Oral Questions

1. to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government’s policies and actions?

Yes. In particular, I stand by my decision to create a strong and stable Government with a cooperation agreement with the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealanders voted for stability and certainty at the election, and that is what this Government provides. As a Government, we’re continuing to support New Zealanders, including through our recent announcements, including, for instance, to provide school lunches to an additional 88,000 students in 322 schools and kura, and also to guarantee that every New Zealander will have free access to the Pfizer vaccine; that we’ll support businesses through the Resurgence Support Payment; that we’ll provide free period poverty products to all primary, intermediate, secondary school, and kura students; that we will bring in Matariki and celebrate it from 24 June next year as New Zealand’s newest public holiday; that we will conclude our deployment of New Zealand Defence Force staff in Afghanistan by May 2021; and that we’ll put in further efforts to protect Māui and Hector’s dolphins—just a snapshot of some of the announcements as a Government we’ve made in recent times.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Oh! So does she stand by the commitment she made 10 months ago that New Zealand would have a travel bubble with Australia as soon as it was safe to do so?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Why, after 10 months, has she failed to deliver a travel bubble with Australia when her tourism Minister has admitted “things are really dire” for areas like the West Coast of the South Island?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Because we haven’t considered it safe to do so.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Will she deliver on her most recent plan, re-announced in December last year, to open a trans-Tasman bubble by the end of March this year?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The member will be aware that since we talked about that, we’ve had, for instance, the Holiday Inn cluster in Melbourne, which, unfortunately, caused them to be in a five-day lockdown. There was the Mercure Hotel quarantine cluster in Brisbane in March. We’ve had the Grand Hyatt hotel on 3 February and a number of other cases over in Australia; likewise, we’ve dealt with our own situation. I think it’s fair to say that we have from the beginning worked on the premise that we would have a whole-of-country approach where we had joint decision-making around the opening of a bubble. Since then, what we’ve seen is a different approach taken by Australia; that leaves open for us the ability to take a different approach. What it will do is create a bit of an uncertain environment where travellers may indeed be stranded in either country if there is an outbreak. We want to make sure that as we work up what an open bubble would look like in that arrangement, we have plans around how to deal with those scenarios.

💬 David Seymour: What is stopping the Government of New Zealand from simply opening the border to travellers from Australian states that have had no active cases for 28 days, mirroring the way Australia treats its border in relation to us?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Something very simple: that we can’t guarantee that those states that have been COVID-free operate a completely closed border—in fact, they don’t. So we’ve talked about this before as being one of the challenges. If we were dealing with states that had entirely closed borders and were free of COVID, it would be a no-brainer, but we have flow between those states. Western Australia, for instance, is probably a good example which would be most like New Zealand in the way they operate, but other states where we have a high frequency of travellers, they don’t. So it does add complication for New Zealand that does not exist for Australia.

💬 Hon Chris Hipkins: Can the Prime Minister confirm that some of those states who have the longest periods of time that are COVID-19 - free are not providing quarantine-free travel for New Zealanders arriving in Australia?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: What criteria is her Government using to determine if a travel bubble is safe?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We set out that criteria some time ago. Of course what’s primarily important for us is whether or not there is a community outbreak or not, and so on that basis, actually a number of the states where we would have high-frequency travel have just come out of periods where they’ve been dealing with community transmission in the same way that we have just come out of a scenario. You can see that the way that we’d originally intended to work has changed for both Australia—and, therefore, we’ll need to adjust on our side as well. Where they are opening up but attaching different criteria like, for instance, pre-departure testing, it’s obviously free for us to consider or not whether that’s a way we’d choose to operate instead as well.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Why is someone arriving from Canberra—which hasn’t had a COVID case for eight months—required to spend two weeks in isolation, denying another Kiwi or essential worker a managed isolation and quarantine spot?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Look, all the way through this I have at various points had the Opposition tell us that we needed to open up our borders. At every point there will have been an example of that, and, ultimately, that is utterly the imperative of the Opposition. Our job is to make sure that when we make a decision, that we have a good health basis for it, that we can make sure that we give as much certainty to travellers as we can, that we have a plan in place for if there is an outbreak, including for what happens to stranded travellers, and that we don’t do something we then try and reverse. We can’t unscramble the egg—once we open this we need to be able to stick to it in some form.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Is she then saying that the Australian Government is wrong to have unilaterally opened its border to New Zealand travellers?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: It’s wrong to say they unilaterally have opened their borders. On most occasions, different states have taken different approaches. That has been a complicating factor, but it’s not insurmountable.

