Oral Questions

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

Yes. In particular, I stand by the Government’s COVID-19 vaccination programme that, today, has reached two important milestones: 80 percent of eligible Aucklanders have now received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and, nationally, 75 percent of eligible New Zealanders have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine. That’s fantastic progress, but the job isn’t finished. If you still haven’t received your first dose, go out and get it today. If that one in four of us who hasn’t had their first dose is a friend or whānau member, talk to them today. Just like we all stayed at home to save lives, now is the time to get vaccinated and save lives.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Why was $12 billion of the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund spend on projects unrelated to COVID?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I would reject the premise of that question.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Well, what did the three waters policy—allocated $710 million from the COVID response and recovery fund—have to do with COVID?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We were very clear that the COVID response and recovery fund was about both the direct response as in, for instance, health measures and economic recovery, so there were absolutely—and we stand by it—projects that were contained within the COVID response and recovery fund to help industries either recover from the economic impacts of COVID or to create jobs. We know that the $750 million that went in there was around infrastructure projects which would help create jobs across New Zealand and also have the dual benefit of improving our water infrastructure.

💬 Hon Chris Hipkins: Can the Prime Minister confirm that billions of dollars in wage subsidies went to businesses who are operating in areas that have nothing to do with COVID-19?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Absolutely, because our response to COVID has always been about, yes, the immediate health effects but also the economic impact of COVID, and the member makes the point, rightly, that therefore the COVID response and recovery fund was about acknowledging that across the country, the economic impacts of COVID were felt. If the members may choose to listen to the answer, they’ll hear that our response through the COVID response and recovery fund was much more directly targeted than that member’s proposal to fund roads from the COVID response and recovery fund.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Well, why did spending $26,000 on a novel about alpaca breeders have to do with COVID?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: If the member could repeat the question?

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Very happy to, thank you. What did spending $26,000 on a novel about alpaca breeders have to do with COVID?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Let me explain the somewhat convoluted assumption the member has made here: the member seems to be attacking the fact that we have funded Creative New Zealand. Creative New Zealand determine the projects they fund. What we determined was—and rightly so—the creative sector was at the front line and continues to bear the brunt of COVID. When you shut down the ability for live performances and for people to gather, the events sector, the hospitality sector, and the creative sector are hit hard. So I stand by the fact that we supported Creative New Zealand to continue to support our creatives.

💬 Hon James Shaw: What did the wage subsidy to the Taxpayers’ Union have to do with COVID-19?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The member makes a very good point. We had a broad wage subsidy that enabled those who determined that their revenue was impacted by COVID to be supported. It’s up to each of those organisations, within a high-trust model, to demonstrate they were indeed eligible for it.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: How does she justify spending an annual increase of $7 million from the COVID fund on Radio New Zealand?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: In the way that I’ve already explained all the way through this answer: because the impacts of COVID on a range of industries were significant. If the member is now making an accusation that we should not continue to fund our creative or our broadcasters, then that is the member’s prerogative.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Since Radio New Zealand doesn’t receive advertising dollars, how could it have lost any advertising or income with COVID?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: That wasn’t my claim.

💬 Hon Grant Robertson: Has the Prime Minister seen reports of proposals to spend the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund on untargeted tax cuts, and what does she make of that?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes, and I also saw proposals during the election campaign that would have seen a significant portion, if not all of it, spent on roading projects. The member can absolutely make her own judgment on whether or not she considers the projects we funded to be about an economic recovery from the impacts of COVID-19. But it would be somewhat—words that are unparliamentary—to make that claim when the member’s very own party policy was actually much worse in that regard, because they did not respond to the economic recovery from COVID-19.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: How much, if any, of the COVID fund has been spent on increasing intensive care capacity in New Zealand hospitals?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The member will appreciate that I won’t be able to give a line by line if the member chooses not to put questions on notice, which I always encourage you to do, because I am very keen to be as fulsome in my answers as I can. But if she chooses to ask general questions, I’m somewhat limited on my line-by-line recall. What I can say is that we did fund, in the Budget, training capacity, because that is one of the issues. It’s not just about physical infrastructure or access to ventilators, which were vastly increased during the first outbreak that we had in New Zealand. It’s the ability to put staffing around those intensive needs in either high dependency units or ICUs. So we provided funding for DHBs to undertake that training for their staff to enable greater capacity alongside the hundreds of additional ventilators that were purchased as well.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Will she commit to spending at least some of the extra $7 billion allocated to the COVID fund on providing relief to struggling Auckland businesses to cover their rental costs?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The way the member has presented the question almost implies that that hasn’t been the focus of the funding as it is. We’ve had, for instance, under the wage subsidy scheme, $2.3 billion supporting over 300,000 applicants and businesses. For the resurgence support payment—and I highlight again for the member: the resurgence support payment is available for paying fixed costs, like for rents or anything else the business determines it to be for. First payment, 134,000 businesses received over half a billion dollars, and the second payment, 23,000 businesses received $138 million, and we’ve committed to continuing that on a three-weekly basis. It does support fixed costs. I can’t tell you how many businesses solely used it on rentals. That is a decision for them.

