COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill (No 2)

I move, That the COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill (No 2) be now read a third time.

We’ve already canvassed the content that’s in this bill quite well during the first reading and the second reading and, very briefly, during the committee stage of the bill. I do want to thank members of the House for their goodwill towards this process. The bill is unanimously supported across the House, and I welcome that support.

We do have to acknowledge—and I do just want to take a moment to do that, now that we’re through the technicalities of the bill—the significant effect that COVID-19 has had on so many New Zealanders up and down the country: on our business community, our local government, and on all of the other organisations that are going to be affected by the changes that are outlined in this piece of legislation the House is now passing. Sometimes we forget the lockdown period. It seems like a long time ago now, though it was not actually that long ago, where the country did, effectively, go on hold for a period of a month, for most people, and then for two months for a significant proportion of our population as we moved through level 4 and then level 3 lockdown.

We can all be very proud of the results that we achieved through that period, but we also have to acknowledge that that came as a result of a lot of sacrifice by many, many New Zealanders, and there are some simple things that we can do as a Parliament to ease a little bit of that burden. Making sure that the administrative processes of Government are able to continue and that businesses are not unduly penalised for not being able to meet the timetables set out in law because they were unable to do the things they would normally do during that lockdown period—these are sensible and pragmatic changes that we can make as a Parliament.

So this will be the last time I get to speak on this particular bill, so I just want to acknowledge, again, all those who were affected by the COVID lockdown and the effect that it had on their businesses, their livelihoods, and their way of living, and I hope that these small changes—and they are just small changes, they are part of a much broader package of measures the Government is taking to support people through the COVID-19 recovery phase—I hope that these changes will at least make a little bit of a difference to those who are affected by them.

It’s a pleasure to rise and take a call at the third reading of the COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill (No 2). As we have traversed in this debate in this short time today, National will be supporting this legislation through because we support anything that helps businesses cope with the lockdown and the effects from COVID-19. As has been raised, of course we would have liked to have seen more changes in this around the capital asset depreciation requirements and the GST refunds—would have been a start. But nevertheless, this piece of legislation will help ease the burden for businesses who are struggling through COVID-19 with respect to the ACC regulations, with respect to making sure that businesses who do have legitimate R & D expenditure can apply for the tax credit, and also allowing for greater discretion with IRD to change the due dates and deadlines, and also extensions as well.

So, of course, it’s been a tumultuous time for many in the past few months with the lockdown and everything that’s happened since then, and this piece of legislation is a small step to help ease the burden. All we’ve talked about is that the fight is not over. We’ve got a challenging situation in the next 24 to 36 months in this country, and we’re going to be supportive of any piece of legislation or any policy that makes a difference to help ease the burden for businesses, to help provide a circumstance where these businesses can stay in business but also have a sense of security and incentive to hire new staff, because that’s what’s really going to matter.

So, look, without really diluting the impact of this legislation, I do want to say thank you to the Minister for addressing some of these issues that, in fact, go a long way to easing the administrative burden for businesses. But we do look forward to seeing far more ambitious plans around how we’re going to keep businesses in operation, to keep them aspirational for the next few years, and to give them the confidence that they can go out and employ staff and conduct their business in a way that is going to improve our economy. So I won’t take much more of the House’s time. National commends this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s my pleasure to take a brief call on this COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill (No 2). As the Minister of Health in his opening remarks mentioned, there have been a lot of effects on businesses and all New Zealanders, and this bill will bring some relief to the businesses in the short term.

As has been mentioned by the previous speaker from our side, Dan Bidois, it would have been good if the Minister could have considered National’s proposal for a GST cash refund scheme. That would have given up to $100,000 to the businesses, in their pockets, which could have gone a long way. It is what is required at this time. I go out and about in the community and meet a lot of the small businesses. They are really struggling for cash, because what happened in lockdown, in levels 3 and 4, is there were no sales for them. They could not do anything because everything was under lockdown, and everyone understands that. I commend the Government for bringing this bill. But some more may have been done to better improve this and which could have made a lot of differences for the businesses. I hope that in the next few months, after the elections, the Government of the day will consider revisiting this bill and making more provisions for small businesses to ensure that they have got more opportunities for how they can survive and hold on to jobs.

Mr Speaker, I thank you for forgetting to start the clock. I close my speech here, commending this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s a pleasure to take this call for the third and final reading of the COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill (No 2). The National Party supports this bill, because, ultimately, we support any kind of relief to small businesses at this time, even though I do think this is light relief in terms of the scale of devastation that has hit many businesses in our country, which has resulted in thousands losing jobs.

As I said, there is no way that businesses could have anticipated or planned for what would happen to them under lockdown, having those four to seven weeks of no revenue—absolutely no revenue—coming in. Whilst, as I’ve said in this House, businesses have appreciated—and, of course, New Zealanders have appreciated—the support that comes out of a wage subsidy, that, ultimately, was not going to save many businesses. Timing is also important in terms of support. For many businesses who have complex supply chains, cash flow is king. Ultimately, getting support further down the track is probably too little, too late for many businesses.

Ultimately, as has been traversed in this House, not every business can be saved, and that is the tragedy of this time, but we do support the measures that have been included in this bill around taking off some of the burden for small businesses—relieving some of that pressure at this time. I’m hoping that more businesses will be able to survive the next six to 12 months, which is really, really crucial. National supports this bill. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Bill read a third time.