💬 Chris Bishop: The Federal Government have opened it.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Well, why are people returning—

💬 Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern: Queensland opened at a different time—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Order! Both of you stop it, please.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Why are people returning from Australia taking up 40 percent of our scarce managed isolation spaces, when Australia has now gone longer without a community case than the entire country of New Zealand?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The reason they closed to us was because we had an outbreak, and, equally, we would want to be able to maintain the right to close to them when they have an outbreak—as they did over Christmas; as they did in March.

Question No. 2—Finance

2. to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy?

The New Zealand economy continues to perform ahead of expectations. This is in part driven by our strong export performance, with near record high terms of trade. One recent report that highlights this is that Fonterra has lifted its 2021 forecast farm-gate milk price range with the mid-point increasing to $7.60 per kilo of milksolids. This price lift is good news for our rural communities. It means that the cooperative will contribute more than $11.5 billion to the New Zealand economy.

💬 Dr Duncan Webb: What other reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Well, the construction sector continues to go from strength to strength. Yesterday, Statistics New Zealand revealed construction sales reached $19.6 billion in the December quarter. That’s up $897 million, or 4.8 percent, from the December 2019 quarter and follows a $1.6 billion, or 8.9 percent, year-on-year increase for the September 2020 quarter. The growth in construction sales is driven by home-building and construction services, which include trades such as plumbing, electrical, and carpentry. This is great news and builds on Statistics New Zealand’s report last month that construction jobs rose by 21,000 people annually.

💬 Hon Carmel Sepuloni: What reports has he seen on the impact of a strengthening economy on the numbers of people exiting a main benefit?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: An excellent question. The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has reported that benefit numbers trended downwards for the first two months of this year. Despite the challenging environment, there have been more people coming off the benefit and going into work in the last three months than in any December to February period since the year 2000. The Government has boosted its employment services, and I want to congratulate the Minister for Social Development and MSD for their excellent work in increasing significant investment in upskilling and training.

Question No. 3—Infrastructure

3. to the Minister for Infrastructure: What are the 15 shovel-ready projects being re-scoped, and why has construction only started on less than a quarter of shovel-ready projects?

The 15 projects I mentioned in question time yesterday are currently subject to commercial negotiations, and it would not be in the public interest to comment on them in detail at this time. As I said yesterday, many of these projects are likely to go ahead, but are the subject of due diligence at this time. In answer to the second part of the question, 205 projects have been contracted. This gives the construction industry certainty that the projects will go ahead. There is an expectation that the projects must start construction within 12 months of the contracted date, which is still to come for many of them. Again, I would note for the member, when we called for projects for the Infrastructure Industry Reference Group in April last year and announced those projects in July last year, economists were expecting mass unemployment and a potential collapse of the construction sector. Thankfully, that scenario has not eventuated, and in many parts of the country the construction sector is, in fact, at capacity.

💬 Andrew Bayly: Why are 15 shovel-ready projects being re-scoped when they were approved by the Minister of Finance and the Minister for Infrastructure as shovel-ready only just months ago?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: It’s interesting that Mr Bayly would be so cavalier with taxpayer money as to not want due diligence to be done on all the projects that we fund. This is 15 projects out of over 200 projects which have been contracted. As I said in my primary answer, I expect many of them will go ahead very shortly.

💬 Andrew Bayly: Why do 156 shovel-ready projects still have no shovel in the ground 11 months after the shovel-ready projects were announced?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As I said in my primary answer, in April last year we had projections of unemployment up towards 20 percent. That did not occur. We now have extra workers in the construction workforce. We have a pipeline of work. Mr Bayly should celebrate the success of New Zealand’s construction sector and the fact that the Government has a set of projects ready to go, working with the sector to deliver them.

💬 Andrew Bayly: What were the failures in the ministerial decision-making process for the $3 billion shovel-ready scheme that has resulted in the 15 projects being re-evaluated—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! I’m going to give the member a chance to start his question again, and within order.

💬 Andrew Bayly: Were there failures in the ministerial decision-making process for the $3 billion shovel-ready scheme that has resulted in the 15 projects being re-evaluated, given the first selection criteria mandated that the projects would be starting within six to 12 months?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: There were no failures in that regard.

💬 Andrew Bayly: Why did the shovel-ready funding allocate $100 million into a feasibility study into a pumped hydro scheme that won’t have shovels in the ground until 2023 at the earliest, and how many shovels does it take to do a feasibility study?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: That project and the member’s attitude to it exemplifies exactly what is wrong with the approach that the Opposition is taking. This is a scheme that can revolutionise the way in which we deliver sustainable energy in New Zealand and their reaction to it tells you all you need to know. You stay in the 19th century, Mr Bayly—it’s fine.

Question No. 4—COVID-19 Response

4. to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: What is the Government doing to ensure continual improvement in COVID-19 response?

