Salesa JennyANNA LORCK (Labour—Tukituki) (remote): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise as a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee in support of the second reading of the Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. I'd like to acknowledge not only the member whose name is on the bill Nicola Willis but also my colleague Helen White who has in my opinion picked up much of the real work in making this a better bill. She has helped us get to the result we see in the second reading today. I'm looking forward to hearing Helen White speak on the many parts she has driven as a city-based Auckland MP with many of her constituents living in apartments and coming to talk to her about their issues.This has been a very large piece of work. When it started at our committee it started with our member Nicola Willis who was on the Finance and Expenditure Committee (FEC) at the time. Then she left and then we had Chris Luxon and then he left and then came along Simon Bridges but only for short time and now he's left too. I would like to wish him very well in his future.Now the member whose name was on the bill is coming back and I do wish her well in her new role as well today. She may also be returning to our great select committee which is chaired by Duncan Webb who has highlighted some of the real challenges that this better bill [Audio failure]I would also like to acknowledge my colleague Barbara Edmonds who chaired the [Audio failure] through all-day submissions from Auckland. It was an excellent and efficient day I must say.As a regional MP I have to admit that when I first started working on this bill I was not as passionate as many of the city-based MPs and much of this has been brought about by these multi-storey - plus high apartment buildings in Auckland and other cities. So it was much to my delight when I found we would be hearing from a submitter from my own electorate of Tukituki from Frimley Lifestyle Village in Hastings. The submission aims to highlight a villa; a single-storey village that comprises 66 villas made up of 23 duplexes and 20 single units. We heard that in a development like Frimley Village there are no common spaces like lifts or stairs and they raised specific concerns including the requirement for a body corporate manager to engage professional experts and to have a long-term maintenance fund.They argued that they had already made the longstanding decision to retain in the village all functions of managing the development. Now that's not to say that they might not if they choose engage professional assistance to help from time to time. The same could be said as they raised in their submission about having the unnecessary costs of having say a professional surveyor or engineer. Now I'm pleased to say as the local MP on the FEC that had this submission they were listened to. I have also been able to follow up with the chair of Frimley Village actually today when I spoke to Trevor Helson and thanked him for making the submission. He had actually been able to make strong submissions that we listened to.Now in the bill we have in the second reading an opt-out provision which would allow flexibility to manage their own affairs as they see fit.In cities like Hastings where we are seeing more density of housing going up not out as part of the place-based housing being proposed I believe there will be situations where this amended bill will have important protections for unit title holders. And we will be seeing this happen more in the regions. So as a provincial MP I am pleased to have participated in this legislative process and how relevant it will be for growing regions like Hawke's Bay in the future.The main purposes of the bill being introduced tonight in the second reading are: improving information available to prospective unit buyers strengthening body corporate governance arrangements increasing the standards of the body corporate managers ensuring that unit title development adequately plans for and funds long-term maintenance projects and strengthens the dispute resolution process.Housing is a huge issue for everybody. We want to have great homes a range of different living options and a modern bright future for everyone. I am very proud to speak to this and to acknowledge Frimley Lifestyle Village in my speech tonight. I commend the bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Before I call the next speaker I'd like to remind all the members in the House to keep the interjections and the noise down. One of the reasons why there was a period of time when we couldn't hear the member who was giving her speech via Zoom was because it was picking up the noise from this House.