12. Question No. 12—Foreign AffairsJAMIE STRANGE (Labour) to the Minister of Foreign AffairsQuestion No. 12—Foreign Affairs12. JAMIE STRANGE (Labour) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: What recent announcements has he made about New Zealand's tsunami warning capability?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Minister of Foreign Affairs): Yesterday the Minister of Civil Defence and I announced the deployment of a network of DART buoys on board the RV Tangaroa at the Aotea Wharf in Wellington. Yesterday as I said we sent the first shipload of five offshore and bear in mind that when we found out what had happened—we found out that the whole system had been allowed to run down to virtually nothing under the previous Government.Jamie Strange: What benefit does the DART buoy network bring? Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: DART buoy stands for Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis. DART buoys are the only tried and tested technology that confirms the generation of tsunami waves before they reach the coast. So in short half the Pacific Islands were being exposed and so was the top of our country as well because of the gross neglect of that administration when they were in power—what a disgrace. Hon Gerry Brownlee: That's a complete misleading of the truth. Stop being reckless with the truth. SPEAKER: Order! The member will stand withdraw and apologise. Hon Gerry Brownlee: I withdraw and apologise. I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [Interruption]SPEAKER: Mr Bennett is not helping you. Hon Gerry Brownlee: I didn't ask for his help. SPEAKER: Well that's one wise comment the member's made. Hon Gerry Brownlee: That would be absolutely right. Now the question is—[Interruption] My comment—I won't repeat it because you obviously didn't like it but it was simply making a general statement; it wasn't making an accusation. How can that be out of order? SPEAKER: The member knows that that statement has been ruled out on many many occasions in the House—many occasions.Jamie Strange: How swiftly has the Government acted to deploy new DART buoys?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: On the very day that as acting Prime Minister I found out I contacted my colleague Kris Faafoi and we set straight to it. We didn't lose one day in ordering the equipment which left yesterday from the Wellington harbour. That's what we did. It was dramatic and more importantly we were so aghast when we discovered what had happened—we could not believe that a previous administration whose obligation—SPEAKER: Order!Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —was to the security of the Pacific people and the New Zealand people—SPEAKER: Order! Order!Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —had done exactly nothing.SPEAKER: Order! Order! I think that's sort of repeat of use of supplement patsies for attacking the Opposition.Jamie Strange: Who paid for the new DART buoy network? Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: That's a very good question. The rejuvenated DART buoy network service is an excellent example of the good work that official development assistance funds in the Pacific do. Of the $47.3 million $24.3 million came from the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management $20.4 million came from the official development assistance—Hon David Bennett: How much did the foundation give? Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —as to the foundation of $100 million the National Party can tell you all about that—and $2.6 million came from our friends in Australia. Can I just say also that it was vital that this constructive effort be recognised when we found out the crisis that we potentially faced.