Question No. 2—Finance

2. to the Minister of Finance: What economic support has been provided to businesses since the Delta COVID outbreak alert level changes announced on 17 August?

The Government has moved quickly and decisively to provide significant support to protect New Zealanders’ lives and livelihoods in response to the Delta COVID-19 outbreak. The wage subsidy scheme and resurgence support payment were reactivated following the rise in alert levels, along with existing supports such as the leave support scheme, the short-term absence payment, and the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme. In total, since 17 August, the wage subsidy scheme and resurgence support payment have paid out over $3 billion to New Zealand businesses, made up—as the Prime Minister’s just said—of around $2.3 billion in the wage subsidy scheme and just over $800 million in the two resurgence support payments. This is about providing cash flow and confidence to help protect jobs and support New Zealand businesses. We recognise that this has been a tough time for many businesses, and we are here to support them.

💬 Barbara Edmonds: What changes have been made to the support available to businesses?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As we have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have updated and expanded our support in response to the needs that arise. The resurgence support payment, which helps businesses with costs—like the cost of rent, for example—and is available at alert level 2 or above was amended to ensure that it included new businesses. The time required for a business to be eligible for the payment was lowered from six months to one month. Businesses can also apply for further resurgence support payments to recognise the effects of an extended period of alert level restrictions. The payment was initially intended as one-off payment, but we have now made it—as the Prime Minister has just said—into a three-weekly payment, in recognition of the pressure that some businesses are under. We will continue to work alongside sectors to ensure we provide support as we can.

💬 Barbara Edmonds: What reports has he seen on how businesses are responding to Delta COVID-19?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Last week, the ANZ bank provided a preliminary look at business confidence in September, which found firms remained resilient amidst higher alert levels. Business confidence actually rose 7 points in September to a net 7 percent of respondents expecting the economy to deteriorate compared with August, while firms’ expectations about their own trading activity was mostly unchanged. Employment and investment intentions were a little softer but remain at higher levels. ANZ examined whether there was a split between Auckland and the rest of the country on these matters, but the differences were very small. This suggests that firms are well positioned to deal with this latest lockdown and are expecting a return to strong demand as restrictions are lifted.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: What does he say to Hospitality New Zealand CEO Julie White, who described the new condition on the wage subsidy as “cruel and heartbreaking.”?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What I’d say to Julie White—who I have met with in recent times—is that those conditions around the wage subsidy scheme have been in place since last year. It has always been the case that alert 3 and alert level 4 conditions are the determinant of the receiving of the wage subsidy scheme.

Question No. 3—Justice

Point of order, Mr Speaker. Just under Standing Order 394, just to indicate that I’ve got authorisation from Julie Anne Genter to ask questions on her behalf.

I had been informed of that, and I work on that assumption anyway.

3. Hon JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) on behalf of to the Minister of Justice: Will he propose a law change to prevent New Zealand citizens living overseas from losing their right to vote if they haven’t been able to visit Aotearoa during the COVID-19 pandemic; if not, why not?

As Minister of Justice, this may be one of many issues among the findings and recommendations of the Justice Committee’s inquiry into the 2020 election, which I understand will report back before the end of the year. I’m also aware that the issue was included in the Electoral Commission’s report on the 2020 general election. The Government will consider any necessary changes in this area after receiving the select committee’s recommendations in their totality. There could be a number of relevant issues that the committee identifies for further consideration, and it’s important to work through these issues in a well-considered way, as all electoral law changes should be. Obviously, New Zealanders choose to live overseas for a variety of reasons, but the Government does understand this doesn’t mean they lose interest in the issues that affect their friends and their loved ones who still live in New Zealand. We do recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly disruptive to international travel, and this has had a flow-on effect on some people’s ability to return to New Zealand. This is why it is important to let the select committee do its work to consider this issue and to provide recommendations to the Government.