Continual review and improvement has been an integral part of our COVID-19 response. Yesterday, I announced the establishment of permanent advisory group, led by Sir Brian Roche, to formalise this commitment as part of our ongoing commitment to improvement. The Government’s chosen an aggressive elimination strategy in our COVID-19 response, where containment and closure of any active cases in the community remains the key priority. It allows New Zealand to continue to enjoy freedoms that elsewhere in the world don’t exist, while we roll out the largest vaccination campaign in our history.

As new variants spread across the globe, it’s more important than ever that we are constantly refining, adapting, and tightening our border and our approach. This year, we began pre-departure testing, we mandated mask use across the country on public transport, we introduced day zero testing for those arriving in the country, we limited more movement in our managed isolation facilities, and we’ve been upgrading ventilation systems, to name just a few of the improvements that have been made this year alone. We want our systems to keep changing and improving as our knowledge base continues to grow.

💬 Dr Liz Craig: Who is on the Government’s COVID-19 Independent Continuous Review, Improvement and Advice group?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The group will be chaired by Sir Brian Roche, who has extensive governance leadership and business experience. It will also include Rob Fyfe, bringing senior business leadership experience; Dr Debbie Ryan, who has decades of public health service, with a focus on Pacific health; Professor Phillip Hill, an epidemiologist with expertise in infectious diseases and research; and Dr Dale Bramley, who brings a broad public health and governance experience, along with a Māori health perspective.

💬 Dr Liz Craig: What were the Government’s priorities in deciding the membership of the COVID-19 Independent Continuous Review, Improvement and Advice group?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We wanted to keep the group relatively small and nimble. We also wanted to ensure that the membership allowed for a continuation of the work around reviews that’s already been done so far—reviews of contact tracing and testing systems, in particular—and we also wanted to have a group that would provide a degree of independence, contestable advice to Government so that we could continue to drive that process of continual improvement.

Question No. 5—Prime Minister

5. to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by her statement regarding the Government’s response to COVID-19, “What I’ll set out over the course of this month is how we anticipate transitioning from the restrictions that we have”; if so, when will a full and comprehensive plan be announced?

Yes, I stand by the full context of my statement, where I said, “What I’ll set out over the course of this month is how we anticipate transitioning from the restrictions that we have, things like limits on gatherings and our alert-level system, shifting from that to the vaccine.” Providing information is something we’ve been doing and will continue to do. The member will know we’ve publicly released the resurgence plan, the alert levels framework, our business support plans, and, of course, our elimination strategy, but, as a Government, we’ll continue to build on this. Earlier this week, we announced that every New Zealander will have access, for instance, to the Pfizer vaccine, and today we announced the sequencing framework so that all New Zealanders will know where they sit in that vaccine roll-out. We will continue to give as much certainty as we can to New Zealanders in such an uncertain global environment.

💬 David Seymour: What information was in today’s vaccine announcement that wasn’t known 10 days ago?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We have put more detail—including the expectation of when we expect those in higher-risk environments and what we determined to be those high-risk environments—out in the public domain. It wouldn’t be known, for instance, that we intend to treat those 65 years and over within South Auckland as being in those categories of high risk up in the higher parts of our vaccine roll-out.

💬 David Seymour: Can the Prime Minister understand why some people might think today’s announcement about Pfizer was actually a bit of a fizzer?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: No, because I think every New Zealander understands that as fast as we are receiving the vaccine, we are moving to prioritise the roll-out around those who are in the highest-risk settings. So I think they fully know and understand why we have prioritised those who are at the front line, who are at the greatest risk of coming in contact with COVID, and I think they also know and understand that from the middle half of the year, we will be rolling out more broadly to the remainder of the public. I think that information we have reiterated, but in between time, we now have provided greater clarity around the sequencing before we get to the middle of the year.

💬 Chris Bishop: Why are the three component parts of the IT system required for the vaccine roll-out still under development and not ready to go?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The last Government never built a national immunisation system, and we have had to build from scratch. We do have a system that’s able to support the vaccine roll-out. That is not the issue—[Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Can I just ask members to stop shouting down the Prime Minister. Interjections are meant to be rare and reasonable.

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: But if the member is implying for a moment that we are unable to roll out a vaccination programme to New Zealanders because of IT issues, that is not true.

💬 Chris Bishop: Why is the inventory management system that actually tracks where the Pfizer vaccines are in New Zealand not ready to go?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We do have inventory management systems. We also have a system to make sure that we know who has been vaccinated. What we are building is an integrated system that will allow, for instance, people in different places—so GPs’ clinics and pharmacies and so on—to work through an integrated system, and that is being built. None of this will or is stopping our roll-out. We already have a system that is recording our vaccinations as we go. It is not an impediment.

💬 David Seymour: Does the Prime Minister stand by her position expressed earlier in question time that we cannot open our border to any Australian state because people entering New Zealand from that state may have recently been in another state that has COVID?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Can I get the member to repeat the first half of the question? I didn’t quite catch it.

