Oral Questions

1. to the Prime Minister: Tēnā koe e te Pīka, otirā tēnā tātou e te Whare. Kei te mihi atu rā ki te Kāwana-Tianara hou, ki a Cindy Kiro, i riro ia i tōna tūranga i tēnei rā.

[Thank you Mr Speaker, and my greetings to all of us in the House. I acknowledge the new Governor-General, Cindy Kiro, who was officially appointed to her role today.]

Does she stand by all her Government’s statements and actions?

on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes. In particular, I stand behind the steps this Government has taken to support Māori whānau in responding to the impacts of COVID-19. The Government has continually provided support to our Māori communities, including our funding announcements last month that invested $22 million for Whānau Ora commissioning agencies to boost their work on COVID-19; $17 million to help Māori providers adapt their services to support the COVID-19 response; $14 million to help whānau access health services, medications, and hygiene products; $3 million to strengthen the Māori psychosocial response, ensuring whānau have access to mental health and wellbeing services; and $2 million to ensure providers have sufficient money to manage the long tail of the response, sustain their efforts, and prepare for future outbreaks. Having said all of that, we know that there is a lot more work to do, and we are committed to working alongside iwi, whānau, and anyone across New Zealand who can support an increase in vaccination rates.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Why did she abandon the elimination strategy when, due to the lack of Government investment in power sharing, Māori vaccination rates are so far behind?

Well, on behalf of the Prime Minister, I would challenge the premise that sits behind both parts of that question, actually. We are committed to lifting Māori vaccination rates. Throughout this vaccination programme, we have worked with Māori providers on the ground to make sure that we get alongside those communities. It has not worked to the extent that everyone would have wanted it to, but it has been a programme of work that the Government has got alongside communities on, and, as I said in my primary answer, we know there’s more to do and we’re doing it.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Does she accept that if she hadn’t consistently ignored the advice of Māori health experts since the first outbreak last year, the Māori vaccine rates would now be much higher; if not, why not?

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Order! There’s an assertion in the front of that question which makes it out of order.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Why are rural Māori communities like Ngati Porou having to use crowdfunding to fund-raise for their own mobile vaccination clinics if the vaccine programme and Māori equity are top Government priorities?

On behalf of the Prime Minister, as she noted, she herself was in Ngati Porou - East Coast territory and was able to be part of mobile clinics working up there in Ruatōria, also in the Gisborne area, and, I think, at the opening of the Tairāwhiti Arts Festival—there was another mobile clinic there. So there are mobile facilities in the Tai Rāwhiti region. But, again, I don’t disagree with the member: we need to do more, and that is what this Government is committed to doing.

💬 Hon Chris Hipkins: Does having prominent Māori political figures actively discouraging people from being vaccinated help or hinder the vaccination effort?

On behalf of the Prime Minister, we want the support of every community leader across all groups in New Zealand for the vaccination campaign. We do know that there are hesitant people in a number of communities, including the Māori community, and I want to thank members of this House who have stood up as community leaders. For those who, in the wider community, are not doing that, I ask them to reconsider that approach. We need all hands to the wheel here.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Point of order.

💬 SPEAKER: A point of order related to this latest question?

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Well, it sounded like an assertion that there are Māori political people out there who are discouraging the vaccination.

💬 SPEAKER: Well, there are some things which are assertions and there are some things which are matters of fact. My old propping mate Pem Bird, who I played quite a bit of rugby against in the King Country some time ago, is properly described as a leading political figure, and I think, in fact, the member himself will know his history in that way. So it’s just a matter of record. A further supplementary question—

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Point of order.

💬 SPEAKER: No, a further supplementary—we’ve dealt with that. A further supplementary question?

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Another point of order, Mr Speaker.

💬 SPEAKER: I am warning the member now: if this is not a proper point of order, he will have lost his supplementary questions which he would otherwise have. Is it a supplementary question or a point—

💬 Rawiri Waititi: A supplementary.

💬 SPEAKER: Right.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: What specific actions has she taken to ensure Māori providers have access to data they need to boost Māori vaccine rates, rather than having to take civil action in court? A matter of fact.

On behalf of the Prime Minister, we work every single day with our team at the Ministry of Health, and through the Associate Minister, Minister Henare, in particular, around Māori health provision to make sure we’re doing all that we can within the law to make sure that we support—the roll-out of vaccination data is part of that; so are many, many other things.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Point of order. I take umbrage to the fact that we’ve mentioned a kaumātua in this room that has taken a position of a professional physician in that particular community that has created that particular assertion that Māori are encouraging people not to get vaccinated. I think that’s absolutely wrong.

