming to New Zealand businesses on 1 April because of the minimum wage increase. It’s something that they could not well afford before the coronavirus arrived in New Zealand. They really cannot afford it today. I fear that many, many more people will lose their jobs more quickly than they might otherwise as a result of this cost being put upon businesses.

Finally, I want to talk about exports and trade, because so many jobs in New Zealand depend upon this. Actually, we’re going to see a slowing of the world economy, and we’re going to see it more difficult for our exporters than it should be. I’m glad the Government has recognised that it’s going to be harder for that supply chain overseas to continue.

I would say to them, as with all of the money they’ve announced today for small businesses and to keep people in work, or for those who will be on sick leave, as well as the money that’s set aside to help keep that supply chain open, it needs to be delivered quickly. It must be there today, it must be there tomorrow, it must be there in the coming weeks. We can’t have an overly bureaucratic system where we have businesses and industry and exporters expecting help today, and that help won’t arrive for them until weeks’ or months’ time.

This is a time when this Government needs to step up—the first and only time, actually, in the last 2½ years when it’s clear that they absolutely must do so. It’s not a time for talk. It’s not a time for meetings or working groups. It’s a time to deliver the help to everyday New Zealanders who need it, to make sure the money they’ve committed, that they are borrowing, is spent as quickly as it can be to keep those businesses open and to keep those people in jobs. It gives some certainty to many of our large and small businesses who are involved in the export sector, who continue to face great uncertainty, not only about their job and their prospects but about the depth of the recession and how that will affect them in the coming weeks and months and years. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Government has announced today our commitment to protecting New Zealanders’ health through an initial, dedicated $500 million fund. We are backing our health professionals to combat COVID-19. I say this, more in sadness than anger—to borrow a phrase from the Opposition health spokesperson—it is very sad today to hear politicians in this House second-guessing the clinical judgment and scientific advice that has driven the decision making of the Government around this disease.

We have a plan—we have a plan. We are well prepared. We have been working since 6 January off the pandemic plan that was revised in 2017. The members opposite know it well. It has been already tested through exercises under this Government. We are well prepared, and we’ve been operating off that plan and looking at the stages and phases of that plan.

The early and decisive action—and here I want to acknowledge the Prime Minister for her leadership, and the Minister of Finance also for his. They have been clear from the start that financial resources will not be a constraint here. That was made abundantly clear to me right from the start. As Minister of Health, that has given me the permission to say to the health professionals, the DHBs, the primary care people, to the lot of them, “We must do what we need to do.”

We have an $18 billion health budget. We have had the two largest health budgets in New Zealand history under this Government. We can move that money around to prioritise it for COVID-19. This is what we need to do.

I want to thank those outstanding health professionals in our public health service, who have, over many years, worked in stretched environments, for the way they step up in times like this. It gives me the confidence that we are as well prepared as any country in the world for COVID-19. We have health professionals who understand the nature of the task ahead.

Because of the early and decisive action we took as a country—if we think right back to 3 February, when we moved to put restrictions in on people coming in from China; when we took the decisions around Iran and South Korea; and when we took the decisions around north Italy; in those three latter examples we moved ahead of Australia to put in place early and decisive actions that restricted flow from the hot spots around the world on COVID-19—it has given us the time to plan and prepare according to the template laid down in the pandemic plan to adapt it to what we are learning about the virus as the days go by, as the new science emerges, and as the medical experts can advise us on what the best way is to respond.

The health of New Zealanders has been our primary consideration from the start. That is why we have taken those measures. That is why we have ensured, right from the start, that we had health information available. That was the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation: to make sure that people coming through our boundaries early on in this epidemic had the information should they become symptomatic later on, so that they would know what to do. As we saw early cases come in, we saw those people respond—they called the helpline, then they called ahead to the hospital to make sure that people were ready to receive them; they have done things right, and that is because we have supplied that information at the border. We are working to that plan.

I want to cover off just one or two other points raised by the Opposition, before I move on to the more substantive parts of the package. The idea that the flu vaccines were not already in train, that the Opposition spokesperson tried to introduce, is deluded, if he thinks that. We have already secured supply 30 percent above the record amount of flu vaccine that we had last year.

