Question Time for 2 September 2021
DAVID SEYMOUR to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by her statement, "A small handful are not due their day 12 test-but I would caution the member that those are the contacts we know about"; if so, how many contacts are still awaiting a test result now? Hon JUDITH COLLINS to the Prime Minister: What did she mean yesterday when she said, "When the outbreak started, we saw, of course, as you may expect, some demand lift", and does she accept that prior to the current outbreak, eligible people wanted to get vaccines but were not able to secure appointments? Hon LOUISE UPSTON to the Minister of Finance: How does the new requirement to reapply for the COVID-19 Wage Subsidy every fortnight help businesses and employees? Hon JAMES SHAW to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement regarding people in hardship that "what we want to do is ensure that the current forms of support we have are adequate"; if so, will the Government take action in response to the Salvation Army's observation that despite actions taken so far, "critical food insecurity issues for people and whanau persist"? Hon TODD McCLAY to the Minister of Finance: Does he believe that the current COVID-related financial support for struggling businesses is adequate, and how many businesses, if any, does he expect to close permanently as a result of level 3 and level 4 lockdown restrictions? CHRIS BISHOP to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: How many COVID-positive people are awaiting transfer to quarantine facilities, if any, and is he satisfied that the Government's MIQ facilities were appropriately prepared for the Delta variant arriving in New Zealand? MATT DOOCEY to the Minister of Health: How does he reconcile Dr Susanna Every-Palmer's research that one year after the first lockdown, levels of psychological distress remained elevated, even though there were no lockdown restrictions in place, with his comment that "Wellbeing dipped slightly during March-April 2020's Alert Level 4, but quickly recovered as alert levels decreased", and does he now recognise that higher levels of mental distress have continued to be felt in the community as a result of COVID-19?
