O'Connor GregGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): I'd just like to start by congratulating the member Maureen Pugh for having this drawn out of the ballot. I know she's from a longstanding West Coast family and this is the type of thing when one does grow up on the West Coast as have I—in fact my family have been involved in initially gold subsequently coalmining and ultimately in timber recovery through the Īnangahua area and through much of the northern part of the Buller. So foresting is very much—like the member—part of my DNA. However I also grew up as a lad on the West Coast doing a lot of hunting and some of the best hunting areas of course were the areas that had been well forested where you had the access of timber trails going and often where a heck of a lot of forest had been knocked down to get to one very nice-looking rimu or even tōtara in there and the damage that had been done—as I say it was great for us as young blokes heading up there with our old World War II three-os looking to get access to some very nice venison. But looking back on it that very same access—and I think of up around the Ōparara area. When you get to Karamea and someone tells you there's a very good place to go and see about an hour's drive from Karamea you think Where can you drive for an hour from Karamea?" but if you ever get a chance to go in and see the Ōparara arches a wonderful area. If you were to have a look in there and see what happens as a result of the afforestation in there probably you'd say it's a good thing because you wouldn't get an access there had it not been for those good timber trails in there. That really comes to the point that getting the timber out is not that easy a job and in doing so from my experience of what I've seen over the years there's considerable damage caused. This is where I can see where this bill will actually fall down to a large degree. I know it is not West Coast - specific and I can see that the bill looking through it clearly is designed for weather events throughout New Zealand. Not knowing other parts of New Zealand quite as intimately although I do have to say I currently live out in the Ōhāriu Valley area of my electorate—a beautiful area. Most of you get to fly over it as you come into Wellington into a southerly. One thing if you look out the plane window you'll see is there are not too many trees out there. Mr Luxon I see you're smiling there. You will have done that route many times. From having grown up on the West Coast like the member over there I've grown to understand that we do need trees and I know what trees add to our ambience add to our lives and I certainly would like to see a lot more trees around. So particularly in an area where we do end up with so little land left to actually—there's so much of it we can drive basically from Wellington to Auckland virtually going through several of the many farms owned by the member opposite and you'll see there's not too many trees left on too many of them.So as a society and in the time we've come to we've just really got to come to the stage where we do understand that trees re-afforestation is a very very important part of a legacy which we do want to leave to the next generations. So again I'm not standing here I don't carry—I'm Catholic. I can be guilty about many things but I don't need to be guilty about my ancestors in the forest and what they did. They did what they do on the West Coast that extractive industry that's been part of the West Coast for many many generations. But time does march on and really what I would say is that in a time—and I think some of the previous speakers have talked about it. We are in a sort of an era of probably re-afforestation whether it be re-afforestation—just last night I was listening to a briefing from foresters who are looking at getting that balance right between exotic trees and native trees. So I think we're sort of in an era where re-afforestation is probably the best legacy we'll leave for those that do come after us. So when I look at this bill it probably does sort of go against some of that whole I suppose philosophy we have now in our life when our generation will be looked at as a time we sort of reversed that trend of extractive industry and of making sure that we use trees that are going to be an important part of getting our world back in order for our grandkids. Thank you Madam Speaker."