💬 Hon James Shaw: Under the existing law, why do New Zealand citizens have to return to Aotearoa every three years, when there are no residency requirements on citizens’ voting rights in Canada, the United States, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Finland, France, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Spain?

💬 Hon KRIS FAAFOI: All of those other jurisdictions have their own laws. In New Zealand, I believe the electoral law that the member has referred to is to ensure that there is a connection maintained to New Zealand in order to express the vote.

💬 Hon James Shaw: Has he seen the reports that “If the law is not changed, it would be the largest disenfranchisement of voters in recent times”?

💬 Hon KRIS FAAFOI: No, I have not. But I am aware of the issues that are raised by the Electoral Commission around the issues that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused for some people who are overseas, and the interaction with that with the current laws.

💬 Hon James Shaw: Does he consider that the current law is consistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act requirement that any limit on rights must be “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society”?

💬 Hon KRIS FAAFOI: There are always some of those issues that come into play when the border is closed. I guess one of the main issues for people overseas, obviously, is getting a managed isolation spot in order to return to New Zealand under the current law. As I say, the select committee is looking at these issues, and once they come back, the Government will consider them.

💬 Hon James Shaw: Does he accept that the window of time to propose a law change before the 2022 local elections is narrowing quickly, meaning that tens of thousands of people could miss out on the chance to vote next October?

💬 Hon KRIS FAAFOI: What I would say to that, as I said in my primary answer, is that any change to electoral law should be careful and well considered.

Question No. 4—Education

4. to the Minister of Education: What decisions has he taken to ensure that senior school students in Auckland and around the country have a fair opportunity to attain NCEA in 2021?

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Government’s providing additional support and credits for both Auckland and non-Auckland students. On 9 September, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority set these out for schools outside of Auckland who have had 16 days at alert levels 3 and 4. These students will be eligible to earn Learning Recognition credits at a rate of one Learning Recognition credit per five credits achieved through their regular assessments, up to a cap of eight for NCEA level 1 and six for levels 2 and 3. While the provisions for Auckland schools had previously been set on the basis of 20 days of disruption, I’ve today announced revised provisions to recognise the extended time these students are spending at alert levels 3 and 4. Auckland students will be entitled to one Learning Recognition credit for every four credits that they earn, rather than for every five, and the caps will be 16 Learning Recognition credits for level 1, and 12 at levels 2 and 3. That’s twice as many as the other students around the country.

💬 Angela Roberts: What other supports are available to Auckland students sitting NCEA?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The threshold for Auckland students to be awarded a certificate endorsement will also be adjusted to 44 credits at merit or excellence level, rather than the 46 that it is for students who were able to return to the classroom sooner around the rest of the country. To be awarded university entrance, Auckland students will need to achieve 12 rather than 14 credits in each of three university entrance approved subjects. They’ll still need to attain NCEA level 3 and meet the literacy and numeracy requirements for university entrance. Put together with the Learning Recognition credits, these changes amount to a full reactivation of the support that was provided to Auckland students last year following their second lockdown then.

💬 Angela Roberts: What other decisions have been made to assist all students sitting NCEA?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Students throughout the country will also benefit from the two-week delay to end-of-year examinations and most portfolio submission dates. That will provide those students with additional time for their learning and assessment, which will help them to earn their full entitlement of Learning Recognition credits.

Question No. 5—Health

5. to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by his statements and actions around hospital resources?

Yes. In particular I stand by this Government’s action to record a record investment in the health system of more than $24 billion in Budget 2021. I note that this is 45 percent, or $7.6 billion, higher than the National Government spent on health in its last year in Government.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: Why, according to the Ministry of Health, do we have fewer ICU beds today than we did at the end of lockdown in May last year?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I’m not sure where that member gets his figures from, and it doesn’t accord with figures I have received. Right now we have about 240-odd ICU beds available throughout the hospital network in New Zealand. That can be very quickly stepped up to about 326 beds, and with a little bit of extra effort can be surge stepped up to 550 beds. I’m confident that we can have ICU cover to meet any surge outbreak in COVID should that arise.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: How many ICU beds were available at the end of lockdown in May last year?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I don’t have that figure available to me, but I do know that as a consequence of a review of the management of lockdown responses last year, the Ministry of Health supported DHBs to work on a programme to fund additional staff training, so more nurses were capable of working in an ICU environment. They funded additional ventilators, and they also worked with DHBs to provide more space, including negative pressure rooms, to manage the response to COVID.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: Does he stand by his answer to written questions that a request from Auckland DHB to build negative pressure rooms prior to the latest outbreak was declined in favour of another project, and, if so, what was the other project?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I think the member is talking in cryptic terms. I’m not quite sure what he’s getting at. What I do know is that Counties Manukau DHB, for example, did actually invest in additional space. That’s why they have the available ward space for treating COVID patients in the way that they do. I know that Auckland DHB invested in equipment, or, at least, in furnishings, for some of their wards so that they could manage COVID patients, and I know that Waitematā DHB is able to manage COVID patients safely, as well.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: Point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek leave to table a written parliamentary question that’s not in public domain, to my understanding, that demonstrates that the ministry did turn down a request to build negative pressure rooms.

