McKelvie IanIAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei): Thank you Madam Chair. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to take a call on Part 1 of the Earthquake Commission Amendment Bill. Having spent a lifetime or half a lifetime—a lifetime for some in the House—in the insurance industry I have a bit of an understanding of how insurance works. Unfortunately it's not the best thing always to have an understanding of but none the less it's interesting. This bill of course is a very important bill not only for I guess the reasons it's been brought back to the House which primarily relate to Christchurch and Kaikōura but also for the fact that the Earthquake Commission really is a unique entity by world standards. It is hugely important for New Zealand because of the fragile nature of our ecology and the constant events we have.So this part of the bill obviously enables the collection of information. One of the interesting things about insurance of course is establishing information whether it's legitimate or not whether it fits with what's going on or not and whether it is actually relevant to the claim that's being made. So I think that the way in which we gather information the way we use that information and the way that's used for the resolution of claims and things like that is hugely important to it.So the first part of the bill primarily deals with the regulations that permit the commission to accept notice given for the time limit applying and that relates to the natural disaster that occurs. I think it would be really interesting for the Minister responsible for the Earthquake Commission to perhaps address the fact as to whether she considers this as a reasonable or appropriate way to deal with things.So one of the challenges that we have with natural disasters I suppose is that they are never predictable the results of them are never predictable and the outcomes of those results are not predictable either. So it is very challenging I think for the Earthquake Commission but particularly for the insurance industry in general to match what the Earthquake Commission needs to deal with to match the information that the insurance companies have and where that then gets to with respect to the resolution of those claims.Of course the interesting thing that's come out of the two major events—that the two earthquakes established—is that Christchurch for the Earthquake Commission was very testing because they never anticipated I don't think and were never set up in a manner that was able to deal with a disaster of that magnitude. They'd clearly dealt with a number of other disasters throughout the history of New Zealand but nothing of the magnitude of Christchurch. So the process that was gone through in the course of that event was I guess a learning experience for all and not necessarily dealt with particularly well.The interesting thing about Kaikōura was when that came along and the insurance companies took a lead in the resolution of those claims it changed completely the way those claims were answered and I think that that's a much better process. When you think about the resource that insurance companies have on the ground they are automatically equipped to deal with the need for I guess very swift resolution to claims and also with the ability to be able to assess that sort of damage. So I think for them to take the lead in this process is eminently sensible and makes a much bigger difference to the experience of those people making a claim. So the provision of information between those two entities is very important and the use of that obviously speeds those claims up expedites what goes on and enables it to happen in a much better manner.So we're certainly supporting this bill. I think that there were a number of resolutions or decisions made leading up to the formation of this bill of which the Government have picked up about a half I think of the total number of recommendations made but none the less I think the bill will progress through the House. I think it will be positive. I guess we can only hope that there's no need for the use or for action from the Earthquake Commission in the near future because the longer we go of course between these major events the better off it is for New Zealand. We certainly don't want to see too many of them.