Radhakrishnan PriyancaHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector): Thank you Madam Speaker. I too want to begin my contribution in the House today by acknowledging the devastation that so many across Aotearoa New Zealand have experienced as a result of the recent weather events—both the Auckland floods and also Cyclone Gabrielle. My thoughts are particularly with those who have lost loved ones and also with those whose homes and businesses have been significantly affected.Can I also add my thanks to those who have been supporting our families our individuals our communities who have been in need those who have been at the coalface of this support—first responders community organisations social services and individuals. I know just in my own electorate of Maungakiekie families who opened their doors to others that had lost their homes in the floods. There are many mosques temples churches that have gone out of their way to provide food parcels and other support to communities in need. Can I thank everyone who's played a part in this support.I also echo the Prime Minister's comments that we will stand by New Zealanders as we recover that we will back Kiwis to build back better smarter stronger. Central government's role is to support a locally led response and we've seen examples of that working time and again across New Zealand. It is to support all New Zealanders and to build resilience for the future as well and that's why we're investing in strong public services for all New Zealanders.The challenges we face are complex and for some of our communities they experience unique challenges and they experience them disproportionately as well. That's why our Government has been working to make the system more accessible more inclusive and more equitable so that everyone's able to access the service and the supports that they need when they need it and in ways that are appropriate for them.One in four New Zealanders identify as disabled. The establishment of Whaikaha the Ministry of Disabled People has been long called for by disabled people. It leads and it coordinates disability policy across Government including improving outcomes for disabled people in some key issues some core bread and butter areas like employment education housing and health. Whaikaha is the start of the transformational change that our disabled community has been calling for. They've been working closely on the ground with disabled people tangata whaikaha and their whānau disabled organisation support services and others to ensure that they have their finger on the pulse as things unfold on the ground during the cyclone and the floods to identify issues and concerns escalate that through the emergency management processes and the National Emergency Management Agency other Government agencies and provide platforms so that organisations can share that information with each other as well. That's exactly what the Ministry for Ethnic Communities has been doing as well ensuring that those issues and concerns raised at grassroots—flax-roots—level are escalated across agencies and that is the benefit of the ministries that our Government has recently stood up ensuring disability representation at Civil Defence Centres ensuring that they are accessible and that necessary equipment and services like transportation that many rely on are actually provided to those who need it. We're ensuring as a Government that community support packages include specific funding for our disabled communities and work that we're doing now is to ensure that those support packages both to community organisations and businesses are actually accessible to those within our disabled community within our ethnic communities so that they know in ways that are relevant to them what support they can access and how to access that support. That's what we are doing to ensure that all our communities benefit from the support that the Government can provide at a community level so that we keep all New Zealanders safe at this time and so that we build resilience within our communities as well.I know that it's been an incredibly challenging time for many across Aotearoa New Zealand but we are absolutely focused on the basics to ensure that we have strong foundations to support these different communities in ways that are relevant to them. It won't be easy in the months to come but this is a Government that has and always will work for all New Zealanders.