Faafoi KrisHon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Civil Defence): Thank you very much Madam Assistant Speaker. It's a pleasure to follow Michael Wood the chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee to speak to this bill. This bill brings together two issues which relate to the two portfolios I have: civil defence and commerce. In the civil defence field our primary function is to make sure that people are prepared and we're ready to respond in the event of an emergency and one of the many things we're trying to achieve in the commerce sphere is making sure that people have good access and the right level of insurance or risk cover for them and their families. So I'd like to congratulate my good friend and colleague the Hon Dr Megan Woods for getting a piece of legislation in the House which deals with I think the first tranche of issues that have come about from the review of the Earthquake Commission (EQC). I echo the comments of Michael Wood and put on notice that we're quite lucky to have EQC. The fact is that all New Zealanders have that level of certainty of cover to a certain degree if an event does happen. EQC was obviously tested in the September 2010 and February 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch and Canterbury. The changes that we are making here today are pragmatic and I think will allow us to get the settings right in order to deal with some of the other issues that came about from the review. I find it slightly galling to sit and listen to some of the points made by the previous Government when this review and inquiry—where these recommendations or these changes have come about—started back in 2012 and to hear a previous Minister saying that we're not going far enough when we're dealing with four of the recommendations out of the nine recommendations from the review and the previous Government dealt with zero. That's the point that I do want to make. While we have to get the quality right I would disagree with the member from Waimakariri and say that actually Cantabrians and New Zealanders did want some speed but they did want to have some certainty because what they saw as a result of the Christchurch earthquakes they did not like and they wanted to make sure for them and for other New Zealanders that the issues that came about from the treatment that they had and some of the things that happened in their experience post-quake were dealt with as swiftly as possible. So we have dealt with—as many speakers have said—the low-hanging fruit and I think making sure that we can extend the cover from $100000 to $150000 is a positive thing for all New Zealanders. I think that should also send a signal to private insurance companies that New Zealanders might be looking for a bit of give and take there as well. I also think it's pragmatic to do away with the contents insurance aspects of the legislation as it stands because I understand that that took up a lot of administration and time when I think it's actually homes and properties that are the priority. The current settings as they are are that New Zealanders have $100000 of cover by EQC plus the excess and I think moving this out to $150000 will give the surety and I guess—as Megan Woods said—more cover and certainty for New Zealanders because that is the range in which a lot of the claims to the EQC were post-Christchurch. So if we were to deal with an issue like that post-Christchurch—touch wood hopefully not—that range would take in a lot of the public insurance cover as opposed to New Zealanders having to deal with their own private insurance companies. Just going back to some of the comments that were made across the House Mr Doocey said that the work done at EQC was one of the previous Government's top four priorities. I find it hard to believe when they started a review in 2012 and can't get to a piece of legislation five years later that they have delivered on one of their top priorities. I find that very hard to believe. So I'm really looking forward to the next National Party speaker who can stand up in this House and criticise this piece of legislation coming into the House five months after we have come into Government when the review that they started and the nine recommendations that they had ended up resulting in zero pieces of legislation and zero out of the nine recommendations being acted on. The people of Christchurch and the people of New Zealand wanted to see both speed and quality. That's what they're going to get from this Government.