SpeechHon Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin): Thank you Madam Speaker. Like previous speakers I do want to begin by acknowledging the recent natural hazard events that have impacted the lives of so many in this country: those who are tied up with Cyclone Gabrielle ongoing; those who have been unable to contact family members and friends. We know that there is a long way ahead and we are thinking of you. I also want to acknowledge the Auckland Anniversary floods and the impending anniversary of the Canterbury earthquake sequence. I think these events all serve to highlight why this bill is so important and timely.I want to make a few brief comments as formerly the Minister responsible for the bill but I do at the outset want to acknowledge and congratulate the Hon Dr Deborah Russell on your appointment to this portfolio. I know that you will be superb in this role and so my personal and heartfelt congratulations.Dame Silvia Cartwright's public inquiry was a real guide in the shaping of this bill. She and those she worked with observed the changes that the Earthquake Commission (EQC) had to make from having a few dozen staff scaling up following the Christchurch earthquakes to 1100 I think it was and then they're now back down in the range I think from memory of about 600 staff. That was an organisation that underwent rapid change and there are a whole lot of lessons that came out of that experience. One of those was the importance of having claimants at the centre in terms of making available to them the services they needed as immediately as possible. That shaped the insurer response model that's now in place so that people do not have to contact EQC separately but can go straight through their insurer to get issues sorted. We're seeing now in effect as we encounter other natural hazards that insurers are there at the front line they have more offices open they're more readily available to support and they can scale up more rapidly.The other series—well there were a lot of recommendations to come out of it but a lot of them spoke to the need to clarify existing practice or actually make sure it has a sound legal backing and that's what this bill is actually all about. One of the significant things was raising the cap. That decision has already been taken and put through regulations but this bill solidifies that. The cap on residential building cover has increased from $150000 to $300000. Originally it was $100000 in the early 1990s which was about the cost of building a new house at the time. It is timely to put it up and make sure that this actually functions as a social insurance scheme—that's what it's set up to do. No one expected the earthquake sequence in Canterbury. We all shared the cost of that and likewise with this scheme into the future for natural hazards having that higher cap means we all share the burden across New Zealand because we never know in this country which is prone to natural disasters where the next event will be.The cover for retaining walls bridges and culverts has been covered off by the previous speaker Nicola Grigg and others in the debate. It does provide clarity in the law and that means that the private sector and their offerings which go over and above the EQC offering can also be clear about what they're offering and that's part of this. It's making sure that people know what they're covered for and what they're not covered for and that has proven to be a really important lesson out of those prior events.The name update is something I wanted to speak briefly about and then the timing and that will be my contribution. The new name which is changed by the bill to Toka Tū Ake – Natural Hazards Commission reflects the broad range of hazards covered by the Act and dealt with by the commission and I've had interesting explanations given to me. It's the beauty of languages that things never translate one for one into other languages but it's about a firm place to stand and grow—that's my kind of understanding of it. It's about preparedness and recovery from natural disasters—you know literally toka is a rock tū is the place to stand or where things take place or where things are convened or established and ake is the act of raising upwards. So it speaks to uplifting but also to preparedness and standing in a firm place—a fitting name for the commission—and also that broadening to be the Natural Hazards Commission rather than the Earthquake Commission which actually reflects what they do.Now the timing—and I do want to thank the Opposition for their support in this regard. We have pushed out the timing a little to allow the insurance companies to develop their IT systems to handle this new legislation perhaps not as far as they initially wanted but as we've heard from those who have spoken to the companies it is enough that they believe they can get these systems in place in time.So I will end my contribution there. I will say though what a privilege it has been to work on the bill with such competent officials as we worked through an enormous amount of detail to bring this bill to fruition. It is important that New Zealand has updated legislation here. This is a generational update and I am happy to commend this bill to the House.