💬 SPEAKER: Well, the member will disagree with me on that. I rely entirely on the media reports of the former president or former kaumātua—leader—of his party who has taken a stand indicating that Māori should not accept the current vaccine. I have heard him and seen reports of him doing that, and so it is, as far as I’m concerned, a matter of fact and not a matter of opinion.

Question No. 2—Immigration

2. to the Minister of Immigration: Does he stand by all his policies?

Fakaalofa lahi atu, Mr Speaker. I stand by the Government’s border policies to protect New Zealanders from COVID-19 and position our economy for a strong recovery. This has meant taking some difficult decisions needed to maintain secure border settings, which continue to protect the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders. Where it has been safe to do so, we have adopted policies that have taken the pressure off migrants and their employers. I acknowledge some continue to experience difficulties as a result of the global pandemic. However, since closing the border in March 2020, we’ve issued a range of border exceptions. We’ve extended the visas of onshore workers and given them more flexibility in their conditions, and we’ve recently provided an additional streamlined pathway for a one-off residency stream for over 165,000 migrants currently in New Zealand.

💬 Dr James McDowall: Will he consider expanding the criteria of the 2021 Resident Visa to include onshore student visa holders who have previously held eligible work visas but changed to a student visa to simply upskill?

💬 Hon KRIS FAAFOI: As was mentioned when the announcement for the residency visa was made, it is very broad. We expect 110,000 applicants, meaning 165,000 people currently in New Zealand could be eligible for residency. The criteria are around people who have been settled in New Zealand who have skilled work or have scarce skills in New Zealand, in order to make a commitment to them and to employers who are relying on their skills, especially when the border is closed. The types of people that the member talks about are here as students and have come here to study, and if they find themselves in a position to apply for residency under the normal process, they can take that.

💬 Dr James McDowall: Point of order, Mr Speaker. My question very clearly referred to those who held work visas and were, in fact, here to work and then they decided to subsequently study. The Minister referred to people on temporary visas coming in here to just be students, so he actually didn’t address the question.

💬 SPEAKER: Does the Minister want to further clarify? I thought he had addressed it, but maybe if he wants to make it a bit clearer.

💬 Hon KRIS FAAFOI: Reinforcement: if they are currently on a visa for study, they are currently on a visa for study and therefore ineligible for the one-off residency. I would again reinforce that if they want to apply for residency at some stage once they have finished their studies and have become eligible for the normal residence process, they can do that, because this is a one-off residency process.

💬 Dr James McDowall: Will he consider allowing eligible applicants who are split from their families to apply from December 2021 and, furthermore, to continue to process their Resident Visa applications if they choose to reunite with their families offshore after applying?

💬 Hon KRIS FAAFOI: We’ve made it very clear that anyone who is eligible who is already in the queue with either an expression of interest (EOI) or an application in who is eligible for the residency visa can apply from 1 December this year. Again, with the border closures as they are, it is very difficult to be able to allow people to come in and out of the country, but as we have said, once people get residency, potentially from the residency visa itself, they are able to bring their families in, because they will also have the ability to get residence.

💬 Dr James McDowall: Point of order, Mr Speaker. I asked about those who are eligible who can apply, and whether or not he will consider letting them go offshore to reunite with their families. That’s nothing to do with—

💬 SPEAKER: Well, in this particular case, that was addressed. It might have had some filling around it, but it was a “no”.

💬 Dr James McDowall: Can he commit to resuming selection of offshore expressions of interest for the Skilled Migrant Category at the same time as onshore selections in July 2022?

💬 Hon KRIS FAAFOI: We have made a decision to not resume EOIs being drawn until we’ve undertaken a review of the residency settings. That is because the process around the residency visa will be the priority for Immigration New Zealand over the next 12 to 15 months. Depending on how the processing of those goes, we might be able to look at being able to do that sooner, but at this stage that is the plan.

Question No. 3—COVID-19 Response

3. to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: What recent announcements has he made regarding mandatory vaccination of workforces?

