SpeechHon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Minister of Justice): It is a pleasure to rise in the House today and I just want to acknowledge the comments made by my colleague Barbara Kuriger just across the aisle in respect of our friends our families those in our rural communities who are working out there tirelessly for our community whilst there are adverse weather events occurring up and down the country. Just before I came into the House this afternoon I was talking to a whole range of people from Tai Rāwhiti. We have the fourth significant adverse weather event that has absolutely impacted our critical infrastructure our roading infrastructure. I'm watching our coastline slip into the ocean right now. Just before I came into this House it was a privilege and a pleasure to be sitting with my colleague the Minister of Climate Change James Shaw. I want to acknowledge the work he has done for all of us every New Zealander and for working tirelessly to ensure that we as a nation are playing our part in the global events that are causing climate change and the implications we are seeing every single day in our communities.Right now on State Highway 35 there's a critical piece of infrastructure that connects Ōpōtiki comes all the way up around the coast and down through to Gisborne. There are three ways into Gisborne: the northern route the southern route through State Highway 2 which is our other piece of roading infrastructure that connects us to the major port in Tauranga. Right now State Highway 35 has got a block where we can't get heavy traffic through at Motu River bridge down by Te Kaha. We've got a block up in Te Puia where we can't get heavy traffic through; it's on the Gisborne side. This is a consequence of geological impacts a consequence of the changing environment that we're having to adapt to. I have to acknowledge my colleague the Minister of Transport Michael Wood. He and his team from Waka Kotahi are throwing down cash and doing what they can to patchwork these roads together but what we cannot do is predict where the weather gods are going to go and what we do know is that we are having to endure greater and greater impacts.So what has this Government done? This Government is tackling climate change. It's a key priority for our Government. We have made a target of zero emissions by 2050. We have introduced just this year an emissions reduction plan. That came with a big budget to help us transition and reduce the emissions that we as New Zealanders are creating. A lot of that of course is in transport but it's in a range of other reasons where there are critical emissions. We cannot afford to sit idly on our hands.I want to come back to what is happening in Tai Rāwhiti because my heart breaks day in and day out. I was talking to 60 people last night who are impacted—from the Crown we had every agency that had a direct relevant role to play. We were talking with heavy transport users of that road. That part of our economy is forestry—one in four households derives a direct benefit from forestry. Now with those two roads shut at Te Puia and shut there at Te Kaha we can't get our forestry products out. We can't get our horticultural produce out and that's on top of the global issues that we're contending with right now. Shanghai port has had its port doors shut for three months of this year. We're already in pretty challenging times right now. What it's requiring is everybody to do their little bit in the immediate patchwork stuff we have to fix up and I acknowledge my colleagues and their counterparts and every single person that came on to that call to hear about the struggles they were enduring. The real work has been the mid- to long-term planning and how we're adapting and building up our resilience how we are making sure that we're working alongside communities to adapt our behaviours.We've got such a critical part of our economy dependent on infrastructure that we can't be certain is going to be there in five or ten years' time. Like I say State Highway 35 has been taken out four times in a single year-long period. That is in complete contrast to what was happening a couple of years ago. It might have been taken out once or twice here and there but this is becoming more and more frequent. Climate change is right on our doorstep and I want to acknowledge Minister Shaw and this Government for tackling climate change on its head.