💬 David Seymour: Certainly. Does the Prime Minister stand by her position expressed earlier in question time that the reason New Zealand cannot open its borders to any Australian state is because people entering New Zealand from that state might come from a state where there is COVID?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: That is not how I would summarise what I was saying. I’ve said that there have been outbreaks in Australia, and of course that has caused complication. Then, secondary to that, it has been suggested that we could simply in those scenarios just not travel between ourselves and that state. The point I was making is that often in those outbreaks, those borders are remaining open—in fact, in the places where they haven’t been doing that and they have remained closed, they often do not have a direct route of travel to New Zealand, nor have opened to New Zealand.

💬 David Seymour: Why doesn’t the Prime Minister have confidence in the rules that every Australian state has used to successfully prevent interstate transmission to date?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Oh, this is not a slight on the management of different states. They themselves would acknowledge, though, that often by the time a case is identified in one state—I’ll take the Northern Beaches example—it has often already, through no fault of anyone, moved into another state. So I just think that’s the reality of a mobile population.

💬 David Seymour: Will any transition plan the Government produces include vaccine passports for New Zealanders who are vaccinated to travel internationally, and, if so, when does she expect those to be in place?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Well, actually, I think what’s been recognised by the international community is that rather than individual states designing their own vaccine passport, which we then would want to make sure were accredited in other parts of the world, we actually already have a system in place through the International Air Transport Association that would be able to provide that mechanism. So that’s been developed at an international level. We are staying in close contact as that work is done, and, no doubt, we’ll be inputting into that as other countries are as well.

💬 David Seymour: Will any transition plan that the Government releases include a plan to be included in a business travel network—as has been developed by countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, and Australia—and, if so, when would she expect something like that to be in place?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again, for those—you know, Australia hasn’t done that to date, and most countries who have often don’t have an elimination strategy like we do. I think, to be clear for the member, the goal at the moment that we are all working towards is a situation where as many New Zealanders as possible are vaccinated. So we move from a position of the border being our protection to us individually carrying our own protection. The member’s suggestions around what might happen in the in-between time—so much of that relies on the data and science around transmission when you’re vaccinated, and one of the issues we have is that data and science is incomplete. We know that it has an effect, but we know it will vary, depending on vaccine. So there’s a high amount of variation at the moment, which will be very important for New Zealand to understand because we are a bit different in that we have an elimination strategy.

💬 David Seymour: If vaccines don’t turn out to comprehensively protect us from COVID-19, what plan B does the Government have other than the tools it’s used to date?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I think, to be fair, again, we need to start talking about this as the vaccine not being an end point; it will be like the flu. So that means that we will annually have to make sure that we have a rolling vaccination programme so that we are providing vaccines that deal with variants and so on because this is not going to go away for some time. So, ultimately, the way that we will all deal with it is: (a) we have to get as much global access as possible—variants will continue to emerge so long as the world is not vaccinated; so that has to be part of our plan as well—and (b) make sure that our own population then has access and uses the vaccine.

💬 David Seymour: Point of order, Mr Speaker. The question was about what other measures would be taken if the vaccines were not effective. The Prime Minister gave a number of answers about how she would promote use of the vaccine, but the question assumed that the vaccine had been used. The question was actually what would happen if the vaccine didn’t solve the problem—what other measures would be taken—and that wasn’t addressed at all.

💬 SPEAKER: I was listening carefully to the answer and I was thinking about that. But I think the answer was that other vaccines would be used, as opposed to the vaccine.

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I’m happy to clarify.

💬 SPEAKER: If the Prime Minister wants to elaborate, that’s fine.

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I’m happy to clarify. My reference to the use of vaccine for variants was that the greatest thing that puts at risk a vaccine strategy is the emergence of variants. That of course is problematic if we don’t have enough access to vaccines globally, quickly. That is why we have to make sure that we are only safe if everyone is. We have to participate in providing access to vaccines around the world and keep vaccinating our populations globally.

Question No. 6—Conservation

6. to the Minister of Conservation: Will she commit to the target adopted by the Hauraki Gulf Forum of protecting at least 30 percent of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park?

I thank the member for Auckland Central for the question. I can confirm that the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries and I are focused on finalising the Government response strategy to the Sea Change plan, which will set out actions that central government can take to improve the health and the mauri of the gulf. I understand that the Hauraki Gulf Forum passed a resolution in May 2020 calling for at least 30 percent of marine protection in the gulf. Throughout the course of 2020, Government agencies engaged with multiple stakeholders, including the 32 iwi that have rights, interests, etc., in Tīkapa Moana; environmental NGO scientists; and recreational and commercial fishers. The Government response strategy will include proposals to significantly increase marine protection in Tīkapa Moana, with a carefully considered suite of marine protection sites that include at-risk, ecologically valuable, and representative habitats and ecosystems in the gulf, while also supporting customary rights.