Last week, I announced that the education and the health and disability workforces will be required to be vaccinated to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. This follows on from the Government’s earlier decisions for workers in our managed isolation and quarantine facilities, our airports, and our ports to be vaccinated. Our education and health and disability workforces have done an incredible job through a very difficult time—a global pandemic—keeping themselves and other people safe. While most of the people working in those sectors are already fully or partially vaccinated, we can’t leave anything to chance, and that’s why we’ve made the very difficult decision to make vaccinations for people undertaking those roles mandatory. Vaccination remains our strongest and our most effective tool to prevent against infection and disease, and we need as many workers as possible to be vaccinated to allow sectors like these to respond to the pandemic whilst continuing to deliver everyday services with as little disruption as possible.

💬 Dr Tracey McLellan: What will the changes mean for the health and disability sector?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 is currently being updated and it will require anyone conducting high-risk work in the health and disability sector to be fully vaccinated by 1 December 2021. Under these new requirements, GPs, pharmacists, community health nurses, midwives, paramedics, and all healthcare workers in sites where vulnerable patients are treated, including intensive care units, must receive their first dose of the vaccine by 30 October. These requirements also include certain non-regulated healthcare work such as aged residential care, home and community support services, kaupapa Māori health providers, and non-Government organisations who provide health services.

💬 Dr Tracey McLellan: What will the changes mean for the education sector?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: From 1 January 2022, schools and early learning services and providers will need to maintain a register and ensure that only vaccinated staff and support people, such as volunteers, have contact with children and students. They will need to have their first dose by 15 November. This includes home-based educators and all those support people in our schools and early learning services, such as teacher aides, administration and maintenance staff, and contractors. Secondary schools and kura will also be required to keep a COVID-19 vaccination register for students. Students that don’t produce evidence of vaccination will be considered to be unvaccinated. All school employees in Auckland and other alert level 3 regions will be required to return a negative COVID-19 test before they can return to work on the school site. Those who are not fully vaccinated in the period leading up to 1 January will also be required to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Work is continuing at this point on whether further vaccination requirements will be made for the tertiary education sector

Question No. 4—Prime Minister

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

on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Will she travel to Auckland to announce her enhanced business support package and new COVID protection framework tomorrow?

On behalf of the Prime Minister, no; that announcement will be made here in Wellington. The member will be well aware that travel for members of Parliament up to Auckland and back down to Wellington has some restrictions around it in light of rulings by the Speaker.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: So will she travel to Auckland at all during the current lockdown to speak to businesses struggling after 65 days of lockdown?

On behalf of the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister speaks to people in Auckland on a daily basis. Her Ministers are in constant contact with businesses and business organisations across Auckland.

💬 Hon Member: Helen Clark doesn’t count!

💬 SPEAKER: Order!

💬 Hon Judith Collins: If the Director of Public Health can travel to and from Auckland, why can’t the Prime Minister?

I’ve already answered that question in the answer to the first supplementary question. There are restrictions around being able to be in this House. I’m sure the member would be criticising the Prime Minister for not being in Parliament, in the debating chamber, if she was travelling to Auckland.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Does she agree with Steve Gillett, owner of The Kingslander pub in the Mt Albert electorate, who said a $100 dine and discover voucher is “a brilliant idea, a very positive idea”; if so, will her enhanced business support package be adopting this policy to support struggling Mt Albert businesses?

On behalf of the Prime Minister, the Government has contributed, since 17 August, close to $4.5 billion to support businesses, to be able to support them to keep their staff and meet their fixed costs as well. We are always looking at ideas for how we can develop that response.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Does she agree with Auckland Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Michael Barnett in relation to his comments yesterday that National’s Back in Business plan was a better balance of health and economics and addressed some of the failings and weaknesses in the Government’s response?

On behalf of the Prime Minister, I’ve a lot of respect for Mr Barnett, but I’m not sure whether he would have had time to go through all of the mistakes that were in the plan that National released yesterday.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Well, does she agree with Viv Beck, Chief Executive of the Heart of the City, that the Government needs to take heed of the National Party’s plan and deliver for business on Friday?

On behalf of the Prime Minister, the Government has been consistently working with the business community, not only in Auckland but all around New Zealand, to support people to stay in work. Over the last 20 months, working together with business, we have seen the economy grow better than many other countries around the world; we have seen unemployment go to 4 percent—that’s 4 percent—which is an incredible result; and we’ve managed to keep our levels of debt lower compared to many in the rest of the world. We are working closely with business. That has delivered to New Zealand a strong economy, and we continue to do that.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Does she agree with Retail New Zealand Chief Executive Greg Harford, who said yesterday, “It is really important a date is set for when we start to open up.”; if so, when will she announce a date for opening up?

