Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. E ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. I am happy to join in the chorus of support in the third reading of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Act 2016 Amendment Bill. The bill brings forward by 6 months the commencement of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Act 2016 I heard the Minister say it is to 28 November when this bill received its Royal assent. What the second part the bill attempts is to add a new power to the Act so that during states of emergency or transition periods building owners can be required to carry out assessments of structures to determine whether they are sound and to provide a copy of these. This can also apply to situations like a flood as well as an earthquake.On 14 November I was not in Wellington but I did feel the earthquake in Hawke's Bay. But like many members in this House I have an apartment here in Wellington and it received quite a bit of damage. My university-age son was in the apartment at the time. I took a call just after midnight. This son of mine is no daisy; he is about 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 100 kilograms. The fear in his voice—he is probably going to get me if he hears me talking about him but seriously he was very very frightened. He had never been in an earthquake. All I remember saying to him was to get out of the apartment—get out of the apartment.So that was Monday the 14th. On Tuesday 15 November as we all do we returned to Wellington and of course my son completely said I am out of here Mum. I am not coming back to your apartment." and I do not think he has returned since. Having said that the issue around making sure that I was going back to a safe apartment was critical in my mind. I want to share with the House that I instigated calling the property manager from whom I had rented the place notwithstanding that it was only a 3-year-old apartment building. So I started the process of ensuring that it was safe before I went in. I can tell you that on Monday I could not get hold of anybody from this particular property management company and I finally got hold of them on Tuesday. We were here in Parliament obviously right until 10 p.m. so I did not get back to the apartment until 10.30 p.m. and as I expected literally every piece of glass and cutlery in my kitchen was on the ground. I guess I was more devastated by the fact that there was a bottle of red on the floor. Of course we all—Hon Member: Hawke's Bay—Hawke's Bay.MEKA WHAITIRI: It was a very good Hawke's Bay merlot I must say but I think I was more devastated by that than anything else. The point I am making is that this bill has been born out of disaster and we have all acknowledged that in terms of this earthquake. Many tenants and building operators are looking for something that gives some surety that buildings are safe post-earthquake. So I do want to commend the Minister for bringing this bill to the House and adding that particular assurance to many tenants around Wellington in particular.Of course we acknowledge the people of Kaikōura. We have acknowledged everybody involved in bringing this bill here and can I say that we acknowledge all the people in Kaikōura and all the people helping that community and the Wellington community to get back on their feet.Can I say that in disasters come good things. One of the good things I believe this bill brings is an opportunity for members of this House in terms of their pronunciation of Kaikōura. Tonight I have listened to very varied versions of Kaikōura—"Kaikōura" not "Kaikura" and doing a bit more when it comes to pronouncing our Māori language is probably something all of us in the House can reflect on. I just want to leave that as a gesture of goodwill to members—we should work a bit harder because people do look to this House when it comes to our languages in this country and we have more than one. Like all members in this House I commend this bill to the House."