PENNY SIMMONDS (National—Invercargill): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I rise to speak in opposition to the COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No 2) which amends the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020. I feel like I've seen more of these pieces of legislation than most people should in their lives. I've been in the Regulations Review Committee and I wonder what that committee did before COVID! However, this bill is to bring about better reflection of the knowledge, supposedly, that this Government has of how long the public health response may be necessary. Now, that should put fear into most of our hearts, I would think. My colleague Nicola Willis said it shows how pessimistic this Government is, because, essentially, this bill allows the Minister to make orders to deal with COVID, for things like lockdowns and managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) for a further 18 months, extending out to May 2023. That really should be alerting all New Zealanders to the possibility of how crippling this Government's inaction could be for us.