On behalf of the Prime Minister, as was covered in the House yesterday, the most important thing in terms of keeping New Zealanders safe and being able to make sure that, as a country, we move forward positively together is getting the maximum number of people vaccinated and making sure that those vaccinations are spread across our communities. Setting a date without being clear about that seems, to me, to be a recipe for disaster.

💬 Hon Stuart Nash: Is the Prime Minister aware that the total of all three rounds for the Resurgence Support Payment in Greater Auckland alone has been around about $582 million to help businesses with fixed costs?

On behalf of the Prime Minister, yes, and in fact the proportion of Auckland businesses receiving the Resurgence Support Payment has now grown to around 70 percent of the payments. It is targeting businesses in Auckland who are finding it tough. There is no one in this House who underestimates how difficult it has been for businesses and communities in Auckland. What we do have to do here is stay the course to make sure that New Zealand builds on the gains that we made last year and make sure that we come out the other side of this outbreak strongly. That requires all of us working together, with strong health advice backed up by a good economic support programme.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Why has the Government still not delivered a system verifying vaccine status, which would allow a million fully vaccinated Aucklanders to safely get back to work?

Well, on behalf of the Prime Minister, we have a vaccine certificate regime. That is being developed. We have already begun people being able to use and sign up to it, and we will be able to roll that out further in the coming weeks.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Why, eight months after she told this House, in February this year, it was being worked on, has she still not delivered the system, and why are we still hearing from the Prime Minister that it’s being worked on eight months—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Order!

On behalf of the Prime Minister, there was an excellent presentation given by staff members of the Ministry of Health on exactly how the vaccine certificate programme would work. There are people today who are already signing up for that programme. And there will be more to say about the role of vaccine certificates tomorrow.

Question No. 5—Trade and Export Growth

5. to the Minister for Trade and Export Growth: What recent announcement has the Government made about reaching agreement in principle on a free-trade agreement with the United Kingdom?

on behalf of the Minister for Trade and Export Growth: Today, we announced the reaching of an agreement in principle on an inclusive, comprehensive, and high-quality free-trade agreement (FTA) with the United Kingdom. This deal substantially cuts costs for exporters and businesses and creates opportunities for New Zealand businesses to grow and diversify their trade while boosting the economy as we recover from COVID-19. Alongside the negotiations, our two countries have agreed to work together in the coming months to extend and improve the current working holiday arrangements, and this will be part of a mobility dialogue that will start immediately. We’ve worked hard to land a deal that benefits all New Zealanders, delivering meaningful access for exporters, businesses, and people, and I want to thank all of those who have been involved in the negotiations.

💬 Glen Bennett: How does this agreement in principle provide meaningful access for some of our key industries?

Just to take an example, our honey makers will enjoy no longer paying 16 percent tariffs on products they send to the UK. Our winemakers will be toasting a reduction in over $14 million worth of tariffs annually, as well as no longer having to face burdensome and costly administrative barriers in the UK market. Our butter and cheese producers will see significant tariff-free transitional quotas, providing opportunity to grow our trade through these periods. But it’s not just primary exporters who will benefit from this. We’ve agreed to cooperation and commitments in digital trade to assist our growing tech sector alongside securing more certainty in market for Kiwi services wanting to access the UK’s Government procurement programme.

💬 Glen Bennett: How does this agreement in principle deliver on our trade priorities?

Significantly, this is the first bilateral FTA that we’ve negotiated in line with our Trade for All agenda where we seek outcomes that will deliver for all New Zealanders. The FTA creates a platform for cooperation on a range of issues important to Māori and will reflect Māori interests in key areas across the agreement such as in the intellectual property, trade, and environment chapters. The deal also contains the most ambitious commitments we have ever negotiated on the environment, including specific provisions on climate change and an agreement to take concrete steps to eliminate subsidies on fossil fuels. Additionally, over 260 environmentally beneficial products have been prioritised for tariff elimination—the largest environment goods list ever agreed.

💬 Hon James Shaw: Will enforceable provisions of the UK - New Zealand free-trade agreement align with both countries’ climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, and, if so, how?

