Simon Bridges National Party Leader simonbridges.co.nz

I've been flooded with questions from all corners of the country since the Covid-19 lockdown began, and it felt good to get those New Zealanders some answers this week.

We learned a lot from the first three meetings of Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee. It's clear there are several aspects of the Covid-19 response where we could be doing better.

The experts were adamant that we need to go harder and faster if we want to squash this virus.

The Opposition has long supported making Covid-19 tests available to anyone with symptoms and quarantining people still crossing our borders rather than having them self-isolate in the community.

It was reassuring to hear Sir David Skegg, an epidemiologist professor from Otago University, tell the Epidemic Response Committee he shares that view.

This is where the committee has proven its worth. New Zealanders finally got to hear some straight talk from experts, as well as those in charge.

We had the Police Commissioner reveal his officers weren't carrying out enough compliance checks on people who recently returned from overseas, and his admission that the Government's instructions on what you can and cannot do during lockdown haven't been clear enough.

We also found out that police may not have the powers they need to properly enforce this lockdown.

This is why the committee is so important. Identifying flaws in the Government's response may seem like nit-picking to some, but it's a healthy and necessary part of ensuring decisions are made in the best interest of all New Zealanders.

Parliament can fix many of these problems, but we can't fix what we don't know is broken.

This constructive scrutiny has already seen results. The Government finally agreed this week to ‘test, test, test' more for Covid-19 after data presented to the committee showed actual testing numbers were trending ‘down, down, down'.

Thousands of New Zealand will also be able to keep reading their local community newspapers during the lockdown because of the committee's scrutiny around essential services.

We will continue to ask the questions that Kiwis want answered in the days and weeks ahead. The committee will continue scrutinising the health and economic response while also probing the areas of welfare and education.

As Professor Skegg told us this week; if we get on top of Covid-19 now then we have a decent chance of getting back to normal after this lockdown ends.

The committee stands ready to aid the Government in achieving this success.

Simon Bridges is Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of the Epidemic Response Committee.