McKelvie Ian; McAnulty KieranIAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei): Thank you Madam Chair. Well I'm going to pretend I know something I don't ha ha! That's why I'm going to ask you the question Minister McAnulty because you might know. It sort of interests me because I'm not as pessimistic about the information that councils have got as some in the Chamber are because I actually think that a large number of our councils do have this information. But the question I've got and the issue I want to raise is the fact that we've got unitary authorities we've got regional councils we've got territorial authorities—that information is held all over the place in those different entities.I think that whilst the bill's tried to address the issue with respect to regional councils and the fact that they must provide the information it does interest me as to how we're going to get a consensus across the country as to the nature of that information that's provided on those land information memorandum (LIMs). It needs to be consistent across the country. So in other words if you're 3 feet above the sea level in Tangimoana and 3 feet above the southern Wairarapa you need to have the same thing on the LIM that's what I'm really trying to say. The bill doesn't really have any—well there's no consensus around how that might work.I also don't think that the funding issue is quite the significant issue that we think it is. I think it's a significant issue where the information isn't available but as I said earlier a number of councils have got that information so I don't think it'll be quite the serious challenge we think it is to get the information. How that information's interpreted and how it's dealt with—perhaps even through the courts later on—is another issue altogether.But my question for the Minister is—we haven't really addressed the issue of how we collect that information other than directing regional councils to provide the information to territorial authorities in the course of this bill and I think it will be a bit of a challenge. I don't know whether the Minister's got any comment on that.Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister of Local Government): Well I have a lot of faith in the sector to provide the information that this bill requires them to do so. Where it gets complex is—the member Ian McKelvie is right to point out that in some areas you have a district council and a regional council or a metro council for that matter; and in some councils you have a unitary authority like in Tairāwhiti as an example. But of course the point of this is to require regional councils to share that with territorial authorities; unitary authorities will already have it because they perform the role of both so for them this should be relatively straightforward. But the member's right that the point of this is to provide consistency.There are some areas that face unique challenges but there are challenges that are pretty standard across the board. The member mentions the potential for sea-level rise. There's obviously the potential for flooding the potential for impact of a significant earthquake for example. Some people have that information already and they're able to make informed decisions when they purchase a home. I think back to when I purchased my house in Masterton. I was able to access modelling for flooding and it could indicate that a couple of houses that I was considering could in certain circumstances be in a flood zone. The place I ended up buying wasn't deemed to be in a flood zone and that was really useful information for me. But I'm conscious that some people in some areas of the country don't have access to that information.IAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei): One last point Madam Chair. One of the things that's always concerned me about the relationship between regional councils and district councils or territorial authorities is that one seems to charge the other for the information and the same ratepayers are funding them both and it' very frustrating. I wonder whether the Minister of Local Government's got any light he could shed on whether in fact these regional councils are going to charge these territorial authorities for this information or not.Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister of Local Government): Well I'll be kind to the member and choose not to interpret that as a call for a unitary authority in the Manawatū -Rangitīkei area. But he's right in the sense that we are relying on compliance and we are relying on good relations. But in my time as local government Minister and as Minister for Emergency Management I've seen nothing but collaboration between regional and local councils. In fact the work that is being done in the Hawke's Bay at the moment—for that region to be in a position now to have identified the categorisation of land in category 1 2 and 3 and working to put in mitigating measures around those flood-prone areas in category 2 I think should be commended. And that is an example of collaboration between regional and local councils.But we are requiring regional councils to do this. They will need to do it as a matter of law and ultimately it shouldn't be that difficult because they have the information already. They'll now be required to share it and they'll now have the safety and protection to be able to do so in simple language so that everyone can understand it.