Chlöe Swarbrick: What is her response to the recent comments by Ngāti Manuhiri chairperson, Mook Hohneck, who, on a scale of one to 10, ranked the state of the Hauraki Gulf currently at “four and we’re declining very rapidly”?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I acknowledge the comments of Mook and his colleagues, who have worked for many years on the restoration and the mauri of Tīkapa Moana. Mr Hohneck will be very mindful to the fact that there are multiple people that have been engaged over many years and that we are getting to a point where there is such buy-in into the protection of key areas within Tīkapa Moana to an extent that I think was perhaps invisible only a couple of years ago. We are, as a Government, in a position where we will almost be about to make some announcements about the nature and extent of the Government’s response. But he will be pleased, as he has been engaged—as we will be—to get to that end point pretty soon.

Chlöe Swarbrick: Does she support the protective measures taken by Ngāti Paoa on Waiheke Island to declare a rāhui around the island’s waters?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: We, as a Government, always support whānau, hapū, iwi, community stakeholders at any level taking proactive measures to protect the taiao, the moana, and Ngāti Paoa are certainly no exception. As the member will be aware, the application has been made under the Fisheries Act, which my colleague Minister Parker has responsibilities for. I understand that consultation is currently open, closing soon, to which he will then make a determination on the nature and state of that particular application.

Chlöe Swarbrick: Does she support the initiative of the Noises Trust working with iwi and Auckland Museum to protect and restore the moana around Ōtata Island—the Noises—and what help is her department providing with this?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I must acknowledge the work of Rod, Sue, and the entire whānau based over there in Ōtata Island. They’ve been out there for many years, and I know that they have constructively engaged with mana whenua over the course of the last decade to really restore some of the mātauranga and worked alongside the science to, I guess, protect the ecological characteristics of that area in the Hauraki. The Department of Conservation has engaged in a close relationship and is very keen to collaborate with the Neureuter whānau—not so good with my Swiss pronunciation. But we’re really keen to engage with them, have been engaging with them, and will continue to do so, particularly once the Sea Change response has been formalised.

Question No. 7—Whānau Ora

7. to the Minister for Whānau Ora: What recent announcement has he made about Whānau Ora supporting whānau affected by the recent changes in COVID-19 alert levels?

Recently, alongside the Minister for Social Development, the Hon Carmel Sepuloni, we issued a press release detailing various support systems and packages for whānau to assist them through the COVID-19 alert level changes. Collectively, we confirmed that funding is allocated to social services, community, iwi, and Whānau Ora partners to provide a final support base on needs identified by whānau. We know that Whānau Ora worked with at least 19 Māori and Pasifika providers in Tāmaki-makau-rau to get assistance and information to whānau. Whānau Ora also implemented targeted communications through their networks and workforce so whānau had clear direction about alert level guidelines and public health information.

Tāmati Coffey: What other support has been provided by Whānau Ora to respond to the impacts of COVID-19?

💬 Hon PEENI HENARE: Through Budget 2020, this Government secured $72 million for 2020-21 so that commissioning agencies are able to support whānau with the immediate and medium-term impacts of the pandemic. With this funding, Whānau Ora providers rapidly mobilised their support networks to support over 326,000 whānau members. Whānau identified affordability of food, rent, electricity, and other basic needs as an issue. To respond to this, over 250,000 essential support packages were provided to whānau throughout the country. Availability of learning devices and internet access was also an issue, and Whānau Ora providers distributed devices to assist in online learning and assisted whānau to remain connected. The repeated COVID resurgences and associated lockdowns also caused a heightened level of stress for whānau in Tāmaki-makau-rau. To respond to this, Whānau Ora providers supported whānau to address mental health wellbeing.

Tāmati Coffey: How is Whānau Ora ensuring that whānau understand what they need to do at various alert levels?

💬 Hon PEENI HENARE: Whānau Ora providers have trusting relationships with whānau in their communities and have daily contact with them. Because of these strong and trusting relationships, providers are able to impart information in a way that is clear, personalised, and easy to understand. It is my privilege and the honour of this Government to support them to do that.

Question No. 8—COVID-19 Response

8. to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: Will the Australian travel bubble that was agreed by Cabinet in principle and announced on 14 December 2020 be up and running by the end of the first quarter; if not, why not?

In answer to the first part of the question, the timing around the opening of the travel bubble is a dynamic thing, and I cannot guarantee it will be open by the end of the month. In answer to the second part of the question, common agreement on both sides of the Tasman about how, why, and when the safe travel zone could be suspended, and the implications of that has not been agreed.

