Tolley AnneHon ANNE TOLLEY (National—East Coast): For those of us that live in the Bay of Plenty and those of us that live by the sea Whakaari is a part of who we are. When you get up in the morning you look out the window you have a look to see how much smoke's coming from it. It is just a part of our lives and it changes every day. It is an active volcano and she never lets you forget that. And there's no doubt that over the last few days in the Bay of Plenty we've come to realise how much of our being is related to that volcano. So when she let us know with no doubt on Monday afternoon that she was active it took us all by surprise and shocked us at the violence of it because she talks to us all the time. But this was different and so I want to take this opportunity today to acknowledge some outstanding people in the community who made extraordinary efforts at the risk of their own lives: a couple of helicopter pilots who knew that they were taking themselves into an area that was full of fumes full of ash and that their lives would be at risk but they went in anyway to make sure that they got as many people off that were they were able to do so. Skippers of a couple of the boats from White Island Tours and the passengers that were on one of those who had already left and were safe made the decision to go back in order to get people off. A helicopter pilot who was on the island said to his passengers We're going to jump in the sea. Follow me." and jumped in the sea. Only two of his passengers did that and of course the blast went over the top of their heads. The other two who were perhaps slower or were questioning it didn't and of course suffered the consequences. So those are extraordinary heroes and should be recognised as such. But there were many many more in the community that deserve to be acknowledged as heroes. There were the staff of White Island Tours themselves who helped those survivors off the boats had to deal with just horrific injuries to people and dealt with them with kindness and concern and care despite knowing that they had lost some of their own. The survivors on the boats who agreed to go back—but also then we're hearing stories of how they helped some of those that were in terrible terrible circumstances while they were being taken back to shore. The St Johns Ambulance Service people who gathered from all around the Bay of Plenty and all around the area and of course the Whakatāne Hospital staff. It has been described as a war zone—they are just a provincial hospital they do not have the specialists there that may well be used to seeing some of these injuries. The staff again dealt with those people with care and kindness and aroha—is the best way to describe it—and did an extraordinary job. The Whakatāne District Council and the staff there—unfortunately they are so used to dealing with emergencies they swung into action. In fact just a week ago they lodged with our civil defence a plan as to what to do if there had been a volcanic eruption and so they were able to swing straight into action. They're a well-oiled team having honed their skills through several disasters over the last decade. Lastly but by no means least we must acknowledge Ngāti Awa. What an amazing iwi they are. They just opened their arms opened their marae and they encircled visitors locals and families with that love and concern and service that only an iwi like that can bring. They deserve to be acknowledged for that. Mr Speaker sitting in the seat there today—I know that the Speaker can't be brought into the debate but so many of my colleagues across the House have expressed their concern for the three local MPs and for the people of the Bay of Plenty that have suffered—losing faith a little bit in that fantastic Whakaari and suffering through the tragedy—and I thank them all for that. Kia ora tātou."