💬 SPEAKER: I’ll put that to the House. Is there any objection to that? There is no objection to that. But I will, at the same time, remind the member of Speakers’ ruling 183/3, which requires the member, if he is to ask a specific supplementary, not to ask a general first question.

Document, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: Does he stand by his answer to written questions that in the four months since the Government’s public sector pay restraint announcement in May, the number of ICU nurses leaving Auckland ICU increased sevenfold compared to the same period the previous year?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: What I can say is that it is correct that the turnover of nurses across a range of disciplines in hospitals has increased, particularly in Auckland. That is a fact.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: Are hospitals building negative pressure rooms during an outbreak and urgently seeking ICU nurses because he has been focused on health restructuring instead of preparing our hospitals?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I draw the member’s attention to an earlier answer I gave, which was that the programme to adapt more of our hospitals to effective responses to COVID started last year, following a review of last year’s COVID lockdowns. Hospitals have built, or at least equipped, additional space on their premises to respond to COVID. They have trained more nurses; roughly 1,400 more nurses have been trained to work in an ICU environment, compared to August last year.

💬 Hon Member: Then why did we ask for 30 urgent ones?

💬 SPEAKER: I don’t ask anything.

Question No. 6—Health

6. to the Minister of Health: What recent announcements has he made on the long-term pathway for mental wellbeing?

Today, I announced Kia Manawanui Aotearoa – Long-term pathway to mental wellbeing. This is the first 10-year plan of its kind that targets the cause of mental distress and also sets out how to achieve hauora—healthy—futures. We cannot achieve healthy futures if the health sector works in isolation. Kia Manawanui calls for all of us to work together, taking action from across Government to our communities through to individuals so that people who experience mental illness and distress can be better supported to have the resilience, tools, and support that they need to regain their wellbeing.

💬 Dr Gaurav Sharma: What sets Kia Manawanui apart from the previous strategies?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Kia Manawanui is a new approach and way of thinking that requires Government agencies to work together and work with communities to promote and protect mental wellbeing. It sets out short-, medium-, and long-term actions to be taken across Government, with a focus on key areas such as technology, workforce, and investment, to make transformative change within the mental health and addiction sector. Kia Manawanui includes actions like addressing the social, cultural, environmental, and economic factors that can affect wellbeing; strengthening our focus to promote mental wellbeing for all New Zealanders; and developing different ways to commission services that enable joined-up investment and make it easier for providers to respond to complex needs.

💬 Dr Gaurav Sharma: What will having this long-term pathway in place mean for New Zealanders?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: This Government wants all people to have their basic needs met so that things like employment, housing, and education aren’t causing them mental distress. We will see community-led solutions that will empower everyone to attain their own wellbeing—for example, people will be able to access advice and support to protect and to promote their own mental wellbeing in times, places, and ways that work for them. It might be, for example, that the local rugby club has information about managing stress or has links with the local pregnancy and parenting service that is working with local families to prevent addiction-related harm.

Question No. 7—COVID-19 Response

7. to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: How will the Government ensure that Māori vaccination levels are equitable before moving out of the elimination strategy?

In answer to the last part of the question, the Government is not intending to move out of the elimination strategy. We continue to pursue a strategy of stamping out COVID-19 cases wherever we find them. The Government’s always placed equity at the forefront of our COVID-19 response, and the roll-out of the vaccination programme is no different. While we recorded an important milestone over the weekend, with more than 50 percent of eligible Māori having received a first dose, there clearly is still more work that we need to be doing. The Ministry of Health is using the data that we have available to drive an approach that’s focused on those populations who have lower vaccination throughout New Zealand, including Māori. The strategies are focused on ensuring the maximum uptake to measure progress, looking at ethnicity, age, location, and so on. It isn’t enough for us to rely on a simple, single measure. We have to look in a much more detailed manner, where vaccination rates are higher and lower, and the characteristics of those populations. Fundamentally, the elimination strategy recognises that vulnerable communities would be the hardest hit by any COVID-19 outbreak, so elimination remains the best strategy to ensure equitable outcomes.