💬 Chris Bishop: On what date can New Zealanders expect the implementation of a travel bubble with Australia?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I haven’t got a specific date for that. We will do that when we are in a position to do that.

💬 Chris Bishop: What are the remaining areas of disagreement between the Australian Federal Government and New Zealand that are holding up the bubble? [Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order! I am going to give the Opposition a further supplementary. People mustn’t interject, no matter how provocative the questions are. Chris Hipkins will answer it.

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The member clearly didn’t listen to the answer given to the “other Leader of the Opposition” a few moments ago, when the Prime Minister, I think, was very clear that one of the big shifts has been that we haven’t been able to reach a common understanding for a joint decision-making framework, and therefore we have to plan based on more of a unilateral decision-making framework when it comes to suspension of the safe travel zone—a decision that could impact between 8,000 to 13,000 New Zealanders a day if travel returns to the level that it was before COVID-19.

💬 Chris Bishop: When was the issue that he’s just referred to, of New Zealanders potentially being stranded in Australia if a border was to close, first identified as an issue in the talks, and what progress has been made to resolve it?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As I have already indicated, as a matter of public record, New Zealand and Australia were negotiating to a joint decision-making framework. It was the Australians who have indicated that that is not the way they wish to proceed, and, therefore, we are having to recalibrate our response accordingly.

💬 Chris Bishop: Why doesn’t New Zealand, then—given the failure of the joint decision-making framework and the move by Australia to a unilateral framework, why doesn’t New Zealand, then, just do something unilaterally and open the borders to Australians?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: There are still some issues to work through, including the fact that when we remove quarantine at our end, there will be a massive increase in the number of people travelling across the Tasman every single day, and we have to be in a position to provide some certainty about what will happen for those people in the event that the safe travel zone is suspended. It could well mean we have tens of thousands of people unable to travel home, and we need to be clear about what will happen in those circumstances.

💬 Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern: Can the Minister confirm that despite the fact some of the positions of our counterparts in these talks have changed, it has been a completely amicable set of discussions, and that, ultimately, we totally accept on both sides that we’ll make our own decisions based on our own strategies and public health plans?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes, I can confirm that the conversations have been amicable, full of goodwill, and very constructive, in fact. I can also confirm that different states in Australia are making different decisions about how to approach a safe travel zone with New Zealand, and, presently, only two Australian states are offering quarantine-free travel from New Zealanders arriving in Australia.

Question No. 9—Pacific Peoples

9. to the Minister for Pacific Peoples: What actions did the Government take to communicate with Pacific communities during the recent alert level changes?

The Ministry for Pacific Peoples moved quickly to provide updated alert level information in nine Pacific languages. This was done by translating language-specific fact sheets, providing live updates through social media channels, and producing videos with alert level information. Key information was communicated through all Pacific radio stations, and Pacific stakeholders were contacted and provided with all relevant videos and channels.

💬 Barbara Edmonds: What specific engagements have taken place to communicate to Pacific communities?

💬 Hon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO: The Ministry for Pacific Peoples and the Ministry of Health have implemented a joint approach to Pacific community engagement, which is aligned to the Government’s Unite against COVID-19 campaign. The overarching purpose is to empower Pacific communities about COVID-19 and the upcoming vaccination programmes. Just prior to the alert level changes, we delivered a nationwide Pacific Zoom fono that had 600 in attendance to discuss key information around vaccinations with Pacific clinicians and experts. Last week, during the alert level change, we held 14 regional Pacific language fonos delivered in our nine prominent Pacific languages. These reached our Pacific leaders and communities across the country to get out the key health messages and address questions regarding vaccines. We plan to continue these engagements regularly throughout the year as we roll out the COVID-19 vaccine.

💬 Barbara Edmonds: What were some of the issues raised during the engagements with the Pacific communities?

💬 Hon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO: Questions were raised regarding what support measures were available to people, the safety of the vaccine, who is eligible to receive the vaccine, how to stop the spread of misinformation, and general health-related questions, which were all addressed by Pacific clinicians and Government agency staff. We intend to continue holding meetings with Pacific communities on a regular basis as we work through the alert levels and with the vaccine roll-out. We’re also planning on the public release of frequently asked questions and answers that were gathered during the community engagement, and we’ll share that information through different platforms and mediums and directly with stakeholders.

Question No. 10—Prime Minister

10. to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her statement, “We always hear about New Zealand being a great place to raise a family—and that’s certainly true. But we can always do more”?

