9. Earthquake Kaikōura—Support for Small BusinessesJACINDA ARDERN (Labour) to the Minister for Economic DevelopmentEarthquake Kaikōura—Support for Small Businesses9. JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) to the Minister for Economic Development: When is he likely to announce a recovery or support package for small businesses in earthquake-affected areas?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Economic Development): Work is progressing at the moment on a business support package for businesses in the area most affected by the Kaikōura earthquakes. I am not able to give the member the exact time of when an announcement might be made but I would hope that I will be able to provide more details in the next day or so.Jacinda Ardern: Has he or his officials worked with small-business owners at all in the design of a small-business assistance package as was done in Christchurch?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: In the time available we have not worked with a significant number of small-business owners themselves but my officials have been talking to for example the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce. I myself have been talking with Winston Gray the Kaikōura mayor and my colleague Stuart Smith the MP for Kaikōura has also been having input on behalf of his constituents.Jacinda Ardern: Will the criteria for small-business support be similar to past packages or will he build in criteria that recognise that some businesses may not experience physical damage but will suffer significantly due to a drop in demand for their services?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: We are working on those details at the moment. I think the member raises an interesting point. The nature of the impact in Kaikōura is a bit different in some ways from what we have seen in past incidents and it is more affected by the relative isolation caused by the closure of State Highway 1 in both north and south directions. That will be one of the considerations obviously in terms of this package.Jacinda Ardern: At this stage is he looking to develop both a short-term package of relief but also a medium-term package of support to cater for the needs of businesses that count on a tourism high season to carry them through the year?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I am not in a position to give the exact details of the package today but obviously one of the considerations is for what period of time businesses will be in a position of not being able to have their normal tourism season. Unfortunately we do not have that knowledge to date although I would point out that the New Zealand Transport Agency—and I have had discussions with my colleague Minister Bridges—is talking in months rather than weeks in terms of the return of that road in both directions to a serviceable level.Jacinda Ardern: What work if any is he aware of being done to improve the communication links for small businesses in the area where mobile communications for instance are reportedly failing frequently?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: There is a range of work being done. Some of it has been in the public domain. But in terms of the attempt to use different additional networks for telecommunications to back up the loss of fibre-optic cable down the main trunk line I am pleased to report to the member that I was talking to the mayor earlier today and he said that telecommunications in the area have improved dramatically today. We will be getting further updates as to the likely reliability of that in the coming days. But we are seeing services not just telecommunications steadily resume and I think that is a tribute to all the people working on those infrastructure services for the people of Kaikōura and the surrounding districts.