💬 Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Why did Cabinet choose to ignore the advice of Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā, who issued a press release calling for Auckland to remain in level 4 and be joined by the Waikato region until we are absolutely certain that the spread of COVID-19 is eliminated?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We haven’t removed alert level restrictions in Auckland; we’ve moved from alert level 4 to alert level 3. I think it’s useful to recall that we’ve managed previous outbreaks by only going up to alert level 3. We moved to alert level 4 because of the significance of the Delta variant and the fact that we know it is more transmissible, that it had a head start on us, and that we were therefore likely to discover potentially a significant number of more cases in the community, which we did. Moving down from alert level 4 to alert level 3 doesn’t mean we are not still pursuing a strategy of getting back to zero—that is absolutely what we are focused on. It’s just we are increasingly confident that we know where the risk is and, therefore, we can manage it at alert level 3.

💬 Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Does he accept, considering the nature of the outbreak and that Māori have the lowest vaccination rates of any group, that the decision to move Auckland to level 3 presents far greater risks for Māori, and that the much safer approach would have been to wait until Māori vaccination rates were much higher?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Lower vaccination rates amongst Māori are a concern and they do leave Māori at greater risk of an adverse outcome from COVID-19. That is something that I think we should all be concerned about. I fully endorse and back measures that are targeting Māori communities, and I think that those who seek to undermine those are doing a great disservice to all New Zealanders as they do so. In fact, we should be targeting all of those pockets of our community where vaccination rates are lower. We should do that proactively and proudly.

💬 Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Has he seen modelling based on current vaccination rates on who are the 10 percent of the population the Government is willing to sacrifice if, as the Minister of Health recently said, level 4 restrictions won’t ever be put in place again once 90 percent of the population has been vaccinated?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I addressed this very issue at my media conference earlier on today. When we talk about a 90 percent vaccination rate—and, bear in mind, the Government has not set a hard and fast target around vaccinations and we have persistently resisted calls for us to do so. When we talk about 90 percent, that would put us amongst the highest vaccination rates in the world, and that would be encouraging, but that is not an invitation to 10 percent of New Zealanders to say “I’m going to be part of the 10 percent that doesn’t get vaccinated.” We need every New Zealander who is eligible to be vaccinated to come forward and be vaccinated to offer the maximum possible protection against COVID-19.

💬 Hon Grant Robertson: How does the Minister think that increasing the Māori vaccination rate will be helped by political leaders saying things like “Mutations of the virus are becoming less deadly. The way the virus is mutating, it’s more easily transmissible but fewer people are getting severely affected by it.”, as the Leader of the Opposition did today?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I think it’s really important that our overall message to all New Zealanders at this point should continue to be that COVID-19 is dangerous; that people die from COVID-19 and are dying in large numbers from COVID-19 around the rest of the world; and the best thing that all New Zealanders can do, and all those who are in New Zealand can do, is come forward and be vaccinated to protect themselves, to protect the people that they care about, and to protect everybody else.

Question No. 8—Police

8. to the Minister of Police: What recent announcements has she made regarding police front-line safety?

Earlier today, the commissioner and I announced a new $45 million front-line safety package to keep our police safe. The package includes more than doubling the current annual tactical training for front-line officers, tactical prevention teams with advanced training to undertake warrants and other work involving higher risk, tactical dog teams, and an additional 78 constabulary staff and 28 intelligence analysts. The Government is committed to keeping our front-line police officers safe so that they can in turn keep New Zealanders safe. This is an investment in ensuring our police officers return home safely to their whānau every day.

💬 Greg O’Connor: Why has the Government made this investment in front-line safety?

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: Police are front-line workers who go above and beyond to keep our communities safe. I want every police officer to get home safely to their family at the end of the day. The Government is committed to ensuring police have the resources they need to keep themselves and our communities safe. That’s why we are providing immediate funding to accelerate Police’s new tactical response model, and that will increase the training and capability of front-line staff.

💬 Greg O’Connor: What reports has the Minister seen on the front-line safety package?

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I’ve seen from the Police Association that “this represents a really positive step forward, and I believe officers will welcome it. Our members have been telling us for a number of years that they want more training.”

💬 SPEAKER: Any further comment?

💬 Hon Member: Not at this stage, Mr Speaker.

