SpeechHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green): Thank you Madam Speaker. This won't be a long call on this Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill which the Green Party is very pleased to support and will endeavour to participate constructively in the Governance and Administration Committee during this short process. As others have noted this bill is about flexibility and that's because there are so many unknowns in terms of the recovery phase and what is needed. The Green Party has always been concerned about Henry VIII" powers which allow a Minister to make recommendations to the Executive Council Governor-General and to change legislation through that process rather than bringing it to the House and of course through the Order in Council process there is no scrutiny by the select committee. There's no ability to make changes through the public submission and the select committee processes. So it is a significant increase in executive power having these Orders in Council. This bill allows Orders in Council for some 30 pieces of primary legislation and so that is a major power. But as the Minister has noted there are a number of safeguards and this Severe Weather Events Recovery Review Panel with up to 12 members with a range of knowledge from local government law environmental protection climate change local Māori or local community interests is an important one of those safeguards. I was interested in Mr Brownlee's comments but noted in reading the bill that clause 15 provides for this 12-member panel to act by division with at least three members plus the convenor. Given that this bill is very different from Canterbury and Hurunui/Kaikōura in the huge area that's been affected by Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary Weekend storm there is a potential advantage in having divisions of the panel focus on the Orders in Council that may be needed for particular geographic areas. The damage inflicted by forestry slash in Tairāwhiti is different from the damage in Auckland so there may well be an advantage in having a smaller panel look at specific Orders in Council that relate to one particular region because with the Hurunui/Kaikōura one of the Orders in Council there was around the recovery and rebuild after huge rock fall and damage to the State Highway 1 roading corridor and the rail corridor. So there was a specific Order in Council around that which provided for truncated Resource Management Act processes. Similarly in Canterbury there was an Order in Council in relation to the big reclamation that now has a whole lot of cars on it second-hand cars in the port of Lyttelton and that went through a very truncated process where there wasn't a lot of opportunity for public comment. So that's one advantage that I think there may be of the 12-member panel being able to operate by division. The bill covers 37 council areas so the issues that are coming up because of the scale of the severe weather events the damage that was inflicted the sheer quantity of infrastructure that's been damaged from roads to waste water to drinking water forestry slash—the issues are huge. So we recognise the need for a number of principal Acts to be amended by Order in Council. One of the other safeguards that I think is important that Mr Brownlee did have concerns with which the Greens think is important is this provision for not only the review panel to provide comment back to the Minister on the draft order but also for there to be consultation by the Minister with any organisations or others in the community that the Minister deems appropriate and that are relevant to the proposed effect of the order. That didn't happen so much in Canterbury and I think this commitment to community consultation limited though it is—and three days will make it very challenging for iwi and small community groups to respond—does highlight that basic principle of recovery "Nothing about us without us." that the community has got to be engaged so that they feel that they are shaping their destiny and not having it imposed from above. Another safeguard is the requirement for the Minister to give draft reasons when they are putting out the draft Order in Council to the review panel and also to provide final reasons and to have these published on a website and noted in Parliament when the Order in Council is finalised. That helps with the transparency around why the order has been done. I note too that the bill also amends the Local Government Act and the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act and that's to relax the special consultative procedures. That only applies I think till September this year so it just relates to the long-term plan preparation this year but allows a bit more flexibility. The AuditorGeneral doesn't necessarily have to provide a report and I think there are also some changes around statement of intent there—a bit of a relaxation of the deadlines there. The Green Party does have some concerns about the bill. The ability for Orders in Council to be retrospective back to Cyclone Hale on 8 January—because it's very unusual for legislation to be retrospective I will be very interested in submissions on this point because there may well have been remedial and other action taken immediately after the weather event but that retrospectivity is very unusual. I guess others have mentioned the sunset clauses but there is also an ability in the bill for an Order in Council to add to the principal Acts which subsequent Orders in Council may amend without it coming back to the Parliament. I would also be interested in submissions particularly from the Law Society constitutional lawyers and others about that provision. But there are some safeguards there that the Minister has got to be satisfied it's necessary or desirable and there has to be the unanimous or near unanimous support of party leaders in Parliament. I would like to agree with Mr Brownlee on the cross-party forum. That I think was very useful in the Hurunui/Kaikōura legislation. And we really appreciated then the Minister providing draft Orders in Council to the Green Party and allowing for comment back on those. I think many eyes in a short time can always improve legislation. So I would hope that Minister McAnulty does consider the opportunity for a cross-party forum and I hope that that is something that the select committee can also look at. The Green Party is happy to support the bill."