Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity to take a call on the Natural Hazards Insurance Bill. I just want to acknowledge all of the people who've spoken before me particularly those who have a far more personal connection to the issues behind this piece of legislation and particularly colleagues who are from the Canterbury region who have been at the forefront of some of these issues in New Zealand over recent years.I think this is an incredibly important piece of legislation to many New Zealanders and I'm pleased that the National Party is supporting this piece of legislation because it is critical that after such significant events such as what did take place during the Christchurch earthquakes the impact of it is assessed and the systems and processes and the insurances which New Zealanders have in place and the Government has in place are assessed to ensure that that is all happening and all taking place in a way which actually means that New Zealanders are looked after through that process.I do just want to acknowledge the report done by Dame Silvia Cartwright and the 70 recommendations which have helped to feed into this particular piece of legislation and the work that has been done to ensure that the voices of New Zealanders who did have to go through incredibly challenging and difficult processes following the earthquakes to be able to be heard—to be able to get their claims assessed and to be able to ensure that they could get on with their lives following those incredibly serious events with their homes damaged lives disrupted and then being able to effectively rebuild or have their homes fixed and being able to navigate that system. All of these things are things that we don't hope anyone has to go through. These are not the types of situations we wish upon people but unfortunately this is part of living in a country which has many natural disasters and which has many risks that we have to manage and we have to deal with. This piece of legislation makes a number of very important changes not only updating the legislation the name of the earthquake agency to the natural hazards entity but also about ensuring that it has a wider scope over the types of activity or natural events which take place and which it is able to respond to about ensuring that there are improved systems and processes for New Zealanders as they go through this process to be able to make their claims have those claims assessed and for them to be effectively put more towards the centre of that process. I note that a large part of this legislation deals with how complaints are managed about having a code of insured persons' rights and having complaint procedures and then dispute resolution to ensure that those processes are managed in a timely manner. But there will be a number of areas which I think will be of interest to the committee. I won't be on that particular committee. I'm sure the Finance and Expenditure Committee will be—Andrew Bayly: The august body!SIMEON BROWN: —doing a lot of work. What was that Mr Andrew Bayly?Andrew Bayly: August.SIMEON BROWN: August body. They'll be doing some great work. And in terms of looking into the issues I think a number of these issues have already been traversed in the debate. But in terms of the issues of multi-level buildings bodies corporate and how that is managed I think as we see more intensification in our cities more multi-level buildings being built more New Zealanders are choosing to live in these types of buildings that that becomes a bigger issue in a number of areas. And obviously it's not just this bill which is addressing that issue but the unit titles reform legislation which is making changes there as well. It is an important issue for many New Zealanders to ensure their rights and that they also have their property rights protected if in the case of a natural hazard they're requiring some form of assessment and pay out—and how that is managed to ensure that they have their rights protected.So the final point I'd make is around the $300000 limit which has been increased. I'm pleased that there are review mechanisms but I understand that is every five years. The point has been made I think yesterday by my colleague the Hon Gerry Brownlee around the rapidly increasing costs in building materials and other issues to do with the cost of building. That is something which needs to be I think considered in more detail by the committee because these are real issues facing New Zealanders and what the adequate amount will be—and then of course what that means in terms of the impact it has on people's levies. There will be some parts of the country which will have improved levies; there will be other parts which will go backwards. Having a good understanding about how those costs are shared across New Zealand I think is something which needs to be looked at in detail to ensure that that fair balance is being struck.So Madam Speaker thank you for the opportunity to speak on this bill and I commend it to the House.