Hayes JoJO HAYES (National): Thank you Madam Chair. I too want to add my support for Stuart Smith's Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 156. As I've been sitting in the back here listening to the discussion around this SOP I hear words like by adding this SOP into the bill it will add more complexities to the bill." I don't think it will add many complexities if any complexities actually. What the SOP is trying to do which worked well in Kaikōura is trying to actually help the Earthquake Commission (EQC) with the number of insurance claims that they got as an example through the Christchurch earthquakes. This memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the private insurers is a good stance to take. If it worked in Kaikōura then it should be able to work everywhere else in the country. At the end of the day when we in Christchurch have to sit and listen to constituents' complaints around not having their EQC claims settled in a timely manner whereas their insurance companies could have come in and helped out with that process because of what's happened I think that this is a very sensible well-thought-out SOP to be included in the bill.When we start to look at EQC it should not be about EQC being everything to everybody. I think that if we're going to be effective for the people of this country organisations like EQC should be able to reach out and get as much help as they can because at the end of the day when somebody's property is broken when they are in stress they need that help immediately. They don't need to sit there and wait and wait and wait for their claim to come forward through EQC; they need to be able to move forward and move forward rapidly. I think that's what happened in Kaikōura and it would've been great to have happened in the Christchurch earthquakes as well. However we live and we learn with all the processes that are going on.As I look at this SOP 156 it states "After clause 11 (page 7 after line 29) insert: 11A Schedule 3 amended: In Schedule 3 clause 7 … (6) An insured person's private insurer—(a) may be given notice and be delivered a claim and particulars under subclause (1) by the insured person; and (b) for any claims that are received under paragraph (a) is to be considered as having been appointed an agent of the Commission—(i) under subclause (5); and (ii) under section 73(1)(d) of the Crown Entities Act 2004; and (iii) subject to any other agreements between the Commission and the private insurer. (7) Any claim delivered to an insured person's private insurer under subclause (6)(a) is to be deemed to have been delivered to the Commission under subclause (1) or (2)." That is a very good schedule. It doesn't upset the current bill. It adds robustness to the current bill and that's what we're looking for. As parliamentarians as legislators we are looking for robust pieces of legislation and this particular SOP will give it that robustness.I was very interested in hearing what Stuart Smith had to say around a letter that he read out around robustness of audit systems and accountability systems to manage claims—that EQC MOU with private insurers—and I agree with him. The reinsurers have really good systems—really good systems. I have a cousin-in-law who used to work for a reinsurer and he is quite an anal person actually being an accountant but he actually said to me over the Christchurch earthquakes because he was still working for a reinsurer at the time—he said so many good things could've happened. However they didn't. So he is quite happy. I've shared some of the information with him and even though he lives in Ireland he said that it's a good way forward: clear agreements of quality of service from the private insurer. And they do. We're with FMG my husband and I. We have a business and the FMG proposals with us the insurance—they are actually very responsive. They respond within hours of our claims being received.So I can only see good coming out of this SOP. I would encourage the other side—the Government and support parties—to support Stuart's SOP 156. It's not written as an intervention or anything; it's written from experience."