Also, of course, I think Opposition members know that having temperature checks at the airport in the way that they are suggesting is not supported by the evidence. Having nurses there available to take the assessment is the thing that we can do best; not give people a false sense of hope when they may be coming through our borders, yet to develop symptoms. We are taking the advice of medical experts and scientists at every point, and informing our decisions—and that has proven to be the right course of action.

Two hundred and thirty five million dollars of that fund has already been allocated and actions are already under way. The rest of that $500 million is available immediately and as it is required. The Minister of Finance has been clear with me all along that more will be available if that is requested.

Our health response—the response of our health professionals has been world leading. By taking those hard decisions early and acting decisively, we’ve ensured that we are well placed to combat COVID-19. It is the best protection for New Zealanders and the best protection for our economy. If we take action to keep people safe, that will also be a part of our front-line economic response. Our people are our economy. We’ve also made those record investments—as I’ve touched upon—in previous Budgets, to make sure that our health system is preparing and ramping up.

Today is the right day to be spending an additional half a billion dollars on health; it gives the certainty to those who are already taking actions, to ensure that our health system is learning from the latest evidence and making the preparations that we need to make, because we will inevitably see more cases sporadically arrive in this country. I want to congratulate and thank the public health officials, who, to date, have been able to complete 100 percent of contact tracing.

Again, we’ve heard today from the WHO that testing, tracing, and self-isolation are the priority in those countries that have been successful. That is the strategy we are pursuing.

We’re determined to seize the moment. We’re determined to act in the window of opportunity that we have to continue our preparedness so that we continue to be one of the best-placed countries in the world to keep COVID-19 at bay. That decisive action has served us well so far and will continue to serve us well into the future.

In global terms, we, of course, know that the economic package announced by the finance Minister is one of the largest. I believe that the finance Minister has got this right, and history will show that this has been a visionary and correct approach to the headwinds in this global situation that we are facing.

Nearly half of the fund—as I’ve said, the $500 million—is immediately unlocked, and the rest is available as required.

I want to talk a little bit about the public health units. We know that those staff are our first line of defence, and they are the ones who manage the notifications of suspected cases and confirmed cases; they do the contract tracing; for the close contacts, they assess and advise on the public health risks in front of us; they manage the border control operations at airports and seaports. Protecting New Zealanders is their number one priority as it is our number one priority. That is why we are putting more than $40 million immediately—immediately—into public health, with a strong emphasis on contact tracing. That investment nearly doubles our annual budget spending in that area for the current year of $46.7 million on core public health services. Of course, the investment was already being shifted to go in there; this gives them the certainty that we will continue to back them in their efforts that are so vital for containing COVID-19.

We’re also strengthening primary care—recognising that our GPs, our nurse practitioners, our nurses, and our iwi and Pacific providers are there at the front line. Primary care is receiving an additional $50 million including for community-based assessment centres, equipment, and logistics. This means that more people will be able to access GP care for testing when required, minimising the impact on those visiting the GP for other issues—because, of course, there will be other issues, and our health system needs to continue while we are managing COVID-19, as well.

More resources will go into Healthline, which has been an important source of advice for the public. They are facing unprecedented levels of demand. They’ve already boosted staffing by more than 100 and are currently handling more than 5,000 calls per day. The $20 million boost for Healthline will mean more doctors and nurses can be hired to provide clinical advice over the phone to deal with those technical, important issues that members of the public are raising.

The last component of the fund that I’d like to touch on is the $15 million boost for psychosocial support. We know that the global COVID-19 outbreak has been an anxious time for many people, and this boost will support our psychosocial response and recovery plan to boost the wellbeing of New Zealanders. It will mean easy and immediate access to trained counsellors through the 1737 helpline. We’ll also be developing and promoting online resources to help those who have or develop mental illness as we go about facing this global challenge.

I do want to thank everyone in the health sector, as I close, for the contribution in working to protect New Zealanders in the midst of this global pandemic. I also want to thank those who are in self-isolation who are taking the steps to keep everyone safe, those who are upping their hygiene practices—you are all doing your best to keep COVID-19 at bay.