Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. It is a bit rich for the previous speaker Nicky Wagner to say We'd like to see this go further." What the previous speaker seems to be suggesting is that in the first five months of a new Government we'd make wholesale changes to the Earthquake Commission (EQC) without thinking about how that looks for the longer term. We do things with care and reflection but I would like to congratulate the new Minister for ensuring that the public can have confidence in EQC for recognising the problems with 300 cases before the courts from more than 300 homeowners and for recognising the fact that there are still around 2500 claims which are outstanding from the Christchurch quakes most of which are re-repair claims. The Minister and the move with a new interim chair of the EQC Dame Annette King and with a new ministerial adviser is signalling very clearly that the Government takes improving the performance of EQC very seriously.This bill is a good bill because it is putting into the House changes to the EQC legislation which can be fixed now taking into account that there is a wider review in train. The very least we can do for the people of Christchurch and for the people of Hurunui and Kaikōura for the impacts that the quakes have had on them is to learn the lessons and try to make the resolution of claims post-quake simpler faster and just easier for everybody involved. That's why this bill is common sense because it's making widely agreed changes to the way EQC functions so that claims can be handled better and faster if we get another major disaster such as on the Alpine Fault.One of those key things is ensuring that it is private insurers rather than EQC that deal with contents claims because EQC after the Christchurch quake was inundated with contents claims. Now those are often for things like furniture china crockery and electronic equipment. These things are all really important to householders but much more important is ensuring that the claims in terms of the buildings—the houses themselves—are resolved quickly because that's the basic human need of good shelter. So having contents claims being dealt with by insurers will take a whole lot of claims away from EQC and will enable the more serious claims around the houses themselves to be dealt with and focused on by EQC.So this is another sign that this Government is preparing for the future rather than just dealing with quick fix-ups because these changes can be made now and similarly with the proposal in the bill to increase the cap on residential building cover to $150000 plus GST. That again is a practical response to what has happened in Christchurch Hurunui and Kaikōura. I think we're glad of the Opposition's support but they've got to recognise that there are some things we can do now and some things that need to wait for that wider review. We certainly recognise that the Opposition when it was in Government started this whole process but it is this Minister who has brought the bill to the HouseI was a bit surprised I guess to see the press statement by Stuart Smith saying that one of the other issues that the bill deals with in terms of lengthening the time limit for when people can lodge claims to up to two years would cause too much complexity and too many problems. To me that seems to indicate an attitude—so it's three months to two years—and that this would prove expensive "incredibly expensive" Mr Smith said and problematic to the EQC. What that suggests to me is that Mr Smith doesn't recognise the validity of people's claims and the frustration so many homeowners have felt with the sometimes imperious attitude of EQC in not recognising the severity of the damage. Allowing the claim period to go out to two years will ensure that the claims are well made. It will also stop just cutting people off by a very short three-month period when people and their homes have undergone an incredible sort of grief and trauma often through a big earthquake event. So it's giving people the space to actually look carefully at what damage has occurred and then to make the claim and allowing a bit more time for that. So I was very disappointed in Mr Smith's comments and I hope he and the National Party will reflect on those in terms of the way the bill progresses through select committee.We know as other speakers have noted that we live in the Shaky Isles. The Alpine Fault is overdue for severe movement. That would have major impacts on the West Coast. We are very lucky in New Zealand in having EQC and this form of insurance—the levy on their insurance contributes to funding EQC. That was very foresighted when that was set up post the Napier earthquakes but the EQC fund has been much diminished obviously by the Christchurch quakes and the Hurunui/Kaikōura episode. We need to ensure that EQC functions as well as possible. The Minister has that in hand with the ministerial adviser and the new chair. This bill is the first step in improving in a practical way the way EQC can actually deal with claims. So there's the increase of the cap up to $150000; there's enabling claim notifications to be accepted up to two years after a disaster not just three months; there's shifting the EQC insurance cover for contents over to private insurers and reassurance that the Insurance Council of New Zealand and others have recognised that this insurance cover could still be affordable and has given some reassurances to the public for that. Then the last major change of course is enabling EQC to share information to support the implementation of the Earthquake Commission Act and the settlement of claims where this is in the public interest and public safety. Of course this was a recommendation of the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission. The Privacy Commissioner has commented on it and the regulatory impact statement shows that there are no issues there.So this is a really sensible bill; it's implementing some common-sense practical changes which can be made now. It's recognising that wider issues will come to the House in good time but it's actually improving the effectiveness of the EQC from 1 July when these changes are expected to come into force provided the bill does expeditiously through this House which I'm sure the Leader of the House will ensure happens. So it's a good bill and I welcome it being introduced."