McKelvie IanIAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei): It is a pleasure to follow the mildly tanned member for Napier Stuart Nash in this afternoon's debate. I would have to say that I got 3 minutes of sun on Sunday—the only 3 we have had in the Rangitīkei this month—and I got sunburnt. Anyway I want to get on to a couple of other issues. This afternoon I had 47 very senior members of my electorate in Parliament and you can imagine their disappointment when they arrived here and found the Prime Minister sitting here for a whole hour and not being asked one question. It was the first time I think in my time in this House that that has happened. They were disappointed.I just want to move on to a couple of other issues that I think are critically important and they are the earthquake and the problems that that earthquake has caused in Canterbury particularly around Kaikōura and up into the Marlborough area. This country under the leadership of this Government and our finance Minister Bill English is very well prepared to deal with these kinds of problems. This is a different problem from the one that the Christchurch earthquakes created to some extent because it has had a significant effect on a large piece of isolated rural New Zealand. There are a lot of challenges that that creates that perhaps are not created when those earthquakes happen in more populated areas. Of course there are some significant problems when they do happen there as well.I want to get on to the legislation that went through the House yesterday the Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Act 2016 Amendment Act and some of the legislation that is being passed in the next week or so in respect of this disaster because I think the House is to be commended and I think the Opposition parties are to be commended for the way they have worked to make this legislation possible and to get it moving as quickly as we can. One of the things we have learnt through a series I guess of floods earthquakes and other things in our country throughout the years is that the quicker we can move on these things the quicker the repairs happen and the quicker people feel better about their lives. These disasters are real and very testing but almost inevitably the affected businesses and communities eventually come out of them in a much stronger state than they were in when they went into them. I think it is really important that this House works together as it has done to continue to support those. I think it is to be commended and I think it is a great effort on behalf of everyone.This Government's prudence under finance Minister Bill English has allowed our country to show its resilience and given it the capacity to deal with whatever nature throws at us. Of course in New Zealand we have one of the largest coastlines. In New Zealand we are one of the most exposed countries. We have geothermal fields underneath us. We have major fault lines that run through just about three-quarters of New Zealand so we are always going to be at high risk from one sort of disaster or another whether it is a flood or an earthquake or whatever type of storm. It is really important that Governments have the opportunity and the ability to deal with those issues.The recent dairy downturn pointed out how important it is to look after people in our industry. I think when you look at the effect of the earthquake on places like Kaikōura which is obviously a significant tourist destination for New Zealand it is very important that we create the opportunity for them to look after the people who work for them because once you lose people out of an industry it is very difficult to replace them. They go off they get another job somewhere else—they even move out of areas. It is most important particularly when you have got a place as specific as Kaikōura which deals with thousands and thousands of tourists every year that we retain those people in that community. So the Government I think has moved very quickly to help with that and it is to be commended for that.The other thing I want to talk briefly about is what I would say is the unpredicted growth that has happened in New Zealand in the last few years. Clearly in 2008 when work was done on our future projections they were very different to what is going on now. The massive growth in jobs the large growth in population in New Zealand and consequently the large growth in our economy have meant the future looks very different to what it did in those early days. Although we might criticise some things that go on we might criticise the people we need this country has changed dramatically and I think it is really important that we recognise that as we go along.The next thing I want to talk briefly about is our international relationships. The Prime Minister the former trade Minister the current trade Minister Minister McCully and a number of other senior Cabinet Ministers who are all very well respected around the world enable us to punch well above our weight. I think that is very special. It is most important for New Zealand given that we are a trading nation that we have great relationships around the world and that we enable our industries to work very closely with those countries. I think our political leadership in New Zealand—and I think it covers the Parliament to some extent as well—is hugely positive for us and our relationships around the world are most important to us.The Government has increased the health spend to record levels. It has worked through Minister Tolley to deal with some of the challenges of Child Youth and Family. We are doing very well. Thank you.