On behalf of the Minister, while the Paris Agreement and the FTA are two separate agreements, the environment chapter does include provisions on New Zealand’s and the UK’s right to regulate to meet our climate action targets and wider environmental objectives. In the end, the answer to the member’s question lies in the hands of this Government and all New Zealanders to be able to fulfil it.

Question No. 6—Finance

6. to the Minister of Finance: Did Cabinet agree on Monday, 18 October 2021 to all of the measures to be announced tomorrow in his enhanced business support package for Auckland; if so, what are those measures?

In answer to the question, the answer is essentially no. Cabinet did discuss the enhanced business support package on Monday. A group of Ministers were given power to act to finalise the details of the package. As to what’s in it, that will be announced tomorrow.

💬 Andrew Bayly: Has he seen comments from Greg Harford, chief executive of Retail New Zealand, in support of a reduced corporate tax rate of 17.5 percent for an estimated 100,000 small businesses; and, if so, will this be included in his package?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: We traversed this material yesterday, and I noted to the member that some of the businesses that he’s particularly concerned about at this stage aren’t making a profit and aren’t paying corporate tax. I can tell the member that we will not be adopting that part of his plan.

💬 Andrew Bayly: Has he seen comments from Julie White, chief executive of Hospitality New Zealand, in support of a cash rental support scheme for struggling businesses; if so, will this be included in this package?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The package will be announced tomorrow. I think it’s really important, though, that when the member addresses individual parts of the package that people support, when one takes a step back and looks at a package that falls into the same fiscal Bermuda Triangle that the National Party fell into at the election, where he thinks he can reduce revenue, increase spending, and slash debt levels at the same time—I’m sure the likes of Julie White and others, while they might appreciate an individual part of the plan, will be really questioning if the plan actually adds up.

💬 Andrew Bayly: Has he seen comment from the Business Events Industry Aotearoa in support of the Government underwriting an events insurance scheme; and, if so, will this be part of his package?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The package will be announced tomorrow. We have been working alongside the events sector for some time to support them. The best thing we can do for the events sector is have a consistent position that makes sure that we back a health-led approach with economic supports. That is what will help the whole of the New Zealand economy, as we’ve proved over the last year.

💬 Andrew Bayly: Has he seen comments from Vicky Beck, chief executive of Heart of the City—

💬 Hon Member: Viv Beck.

💬 Andrew Bayly: —sorry, Viv Beck—in support of a mental health programme; and, if so, will this be included in his package?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The package will be announced tomorrow. We are very well aware of the importance of supporting not only small-business people but all Aucklanders with their mental health and wellbeing. As I answered in an earlier question, more money has gone into that area to make sure that we are meeting those needs.

Question No. 7—Small Business

7. to the Minister for Small Business: What priorities for economic recovery in the Asia-Pacific region were identified by the recent meeting of APEC ministers responsible for small and medium enterprises?

During the recess, New Zealand hosted a virtual meeting of APEC Ministers responsible for small and medium enterprises. Collectively, we agreed on the need to place small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) at the heart of our economic recovery. Further, APEC Ministers identified two clear priorities. Firstly, we want close attention on the role of digital transformation and digital tools to enable effective recovery. Secondly, the joint ministerial statement identified the importance of supporting the mental wellbeing of our SME owners. This is significant because it is, I believe, the first time that APEC Ministers responsible for small businesses have identified mental wellbeing as a priority for building resilience in the economic recovery.

💬 Jo Luxton: Why is there a focus on mental wellbeing?

💬 Hon STUART NASH: The mental wellbeing and resilience of SMEs and workers must be acknowledged alongside the efforts to improve the financial resilience of their businesses. We recognised that business owners belong to families, participate in communities, and have their own aspirations. The joint Ministers’ statement now acknowledges that supporting small and medium business owners’ mental wellbeing helps build resilience, engagement, and productivity.

💬 Jo Luxton: What measures are supporting the financial resilience of small-business owners since the Delta outbreak?

💬 Hon STUART NASH: Economic support has protected lives and livelihoods where it is needed most. In total, workers and businesses have received around $4.6 billion in direct financial support during the Delta outbreak, through five rounds of the wage subsidy and three rounds of the Resurgence Support Payment. About 1.1 million employees have been supported by the wage subsidy, plus a further 179,000 people who are self-employed. The wage subsidy has supported around 327,000 businesses. In terms of the Resurgence Support Payment, around 382,000 New Zealand businesses have received help to meet their fixed costs, with payments of more than $1.1 billion. Small businesses have received the lion’s share of support: 61 percent by value of payments and 84 percent by volume of payments have gone to SMEs with five or fewer staff.