Yes. I made this comment as part of a wider statement about making New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child. This Government remains committed to improving the wellbeing of Kiwi kids. That’s why we’ve developed, for the first time, an all-of-Government strategy focused solely on improving the lives of all children, the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy, and we’ve set ourselves bold and ambitious child poverty targets. Already, we’re providing free and healthy school lunches to 88,000 students in 322 schools and kura across the country, we’ve increased the incomes of around 96,000 sole parents by an average of $132 per week, we’ve extended free and low-cost GP visits to 56,000 13-year-olds, and we’ve provided our Best Start payment to over 100,000 parents of newborn babies and extended paid parental leave. Under this Government, we’ve seen one of the largest policy-driven falls in child poverty in a very long time, but there’s also more to do.

💬 Karen Chhour: Has she seen the video produced by Mothers Matter, released today?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Unfortunately, no, I haven’t. But I would say to the member, if she chooses to put on notice any specific subject matter, I will always do my best to come to the House prepared and able to answer.

💬 Karen Chhour: What does she say to the statement from Mothers Matter that “many women are encouraged to leave just hours after birth despite our government’s commitment to a full 48-hour minimum funding per birth”?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We know that we have, of course, minimum expectations, but one of the things I think we’ve been particularly focused on as a Government is how we can, overall, improve the maternal health and wellbeing of our mums. I do think the support that they receive immediately after birth is an incredibly important part of that, and I would also say the contracted six weeks’ worth of midwifery care as well, as well as Well Child/Tamariki Ora. So if there are examples of where people are not getting that standard of care, we should know about that and do something about it.

💬 Karen Chhour: What urgent actions will the Government take this year to address the appalling rate of maternal suicide in New Zealand?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: This, as I’ve just reflected in my answer, was one of the things that when we were working on our mental health plans and the huge investment we made in the 2019 Budget. Specifically, mental health care for our new mums was part of the conversation we had, and so it would be prudent to have Minister Little perhaps update you on some of that work. What I can tell you about it from a child poverty and wellbeing perspective: we’ve started rolling out—first in Rotorua—a programme specifically that works intensively with our new mums. So it’s based on nurse-family partnerships. It’s in the home. Rather than it being ad hoc, it can be as much as weekly. It tries to form a relationship between new mums and our professional healthcare providers so that they can identify early on if additional support is required. We’re looking to roll that out across the country, but in Rotorua, we’re hoping to see really great results.

💬 Hon Louise Upston: Why, then, did the Minister for Children today in select committee confirm that there’d been no investment in the first 1,000 days in this term or the previous term of Parliament?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I imagine the member is not correctly paraphrasing the Minister for Children. Of course, in terms of the first 1,000 days, I’m happy to share with the member that we have created, for the first time—brought back since the National Government in the 1990s got rid of the child payment, we brought it back in the form of Best Start. We extended paid parental leave, we increased the family tax credit, we increased benefit rates for families—and of course that directly affects children. And, for the member, I would say perhaps she’s unaware that the Best Start payment is precisely orientated to the first three years of a child’s life for the very fact that the first 1,000 days is so important.

Question No. 11—Housing

11. to the Minister of Housing: Does she have confidence that taxpayers are getting good value for the money being spent by Government housing agencies; if so, what was the total cost incurred to make videos promoting the Progressive Home Ownership scheme?

In answer to the first part of the question, I do have confidence that taxpayers are getting good value for the money being spent by Government housing agencies. For example, I think it is value for money that they are overseeing the largest housing build programme in a generation, that will see over 18,000 new public and transitional houses built by 2024; supporting more than 1,000 people who have been sleeping rough or in overcrowded conditions during COVID-19; improving the quality of our housing stock; and rental reforms to better protect renters, and I think there is a particular value for money in the ongoing work developing new initiatives such as the Government’s Progressive Home Ownership Fund, a scheme that is helping families otherwise locked out of homeownership into their own homes—just a small snapshot of our many achievements in housing. In answer to the second part of the question, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has produced five videos promoting the Government’s $400 million progressive homeownership scheme, at a total cost of $10,628.20, plus staff travel costs of $670.84. This sum does include the $1,311, plus GST, spent on the video I posted on Twitter on 23 February.

💬 Nicola Willis: How can she justify spending more than $11,000 on a promo video for a scheme that has only housed 12 families?

💬 SPEAKER: Order! I’m going to ask the member to rephrase the question.

💬 Hon Member: “Does she.”

💬 Nicola Willis: Does she justify spending more than $11,000 on a promo video for a scheme that has only housed 12 families?

💬 Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I will stand by spending $10,000 on a scheme that is going to help 1,500 to 4,000 families into homeownership who are otherwise locked out of it. I note that there have been other commentators that have talked about the value of telling real people’s stories in video. I quote: “Housing New Zealand advises me that the video was developed as a tool to tell the story of Housing New Zealand to a variety of audiences. Furthermore, Housing New Zealand’s business is complex, and telling its story”—[Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Order! I’m going to hear the rest of this answer with only the Minister contributing.