💬 SPEAKER: Well, can I just say to the member that a number of members in the House have the habit of reading their supplementary questions. If the member wants that to cease and for us to have a policy not to do so, then the appropriate way of doing it is to approach the Standing Orders Committee for a change. I would like it.

Question No. 9—Corrections

9. to the Minister of Corrections: Is he confident that the Department of Corrections’ policies are keeping New Zealanders safe from COVID-19; if so, why?

Yes. As I outlined yesterday, it was Corrections’ health screening that helped us to identify that there was potential for COVID to have spread into the community. As I also noted yesterday, while Corrections have strict policies in place to stop the spread of COVID-19 in prisons, this case has identified that there are areas where we can look to create improvements around transportation. The transportation method in this case was outside of Corrections’ control, given the bail conditions were set by the courts. I can update that agencies and stakeholders, including Corrections, the Ministry of Social Development, police, the Ministry of Justice, and managed isolation and quarantine are working at pace to strengthen processes, following the Prime Minister’s request that when people are released from prisons in COVID-19 alert levels 3 or 4 and need to cross a border into a lower alert level to get to their address, someone from the lower alert level collects them from prison, or that Corrections transport the individuals from the prison over the border. I have requested an update from my officials on this work as soon as possible.

💬 Hon Scott Simpson: So why was it that Corrections staff allowed a patched Black Power gang member to be permitted to be picked up by three individuals, when his bail conditions clearly stated that a specified family member was to collect him from Mt Eden Corrections Facility and return to the upper Hauraki?

💬 Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Upon release, the court instructed that this person be picked up and transported by a specified individual. I’m advised the nominated individual was in the car, which was in line with the bail conditions.

💬 Hon Scott Simpson: When were Corrections aware that the patched Black Power gang member breached his bail conditions by stopping at four separate locations on the way to his bailed address in the upper Hauraki and when did Corrections report this breach to police?

💬 Hon KELVIN DAVIS: There are about 1,500 people on some form of electronic monitoring at any given time. Monitoring is not live tracked, such as on an Uber app. However, if a person were to breach an exclusion zone in line with their conditions, this is flagged; if a person does not arrive at a destination within a certain time, this is flagged. I’m advised the route this person took and the time it took to reach his destination were within the tolerances.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: Point of order. The question was not about “how”; the question was “when”, and that was not addressed.

💬 SPEAKER: Well, I’m not sure that a breach was established. I’ll ask the member to ask the question again.

💬 Hon Scott Simpson: So, again, the question was: when were Corrections aware that the patched Black Power gang member breached his bail conditions by stopping at four separate locations on the way to his bailed address in the upper Hauraki, and when did Corrections report this breach to the police?

💬 Hon KELVIN DAVIS: I can repeat: I’m advised that the route this person took and the time it took to reach his destination were within the tolerances.

💬 SPEAKER: I’m with Mr Woodhouse on this one. I’m not convinced that the question has been answered. There are some specific facts that have been at least alleged and I think have been fairly well publicised about the individual stopping on the way. I am assuming that at least, by reading the papers, Corrections would be aware of it, and I think it is for the Minister to answer that. It may be that it’s a police matter and that’s his response, but I think the Minister should address the question.

💬 Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Oh, yes. So it is a police—

💬 Hon Member: Oh, how convenient—ha, ha!

💬 Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Well, it is for the police to monitor bail conditions, but following the address being deemed unsuitable and the individual returning to custody and testing positive for COVID, Corrections retrospectively looked at the electronic monitoring records. This is when they became aware. So they actually would have looked as soon as the address was unsuitable, done some checks then, and become aware that he had stopped at various places.

💬 Hon Scott Simpson: So has he had any conversations with the Minister of Police about why police did not arrest the prisoner after Corrections notified them of the bail breach?

💬 Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Myself and the Minister of Police talk about a lot of issues all the time.

💬 Hon Scott Simpson: Does he therefore think it is unacceptable that no follow-up occurred for 11 days after the patched Black Power gang member breached his bail, which, as a result, saw upper Hauraki placed into an alert level 4 lockdown?

💬 Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Well, again, the route this person took and the time it took to reach his destination were within the tolerances.

Question No. 10—Health (Māori Health)

10. to the Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health): What recent announcements has he made about supporting Māori to respond to the impacts of COVID-19?