Question No. 8—ACC

8. to the Minister for ACC: Does ACC take privacy seriously when it comes to sensitive claims?

on behalf of the Minister for ACC: Yes.

💬 Jan Logie: Does the Minister believe it is appropriate for potentially dozens of staff across the organisation to be accessing sensitive claims repeatedly, even years after a claim has been closed, and without the claimant’s specific consent?

On behalf of the Minister, as the Minister, I can’t comment on individual claims or complaints. But what I can say is that ACC only provides access to sensitive claims to staff who need it to perform their role. Staff accessing a sensitive claimant’s file will include recovery partners who work with them to organise supports and services. Other staff may also access the file—for example, where they need to make payments for services like counselling or transport. But each file is divided into compartments, so contact information and payments are separate from sensitive material relating to a claimant’s injury. I am assured that ACC wants sensitive claimants to feel confident their privacy is taken seriously, and is exploring improvements to systems and processes with respect to access to information.

💬 Jan Logie: What is the Minister’s response to the recent Public Service Association ACC staff survey, which indicated some staff were uncomfortable with the amount of sensitive claims information they were accessing?

I have sought and received assurance from ACC that only staff who require access to sensitive claims in order to carry out the functions of their role have access. I am assured that ACC wants sensitive claimants to feel confident their privacy is taken seriously, and is exploring improvements to systems and processes with respect to access to information.

💬 Jan Logie: Is the Minister concerned sexual violence advocates are saying, “There is a widespread and systematic problem of ACC staff having inappropriate access to the files of sexual abuse survivors”?

The Minister has sought assurance from ACC and, I reiterate, is assured that ACC wants sensitive claimants to feel confident their privacy is taken seriously, and is exploring improvements to systems and processes with respect to access to information.

💬 Jan Logie: What steps are being taken to ensure staff who are subject to complaints of sexual harassment are not managing sensitive claims, as was reported this week?

As Minister, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on individual employment matters. However, all ACC employees are police-vetted before they are employed. Only staff who require access to sensitive claims in order to carry out the functions of their role have access.

💬 Jan Logie: Will the Minister direct ACC to work with the sexual violence sector to ensure their privacy practices protect survivors?

I will reiterate that the Minister is assured that ACC wants sensitive claimants to feel confident their privacy is taken seriously, and is exploring improvements to systems and processes with respect to access to information, including those that have suffered through sexual violence.

Question No. 9—Health

9. to the Minister of Health: How many people have worked on the health system reform since it was announced on 21 April 2021, and is he confident this hasn’t undermined efforts to prepare our health system for COVID-19?

on behalf of the Minister of Health: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am advised that as at August, 78 individuals have made up the transition unit leading the reforms. Not all of these individuals are fulltime-equivalent. This is in addition to contributions from the core Public Service doing business as usual to support the work programme of the Government of the day. Thousands of other people have also contributed in over 500 engagements. They have included practitioners, support workers, administrators, and NGO representatives. To the second part of the question: yes, the overwhelming message we continue to get from the health sector is the reforms cannot come soon enough and we just need to get on with it.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: Well, in that case, what does he say to the Auckland emergency nurse who told the New Zealand Herald: “overworked nurses fear hospitals aren’t ready for the Covid-19 tsunami and often think about quitting.”?

On behalf of the Minister, I say that the work being done alongside DHBs to make sure that we have the surge capacity to be able to confront COVID-19 is well under way and is well supported and I have full confidence in it.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: How many extra fully-staffed ICU beds could have been funded with the half a billion dollars being spent to restructure the health system?

On behalf of the Minister, what I know is that the surge capacity and the availability of beds, I am satisfied with. We know that work has been done since the first lockdown to make sure that there is enough capacity and there are enough beds. To the part with respect to the funding put forward for the health reforms, I’ll repeat the part of the question in my primary answer, which was that the overwhelming message from the sector is that these reforms can’t come soon enough, and they support what we’re doing.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: Will he take up the challenge of intensive care doctor Paul Young to “visit any ICU in the country and find one clinician (just one) who can show their newly staffed beds.”?