💬 Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: “Housing New Zealand’s business is complex, and telling its story helps the people, community stakeholders, and organisations it’s worked with get a greater understanding of what Housing New Zealand does.” The author of this, of course, was the Rt Hon Bill English, when defending $11,000 spent producing one video.

💬 Nicola Willis: Has social media feedback on the “game-changer” video been largely positive or largely negative?

💬 Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I don’t count my Twitter counts. What I am more interested in is the 1,500 to 4,000 families who are otherwise shut out of homeownership that our Government’s investment is going to help. I suggest that member get out into the real world and talk to some of the families being assisted.

💬 Nicola Willis: Can she confirm producing her promo video involved a specialist videographer, a drone, and two staff members?

💬 Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: What I can confirm is that in the course of a—[Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order! I think that’s not an appropriate comment about a member.

💬 Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: What I can confirm is that in the course of a one-hour visit to a family that had been helped into homeownership, I spent approximately three minutes doing a piece to camera. Drone footage that was already on file with HUD was cut into it. What I suggest is that member start focusing on the real issues in housing and move beyond some sideshows.

💬 Nicola Willis: Can she confirm there are more than 11 officials working full-time on this scheme that has only benefited 12 families?

💬 Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I can confirm that we, as a Government, are putting resource into progressive homeownership, and, furthermore, what I can confirm to that member is there have been 166 places contracted for progressive homeownership. Twelve families have already moved in, three more families are moving in next week, and 13 more families will move in by April, and this is performing better than we said it would. We said that the first two schemes would produce 100 places—[Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Order! Members ask the questions. They’ve got to decide whether they want them answered or not, and if they are to be answered, they have to be answered in a way that can be heard. Now, the Minister does not have a wee voice. She has quite a strong voice, and I am having trouble hearing her over the hubbub from my left. Once again, the rest of this supplementary answer will be heard in silence.

💬 Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. If I can pick up where I left off, we said in the initial press release that went out there would be 100 people helped by the first two providers; 103 places have been contracted. The original Cabinet paper said 300 places would be contracted in the first two years. We are only about five or six months into it and we already have 166 of those places contracted. I suggest that member move on to the real issues in housing and move beyond sideshows. [Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order! I’d just taken away the final supplementary from the Opposition because of the interjection from the Hon Judith Collins at the beginning. I’m now giving them that one back, and another one, for the two from my right. When I say something is to be heard in silence, it is to be.

💬 Nicola Willis: Is she planning on guest starring in any more slick videos promoting Government housing schemes?

💬 Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I think that member is betraying her true colours and the fact that she belongs to a party that has absolutely no ambition to help people locked out of homeownership into homeownership. I am proud of the scheme that we have put into place, and I certainly am planning to continue promoting it.

💬 Nicola Willis: How do taxpayers benefit from a $10,000 video promoting a scheme most will never access?

💬 Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I take the member back to the comments by the former leader of the member’s party, Bill English, when he talked about spending $11,000 on one video. What I suggest is that that member get outside of her ivory tower and speak to some real people.

Question No. 12—Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities

12. to the Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities: What supports were in place for ethnic communities during the recent alert level changes?

The Government has provided support so that our diverse ethnic communities have clear guidance on the alert level shifts and what they need to do at that particular alert level. We disseminated information about COVID-19 in a number of languages through various channels and formats, including social media. On Tuesday last week, I held a Zui with the Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, and a number of ethnic community stakeholders to address questions they had around COVID19. The Government has also been engaging with individuals, organisations, and employers from our diverse communities to make sure they have the social and financial assistance they need to stay safe when COVID-19 alert levels change.

💬 Ibrahim Omer: What steps is the Government taking to ensure the information is accessible?

💬 Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: The Government has set up a multilingual information network that shares important Government information in various languages to ethnic communities. This network also relays feedback and insights from the communities they engage with to help us improve the material we share and the ways in which we communicate. This includes videos and fact sheets in multiple languages. In order to meet the diverse needs of our communities, we know that we need to tailor our messages in a way that’s relevant to them. The Office of Ethnic Communities has also recently launched a survey to better understand the impacts of COVID-19 on ethnic communities. This is open until 26 March, and I encourage anyone from an ethnic community across Aotearoa to contribute to that survey.

💬 Ibrahim Omer: What additional support has been provided to ethnic communities?

💬 Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: The Ministry of Social Development continues to check in with ethnic community organisations and social service providers to ensure they’re well placed to meet the needs of their communities. The Government has also funded community connectors to work specifically with these communities so that they’re able to access information and services from across Government agencies. To date, the Office of Ethnic Communities has granted over $116,000 from the Ethnic Communities Development Fund to specifically support COVID-19 initiatives. This Government is committed to ensuring all New Zealanders have the information they need in order to keep safe from COVID-19.