Coffey TamatiTAMATI COFFEY (Labour—Waiariki): Thank you Mr Speaker. Can I echo the sentiments relayed by my colleague and friend the Hon Peeni Henare in light of what has been a tragic situation back home in our region. The Eastern Bay of Plenty is a beautiful place. Whakaari itself White Island always casts a shadow over the water whenever you look out from the Eastern Bay beaches and for a long time there's been a history with the iwi around there. Te Whānau a Apanui Te Whakatōhea and Ngāti Awa—Ngāi Tūhoe as well—back in the day would take turns heading out the island to collect tītī or mutton bird because that was where they went and they would all take it in turn to go out there and collect it. It's had a long history. There have been deaths on the island before. Once upon a time in the island's history it was mined for its sulphur. And actually I think it was in 1914 there was an accident that happened there. It was an avalanche and a lot of men lost their lives. So I acknowledge that. On Monday I got a phone call and the phone call was basically to say Don't go to Wellington. The volcano has erupted. Whakaari has erupted. I think you'd better head there." So I jumped straight into the car. I went over to the eastern part of my electorate and I jumped out of the car. And what I realised was that I was standing at White Island Tours with a bunch of people there. I had no idea when I pulled up that actually they were people who had come straight off the boat that had been rescued by the boats and had been put back to safety there. They were dazed. They were confused. They didn't know what was going on. And they had seen things that they weren't obviously ready to share. It was a very poignant moment. But from that point on I made sure that I was part of this to support those people that needed support. As we've already heard a lot of the people involved in this came off the cruise ships and I want to acknowledge the role that the cruise ships have actually played in this in terms of releasing their information working proactively with our all-of-Government approach. And it's been brilliant to see NEMA our National Emergency Management Agency civil defence the Whakatāne District Council the New Zealand Police Immigration the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade GNS Science—everybody coming together—and Te Puni Kōkiri coming together to try and provide an all-of-Government response to something that hasn't been seen in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. Can I also acknowledge the role that our Māori communities play in emergency disasters such as this. I take my mind back to when we had the terrorist killings earlier this year in Christchurch. As a Māori community back in Rotorua the word was put out because nobody quite knew how to cope with that situation. So what we decided to do was to get everybody together at the marae. We put the call out. It wasn't exclusive but we just wanted to get together and feel that solidarity. It happened in 2017 in Edgecumbe where marae opened up their doors. Rautahi Marae opened up their doors to host the civil defence emergency centre. And it happened again yesterday when we held a hui at Te Mānuka Tūtahi Marae in Whakatāne. The iwi hosted it. We got inside and they said "There is no media in here but there is also no agenda in here as well. We want to be able to look after our people that are suffering through this. We want to acknowledge our workers who have colleagues that have been wrapped up in this this awful awful tragedy." And for a good couple of hours we sang songs spoke and showed solidarity. We heard from some members of the whānau who were waiting to hear back and I understand that those families are still waiting. So my thoughts go out to them at this time. One story that I want to recount is the story of a boy who only recently started working for White Island Tours. In fact he was studying to be a teacher and he was well on his way to becoming a trained teacher. He only had his diploma in teaching to go but he decided to take a bit of a side road and he decided to take up a job at White Island Tours. I spoke with his grandmother and I spoke with his girlfriend; they are obviously still waiting. I will forever have the words of his grandmother sitting in my head the optimism in her voice saying "My boy he's a fighter—he's a fighter—and I know that despite everything that would have been going on I bet he would have found a cave and I bet he's still probably sitting in that cave just waiting for somebody to come and find him."So to all of the whānau that are waiting for those answers I acknowledge you and I acknowledge everybody that's pulled together to make this tragedy the best situation that it can be in light of the circumstances. Kia ora tātou."