Yesterday, I announced $36 million of funding to respond to the needs of whānau Māori and Māori health providers to support their ongoing work to respond to COVID-19 and to continue their hard mahi towards increasing the rates of Māori vaccination. The funding will see $17 million to be allocated to help providers adapt their services to support the COVID-19 response while also maintaining their other essential health services; $14 million will help whānau access health services, medications, and hygiene products, and it will also help provide greater reach of vaccination, testing, and other health services to hard-to-reach areas; $3 million will strengthen the Māori psychosocial response, ensuring whānau have access to mental health and wellbeing services; and $2 million will ensure providers have sufficient funding to manage the long tail of this response, sustain their efforts, and help them prepare for the possibility of future outbreaks.

Tāmati Coffey: How will this funding announcement support equitable outcomes for Māori across the COVID-19 response?

💬 Hon PEENI HENARE: The Government’s top priority is to stamp out the COVID-19 virus. Māori are one of the most at-risk communities for COVID-19 and the impacts on whānau are far-reaching, and therefore require a comprehensive and coordinated response. This Government believes that by investing in our Māori health providers, their efforts will support equitable outcomes for Māori across the COVID-19 response. The funding announced yesterday complements the $39 million for COVID-19 support and response announced earlier this year. These providers adopt a kaupapa Māori and whānau-centred approach to service delivery which focuses on meeting the holistic needs of whānau. They place the needs of Māori and their whānau at the centre of everything they do. Because these providers are well connected to their communities, they play an important role in delivering communications about the COVID-19 response that is tailored for Māori communities. Lastly, these providers deliver services that are culturally safe for Māori, and we know that cultural safety is an important part of delivering high-quality services to Māori communities.

Tāmati Coffey: What wider announcements is he aware of that have been made to support Māori?

💬 Hon PEENI HENARE: I can confirm that my hard-working colleague Minister Davis and Te Arawhiti have undertaken significant work with iwi. Throughout lockdown, Ministers held weekly calls with the National Iwi Chairs Forum and other iwi, as well as regular meetings with the Tāmaki-makau-rau Māori response collective. This approach is welcomed by iwi Māori and worked to ensure their voices were heard and allowed the Government to better respond to issues that Māori were raising on the ground. Te Arawhiti also announced a $1 million targeted fund to support iwi-led COVID-19 communications, support for vaccine uptake, and response planning. I can’t forget the hard-working Minister Jackson and Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK) who have undertaken, across the country, a number of opportunities and announced, yesterday, $2 million to assist Māori health providers who work directly with TPK to support community-driven local responses and to plug gaps in the vaccination roll-out. And, finally, the awesome work of the humble Minister for Whānau Ora, who recently announced $23 million to help whānau through Whānau Ora services, including accessing vaccinations, testing, and self-isolation spaces. This is a Government that listens to and supports Māori.

💬 SPEAKER: It’s so hard to be humble, isn’t it? Question No. 11, Matt Doocey—you’re not going to read it are you, Mr Doocey?

Question No. 11—Health

11. to the Minister of Health: What is his response to a study published in the International Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, which shows attempted suicides in New Zealand children aged 10-14 years increased from a baseline of 40 per month to a peak of 90 per month following the lockdowns in 2020, and what actions, if any, has he taken to address this increase?

In response to the first part of the member’s question, I’m advised that the item in the paediatric journal was not a peer-reviewed article; it was a letter to the editor. It included data gathered by the authors. It is not possible for the authors of the study to establish or claim a causal link from the data presented. They are describing a potential association that has not been proven. As the member will be aware, there are a range of factors that contribute to self-harm and suicidal behaviours. I would also highlight that last year, the Chief Coroner was sufficiently concerned by the misreporting of the effects of level 4 lockdown on suicide prevalence that she issued provisional results early during the last lockdown. These showed that, in fact, the incidence of suicide had reduced. In response to the second part of the member’s question, we’ve learnt from previous lockdowns that they are particularly challenging for young people. That is why we boosted funding to Youthline by $275,000 at the beginning of the most recent lockdown. This was made alongside other investments in the youth mental wellbeing space, including the $1.4 million Youth Mental Wellbeing Fund, targeted specifically at grassroots community-led initiatives supporting young people through stress arising from the current COVID-19 Delta response, and targeted suicide prevention support for Māori and Pacific communities.

💬 Matt Doocey: Is the Minister saying that he disagrees with the Ministry of Health data that the baseline levels of attempted suicide for 10- to 14-year-olds increased after the lockdowns last year?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: No, I am not disagreeing with the Ministry of Health data; I am disagreeing with the conclusion that some people wrote in a letter to the editor drawing a thesis that has not so far been proven. Also, what I find disagreeable is that member’s attempt to use as a political football suicide and suicide prevention measures.