On behalf of the Minister, my humble yet hard-working colleague Minister Henare has visited Rotorua Hospital and has made sure to visit and talk to ICU workers and administrators and is confident that we have put in place the support that they need to make sure that they can continue to respond to COVID-19.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: Why did his Government wait until month 20 of the global pandemic to set aside managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) spots for international healthcare workers, and is that delay one of the reasons a thousand operations a week are being cancelled?

On behalf of the Minister, we know that COVID-19 has provided particular challenges at the border. We know that as one of our best tools of protection is at the border, and it’s important we maintain the integrity of the MIQ system. We have allocated the opportunity for health practitioners to come into the country to make sure that they can continue to support the work that we are doing to respond to COVID-19, and I’m also confident that the current health sector that we have are doing a fantastic job, something that’s lost on that member.

Question No. 10—Internal Affairs

10. to the Minister of Internal Affairs: What work is she progressing to keep New Zealanders safe online?

The COVID-19 global pandemic has brought to light the ability for mis- and disinformation to rapidly spread online and cause harm. It’s a complex issue that jurisdictions across the globe are battling with. As Minister of Internal Affairs, I am progressing with the latest iteration of our Keep It Real Online campaign, targeted at 13- to 18- year-olds. We’ve released another episode of The Eggplant miniseries, focused on misinformation. It has now been viewed over 90,000 times, and social media content for the new episode has been viewed over 2.5 million times. The campaign explores how easy it can be to take information at face value without checking the facts.

💬 Dr Emily Henderson: How will this work help young people make informed decisions online?

💬 Hon JAN TINETTI: Equipping young people with the tools to determine fact from fiction has never been more critical. I know some schools are currently grappling with combating misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine. This will be particularly critical as our year 11 to 13 students return back to the classroom. I encourage schools and students to keep having honest, open conversations about the importance of vaccinations. Engaging tools such as The Eggplant miniseries and supporting material are available online to schools, and I encourage these conversations to occur. While we must protect freedom of speech, we also must ensure people have the tools to determine what is fake and what is real.

💬 Dr Emily Henderson: What legislation is currently being progressed by the House to protect New Zealanders from objectionable content online?

💬 Hon JAN TINETTI: This week, the House passed the second reading of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification (Urgent Interim Classification of Publications and Prevention of Online Harm) Amendment Bill. The bill addresses online harms at the more extreme end. It makes important changes to protect New Zealanders from objectionable content, such as a terrorist attack being livestreamed online. The second reading was significant because the bill passed first reading with only the support of the Labour Party, but passed second reading with the support of Labour, National, the Greens, and Te Paati Māori. I would like to thank the former chair of the Governance and Administration Committee, Barbara Kuriger, for working with me to improve the bill. I would also like to thank the current chair, Ian McKelvie, for progressing the bill. This is an example of this House working together to pass quality, sensible legislation to keep New Zealanders safe online.

Question No. 11—Education

11. to the Minister of Education: When are the more than 200,000 year 1 to 10 students in Auckland likely to return to school, and what risks, if any, to students has he been warned of that could result from missed time in the classroom?

The Government has not yet made a final decision on when years 1 to 10 students in Auckland will return to learning on a school site. I would note that since our current restrictions have been in place, students have been supported to learn from home, and I want to thank our teaching community for the enormous amount of work that they have done to ensure that those young people are supported to continue their learning when they’re unable to be physically on the school site. The Government is aware of the risks of having students away from the school site for a prolonged period of time. That is one of the reasons why we have worked very hard to ensure that schools can stay open over the last 18 months and have, up until recently, had one of the lowest rates of school closure in the OECD. We do have to balance up the risks to children’s education with the risks of COVID-19. We are acutely aware of the fact that, for primary school students in particular, when those schools reopen, they will be the highest concentrations of unvaccinated people in the country.

💬 Nicola Willis: What analysis, if any, has he sought to measure the likely impact of schools reopening to years 1 to 10 students versus the harm to achievement and family wellbeing that will occur if schools don’t open this year?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Those things are very difficult to measure. In fact, some students continue to learn very successfully using distance learning technology or other means of distance learning. And, in fact, there is evidence to suggest that, for some children, they do slightly better in their academic achievements through distance learning than they do from face-to-face teaching. However, there are significant social benefits, in terms of kids’ social development, of them being back on a school site. It is difficult to quantify those things, though. The Ministry of Education, the Education Review Office, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research have all looked at the impact of the disruption on children’s learning last year, where there is some data available, and it found, it would be fair to say, that the overall analysis is variable. Some students did better, and some did worse. But we are, of course, aware that—well, we are committed to getting kids back on to school sites so that they can resume a more regular schooling pattern as soon as it’s safe to do that.

