Ministerial Statements — COVID-19—National Transition Period

On behalf of the Hon Peeni Henare, Minister of Civil Defence, and the coalition Government, I wish to make a ministerial statement under Standing Order 356 in relation to giving notice of a national transition period over the whole of New Zealand under section 94A of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002.

The national transition period will come into effect when the state of national emergency, currently in place for all of New Zealand, expires at 12.21 p.m. on Wednesday, 13 May. At 12.21 p.m., 25 March 2020—having considered the advice of the Director of Civil Defence Emergency Management and in consultation with the Prime Minister under section 66 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act—the Hon Peeni Henare, Minister of Civil Defence, declared a state of national emergency for the whole of New Zealand to help manage the impact of COVID-19.

The Minister of Civil Defence has since extended this state of emergency six times. Minister Henare did not make these decisions lightly, but it was the Government’s judgment that extraordinary measures needed to be maintained to support nationwide efforts to combat the virus and to break the chain of infection across the entire country.

Since then, New Zealanders, through their efforts, have made great strides in combating the spread of COVID-19. This is clearly evident in the numbers of new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, which continue to slow and decline. With the relaxing of restrictions provided for under alert level 2, and the decreasing numbers of COVID-19 cases, it is now appropriate to lift the state of national emergency. But while the trends are positive, level 2 is not a return to business as usual. Putting a national transition period in place will help support a nationally consistent and coordinated approach to civil defence emergency management activities.

The Minister of Civil Defence is satisfied that a national transition period is both in the public interest and necessary or desirable to ensure a timely and effective recovery from the impacts of COVID-19. The national transition period will cover all of New Zealand, including the Chatham Islands, Stewart Island, and other offshore islands. It will remain in place for 90 days, unless it is extended or terminated earlier.

A national transition period supports a transition from an emergency response into the initial recovery phase. A national transition period provides the national recovery manager, and others, access to special powers designed to assist with recovery rather than response. This includes, for example, powers to enable the conservation and supply of food and essential supplies, or the ability of recovery managers to require information from persons.

New Zealanders can be confident in the very clear checks and balances on the use of these powers set out in the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act. These powers can only be used if they meet both the tests within the power and the three overarching legal tests. The person exercising the powers must be satisfied that these are in the public interest, that they are necessary or desirable to ensure a timely and effective recovery, and that their use would be proportionate in the circumstances.

The lifting of the state of national emergency and the move to a national transition period does not signal that New Zealanders should stop being vigilant. It is essential that all New Zealanders follow the alert level requirements to ensure we do not lose the gains we have made. On behalf of the Minister of Civil Defence and the coalition Government, I reiterate my gratitude to each and every New Zealander, volunteer group, community organisation, local government, civil defence emergency management group, Government agency, and business across the country for their outstanding and extraordinary efforts in response to COVID-19.

I thank the Minister for that statement. I guess my first response is: about time. We were ready for this; I said so a week ago. We have been under a state of civil emergency for too long. But, as we know, we’re moving to another level, and it’s clear to the public that what that will look like is not quite what was on the tin last week.

It’s worth reflecting, as the Minister has, on the powers that are conferred via the transitional order. It has certain features: it goes for 90 days, it provides for the exercise of powers that are in the public interest and necessary to ensure recovery and that can direct to stop activities that may cause or contribute to the consequences of an emergency or to prevent or hinder recovery, and they are enforceable by a constable. Now, if those things sound familiar, it is because this House has been considering legislation that has similar elements of that, ones which the Attorney-General assured us were not provided for in existing legislation. Yet the reading of section 94 of that Act, I think, provides a very good basis for the transition that we are going through. But I think what section 94 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act can’t handle is power with no fetters.

I think the Government will have heard the message from the public about level 2. They are confused about the inconsistencies. They are angry at being prevented from going to their places of worship or to grieve at a funeral or tangi. They’re certainly aghast at the manner in which that power is being granted. I heard the Hon Chris Hipkins say that the virus has no regard to civil liberties. But I say to the Leader of the House: it isn’t the virus that the public are worried about with respect to their civil liberties; it is the Government that they are worried about. They are seeing those liberties eroded unnecessarily. It simply comes down to trust. The Government does not trust a public that has done a fantastic job—another zero day today. Yet we are going to be enforced for longer, and the impacts of that, socially and economically, are going to be devastating.

So I say to the Government who is about to deliver a Budget: it’s time to look at recovery firmly and to trust New Zealanders that they can lead that recovery, because it’s only then that we will truly get over what has been a tremendously difficult time. Whether it’s businesses, individuals, sports clubs, bars, restaurants, or new start-ups, it’s time to trust them. I implore the Government to do that in order to get over this.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I acknowledge the Leader of the House for earlier raising a point of order so that all parliamentary party leaders could speak to this motion, and the House for granting the leave that he sought.

I just make a comment—two questions—about this motion. I looked through section 94 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act, that allows this recovery notice for 90 days to be put in place. It was a part of the Act that was added in 2016, and I think it’s fair to say what Parliament at that time had in mind was recovery from earthquakes. That’s why it speaks a lot about clearing debris and breaking into premises where there’s danger and so on. It’s really not clear what the Government’s intention is to bring about a recovery period right now, particularly at a time when Parliament is in the midst of passing a new legal framework to manage COVID-19 from here on in. So I think it has to be said that the Government hasn’t really explained why it is seeking to be able to use what are, really, earthquake-era powers for the recovery from a viral pandemic.

The second point I’d raise—and I think this also applies to the legislation, the COVID public health legislation that’s going through—is that those of us, particularly, who lead political parties are very mindful that it’s 129 days until the election and 115 days until advance voting begins. Now, normally, elections are the time for the public to assemble and organise themselves to elect a Parliament, and they may wish to challenge the current Government as they do so. And so, aside from asking the Government, well, what exactly the purpose is of these recovery powers that seem out of step with recovery from a pandemic, I think it might also be asked how a 90-day recovery notice, and the powers that it gives to Civil Defence and various State agents, will be managed in the context of a time when there’s an election under way. Will it give any powers to manage how political parties organise and campaign? Certainly the public, I think, will want to know what effect it has on the upcoming elections.

So I just leave a couple of comments there that I hope the Government will actually rise and answer—why they want these recovery powers, how they intend to use them, and how it will interface with the coming election. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

I thank the House for its contributions, and I reflect on the previous member’s comments. We have had national transition periods before. There has been one. That was following the Kaikōura earthquake, and it was in place for 180 days. The general point about these periods is that they enable a coordinated response. I would not expect it to have any particular impact on the election period, to satisfy that member’s concerns.

I do say to the member opposite from the National Party, Michael Woodhouse, that, despite his reflections, public health has been a driver of this Government’s response at every stage. Thanks to the efforts of all New Zealanders in response to the frameworks that have been laid out, due to the sacrifices they’ve made, we have been able to move through the alert levels safely. Nobody wants to go back. And I want to thank New Zealanders for their efforts again and remind people that we’re not out of the woods yet.

We continue to learn about the virus overseas. We continue to learn about what stops its spread, what measures are effective. Although we’ve done well in New Zealand, we can continue to learn from others, and the ability to move in a coordinated way will continue to be important as we make our way through the COVID period.