💬 Matt Doocey: In light of the acknowledged Ministry of Health data that shows increased attempted suicide rates after the last lockdown, what actions has the Minister taken to prevent even more suicide attempts amongst that age cohort after the current lockdown?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I want to return to the question about data, because what the letter to the editor—the authors of it—did not draw attention to was the established trend in previous multi-year data that shows an increase in presentations to hospitals of people who have attempted suicide. There is what clinicians describe as a seasonal increase that appears every year. There is no reference in the letter to the editor to that incidence. On the point the member raises about additional support that has been given, I refer the member to my answer to his primary question. Significant additional support has been given to those organisations supporting young people who are finding this lockdown particularly tough.

💬 Matt Doocey: With that significant support, how has that translated to new services on the ground that will address the increase in attempted suicides for 10- to 14-year-olds, as evidenced by the Ministry of Health data?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I point out to the member again, because I don’t want to get into some ugly debate about the incidence of suicide, and I draw the member’s attention once again to what the data shows on a year-by-year basis: a seasonal increase in presentations to hospitals of people who have attempted suicide. The authors of the letter to the editor have taken data for a single year and drawn a conclusion that so far cannot be established or proven. The measures that have been taken by this Government as a consequence of the most recent lockdown, in terms of additional funding, has allowed those organisations to put on additional staff and provide additional services for an increased period of time for those communities, particularly youth communities, who have found this lockdown particularly hard.

💬 Matt Doocey: In light of published research studies overseas which point to an increased rate of self-harm and eating disorders amongst young people, what steps has the Minister taken to ensure services are available if that increase was to appear in New Zealand?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Well, what we didn’t do was what the previous Government did, and that is neglect mental health services as a general rule. We have put considerable additional investment into our mental health services, including responding to exigencies such as the lockdowns in 2020 and in 2021. We put additional funding in, provided additional services and additional support. We did it last year. We have done it this year.

Question No. 12—Police

12. to the Minister of Police: Is she satisfied with the current number of constabulary staff in the New Zealand Police?

I am satisfied that this Government has invested over $450 million in our police, and as a result of this investment, the total police workforce now surpasses 14,000, with 1,223 additional constabulary and authorised officers on the streets since we came to office. I’m also satisfied that we are well on track to deliver the 1,800 new police, including 700 to be focused on organised crime, by June 2023. In addition, I’m also satisfied that my announcement of the new front-line safety programme earlier today will lead to an additional 78 constabulary staff and 28 intelligence analysts being deployed.

💬 Chris Baillie: Is she concerned at the report of the Police Association that the Government has only delivered 1,133 constables of the promised 1,800?

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I’m pleased that the member raises this issue. We are absolutely satisfied that we will meet our target by June 2023. We are well on the way. There may be some variances up and down. The Police have advised me today, in discussions with them, that they plan for such variances. It’s a slight dip, as according to the Police News, but I’m very confident that we will meet our targets by June 2023.

💬 Chris Baillie: What would the Minister say to the front-line officer who wrote, “… the promised 1800 extra cops is starting to look like a pipe dream.”?

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I would say to that officer to not be concerned. Today, we announced an additional 78 constabulary plus 28 analysts to be part of the new front-line programme. But we are well on our way to meeting our 1,800 growth target by 2023. We still have some time for that to occur, and I’m really pleased to say that included in that is the 700 extra police that will go into working on organised crime.

💬 Chris Baillie: Is she concerned that while gang membership is up 50 percent since 2017, the Police Association is reporting the Government is now further away from delivering on their promised 1,800 police?

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: What I am confident of is the Police Association support of our announcement today, supporting the investment into front-line safety. What I’m also confident of is us reaching our target for 1,800 by 2023.

💬 Chris Baillie: What would she say to the person who responded to the news of 667 missing cops by remarking, “Who we gonna call?”

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: We have invested $450 million since we’ve come to Government, and today announced a further $15 million: $465 million into Police, and a lot of that has gone into ensuring that we can recruit the 1,800 police by 2023, 700 of which will go into organised crime. That member shakes his head, but we have done far more in resourcing our cops to do their job, to do their job safely, and to keep New Zealanders safe.

💬 Hon Stuart Nash: Is it true in the last three years of the previous Government police numbers actually fell?

💬 SPEAKER: Order! The member knows that’s not in order. He will stand, withdraw, and apologise.

💬 Hon Stuart Nash: I withdraw and apologise.