O'Rourke DenisDENIS O'ROURKE (NZ First): The Kaikōura coast especially from Kaikōura itself to Cape Campbell is one of the fastest mountain-building regions in the world. Although that makes the area extremely beautiful it also means that earthquakes are going to happen all too often and therefore this Parliament needs to be ready to take appropriate action to deal with the effects of those earthquakes effectively and quickly. When Parliament gives special or extraordinary powers to the executive as we are asked to do in this case particular care is needed to define and to limit those powers especially when the time for consultation is so short and especially when public consultation is so truncated. We members of Parliament get only one go at this and so we do have to get it right. I am grateful to all the members of the select committee who have worked so hard to do just that. The checks and balances—necessary but extraordinary in this case—have to be effective and clear while at the same time providing adequate powers to address all the needs that there are. So it is a very good thing that we should at this stage review once again what those limitations on those powers are. The powers in the bill are extraordinary because they allow a Minister to exempt modify or extend the provisions of a number of enactments—in fact over 40 of them and across what must be close to a third of the whole country so they are indeed extraordinary. But the most important of the limitations is that the order must be necessary or desirable. Nobody can say exactly what that means but it is nevertheless a very important principle upon which this bill is really built. The Local Government and Environment Committee has paid particular attention to that and that has been a good thing. Another limit is that the powers given must not be broader than is reasonably necessary. That is the sort of thing that can be challenged in court should the Minister with those Orders in Council go too far. However I think the main check is through the advisory and review panel. The committee paid a lot of attention to who can be appointed and why and the important thing here is that they are appointed for the skills and the expertise they have not to represent one particular group or one particular area or another. It is important to remember that. Their advice and their recommendations to the Minister must be had regard to properly and fully by the Minister who has to give reasons. So that is an important check and balance. Another is the fact that the draft of any order has to go to the Regulations Review Committee or if it is not possible to get that together in any particular circumstance then at least to the leader of each of the political parties represented in Parliament. Another important thing is that there is an engagement process provided for in the bill for each Order in Council that might be made. I think that is particularly important because it relates not only to substantially affected persons but also to the public generally. As we saw in the Canterbury earthquakes unless that opportunity is given people feel disengaged from the process and tend to not have much confidence in it. So it is good to see that that is there. I am also pleased to see that the changes that were made to the bill during the select committee process now mean that no new districts or regions and no new Acts can be added at least unless there is a near-consensus by all party leaders to do that. In addition to the list of all of the checks and balances that I have referred to this legislation of course has very limited duration. The orders under it will be revoked on 31 March 2018 although there is provision for some orders such as those relating to local government to rating valuation and to local government financial plans to get longer and that is appropriate. So overall we in New Zealand First having taken part in the scrutiny of this bill to make sure that the checks and balances are adequate are actually fully satisfied that that is the case. We accept that this is absolutely necessary legislation but we are also satisfied with the checks and balances that are in it. I also want to at this stage add some thoughts as other members have about generic legislation. I actually do not agree that we should discount the possibility of in the relatively near future considering some generic legislation because as I have already said the kinds of events that have given rise to this legislation do actually happen quite commonly in New Zealand because of the physical nature of the country that we live in. I believe that we could consider some high-level generic legislation without the sort of detail that we have got in this particular bill or that is in the Canterbury earthquake legislation. It could be something along the lines of a template so that there would be some guidance for future events and for future legislation that is necessary in response to those events. It could be a single piece of legislation rather than the three pieces of legislation that have been necessary in this case. I think it would tend to speed up the process and you would also still need a special bill so the generic legislation would be in addition to not instead of the sort of legislation you would have here but it would guide that legislation. It would make it simpler and easier to pass. So I think that there is still some scope for us to look for the possibility in the future of generic legislation. I think it would still be useful. I think it would still speed things up. Yes a special bill to deal with a particular event that has occurred tailored to the area which it would apply to would still be needed but then the more limited legislation would be easier to pass and an easier thing to do altogether. After all we should not have to reinvent the wheel every time there is a major event. We should be able to learn from this event and from the Canterbury earthquakes legislation and incorporate the ideas behind that legislation into a piece of generic legislation that could be the underpinning legislation for future events. So I would like to see that happen in the not too distant future.Lastly I want to say this: after a very good process we now have a bill that the people of New Zealand can be confident is going to provide for the Orders in Council that are going to be necessary but at the same time they can be satisfied that there are appropriate checks and balances and limitations on the executive powers which are extraordinary and are given in this bill. It remains for me now only to say on behalf of New Zealand First that we wish all of the people of the affected areas the speediest possible recovery. I hope that this legislation will help them do just that.