Collins Judith: General Debate 
Collins Judith: General Debate 
[Volume:670;Page:17265] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. I begin by acknowledging the tragedy in Japan in the last week. The fact that our friends in Japan have had an earthquake a tsunami and a nuclear threat is one of those tragedies that many of us thought was not even an option when we had our own tragedy on 22 February this year. Despite this terrible time we know that the thoughts of the people of New Zealand and the world are with the people of Japan as they go through this terrible situation. It was bad enough having the earthquake but then came the tsunami. We saw on various news reports images of houses and people who had been swept away by the tsunami—everything was just swept away in its path—but now they have this nuclear threat. 
When we had our own tragedy on 22 February Japan was one of the first countries to offer us assistance and I can remember on 24 February on the Thursday after the earthquake seeing the Japanese urban search and rescue team coming down to the CTV building to help go through the rubble to see whether they could find anybody alive. I spoke with one of the doctors who were with the urban search and rescue team from Japan. Extraordinarily professional people were in that team and they worked really hard and they have now had to go back to Japan to respond to their own tragedy. 
The aftershock on 22 February brought out the very best in our people and I think that is something that we can be very proud of. It has also brought out the very best in our Christchurch-based members of Parliament across the House who I note in the  
Press 
 today are still holding clinics and trying to do the best that they can to help their constituents. On a non-partisan basis I congratulate them on keeping on doing the job that they are paid to do and we expect them to do. 
I would also like to make a comment about the fund-raising in New Zealand. Never has an Aucklander seen so many pro-Canterbury people and really dyed-in-the-wool Cantabrians as we have over this matter. We have had fund-raising from one end of the country to the other. We have had fund-raising all over the world by people who have been sending us help. 
When I look at some of the very best of our people I think back to 24 February when I met a young constable. He had been with the New Zealand Police for 6 months and his job was to take me around some of the places where there were dead people and where all sorts of work was going on. He had 6 months’ experience and I asked him how his house was. He said it was destroyed. It had gone back to the swamp. The area had been drained but it had gone back to a swamp. His house was covered in liquefaction and debris. He had a wife and young baby and he said: “But we’re all right.” so I asked him why he was all right. He told me that his wife had made good friends at Plunket and one of them had taken his family in. Rather than being home or looking after his own property or his own family he was at work—where we would expect him to be because he is a professional and he is one of our finest. 
As we went around the central area of Christchurch in a marked police car we were stopped by various people. They came to ask him for help. Some people asked him for water so he popped the boot of the car and out came some water bottles for the people. We were asked for petrol and he let them know where he thought the next open petrol station was. When we were at the chambers in Christchurch where all the civil defence people were working he was approached by a young girl who wanted an asthma inhaler. Her asthma inhaler was on the fifth floor of an apartment building down the road and it was far too unsafe for her to go in there. He went off to look and then he went and let her know where to find an asthma inhaler. I looked at that young man—members know how it is; we get a bit older and all policemen start to look so young—and I realised that nobody was asking the people in suits; they were asking the police officers. I would like to congratulate them on the most excellent work they have done through this terrible time. I thank all of our emergency services our urban search and rescue people and everybody else. They have done a marvellous job.