💬 Nicola Willis: Does he anticipate that ongoing school closures will increase inequity in students’ educational achievement, given the vastly different home circumstances children are now expected to learn in, and the likely impact that this will have?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes, that is a very real concern. Absolutely that is a concern. It’s one of the reasons why the Government has, over the last 18 months, gone to great lengths to try and level some of that playing field, but it is true to say that equity continues to be a significant concern. So we’ve connected homes that weren’t otherwise connected to the internet. We’ve provided digital devices to children who otherwise wouldn’t have access to them. We’ve produced hard packs of materials that have been posted out to young people across the country, when they’ve experienced disruption to their schooling, to ensure that they can continue their learning. But it is absolutely true to say that the social and cultural capital of a child’s home does have an impact disproportionately on their learning when they are having to do learning from home.

💬 Nicola Willis: Has he heard concerns from Tangaroa College Principal Davida Suasua that many students will not return to school following ongoing closures, saying, “They said, ‘We’re not coming back.’ … It’s really disheartening because … these students are very academically able, their pathway was to go to university, their pathway was to a career [and now they’re not coming back]”?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes, I have seen comments like that, and further comments that are similar to that, and those comments are very concerning. I don’t want to see young people missing out on their education and the future opportunities that that provides them. One of the reasons that the Government has made the decision now to allow senior secondary school students to return to learning on site from next week is that we do want to decrease the chances of those young people disengaging from learning and not coming back to school, and we are aware that the longer the schools remain closed, the more students there will be in that category. So, yes, that continues to be a concern.

💬 Nicola Willis: Does he expect all secondary schools to reopen for years 11 to 13 students on Tuesday, 26 October, and what will he do if he learns that some schools have chosen not to reopen on that date?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes, I do expect them to reopen; however, within that, schools do have some flexibility, because schools will have to be open for the required number of half days that they have to be open. So there will be a prorating of the number of half days that they won’t have to be open, based on the recent level 4 and then level 3 restrictions that have been in place. But, once that requirement to be closed is lifted, they will need to comply with the requirement to be open for a specified number of half days between now and the end of the year.

Question No. 12—Conservation

12. to the Minister of Conservation: What recent announcements has she made regarding Jobs for Nature investment that supports the fight against myrtle rust?

Earlier this month, I announced a Jobs for Nature - funded collaboration between communities and scientists in a crucial step in the fight to protect some of New Zealand’s best known native plants. We’re talking about the iconic Kiwi Christmas tree, the pōhutukawa; rātā; mānuka; ramarama, which is the home of our honey industry where myrtle rust poses the biggest threat. Five million dollars has been invested across two projects: one each in Te Tai Rāwhiti and the Bay of Plenty to focus on monitoring myrtle rust infestations, mapping its spread, and ramping up the propagation of plants showing the most resistance to the disease.

💬 Angie Warren-Clark: What are the details of the project in Tai Rāwhiti?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: The Whakapae Ururoa: Community Myrtle Rust Surveillance Project will track spread and infestation at critical sites across a 27,800-hectare stretch of the mighty East Coast coastline led by local conservationist Graeme Atkins, who has been monitoring myrtle rust on the East Coast since he observed its appearance a few years ago. The work utilises ground knowledge and biocultural monitoring approaches and will be linked into a localised and national reporting system. Seed collection, storage, and propagation protocols will be developed alongside the mana whenua and local capability developed to oversee the collection and propagation of native seeds across the mighty East Coast.

💬 Angie Warren-Clark: What are the details of the project in the mighty Bay of Plenty?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I’m not sure—

💬 SPEAKER: Is that a valid question?

Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN Sir, I was just going to raise that same point myself. Heoi anō, look, the Jobs for Resistance project in the Bay of Plenty will identify where the most vulnerable myrtle species are in the native forests in the Bay of Plenty region, determining the extent of each population, and record the incidence and severity of myrtle rust within them. This is a project that is a collaboration between Scion and many of the local iwi in the region. Cuttings will be taken and seed collections started, with the intention of establishing a resistance breeding programme. Together, both projects will employ at least 15 people over three years to undertake this crucial work.