Smith Nick; Tolley AnneHon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson): I want to take some time to address the incredibly serious fires that have ravaged my home community over the last week and the drought conditions that have become extreme in the Nelson and Tasman communities. The fire that got started last week is the largest fire in New Zealand for more than 60 years and I do say it is something of a miracle that there has not been loss of life and that only two homes have been lost. That is a huge tribute to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the hundreds of firefighters from not just my own community but all over New Zealand who have come to attack this fire.I also want to pay tribute to literally thousands of people who have opened their homes to those who have been evacuated; those who have provided food for the firefighters the army and the police; and the huge effort that has gone into the response whether it's been civil defence whether it's been the army or whether it has been our schools and others responding to this emergency. I would particularly say that Fire and Emergency New Zealand have learnt the lessons of the Port Hills and when this Parliament made the decision to merge our rural and urban fire services it resulted in a far more robust response and I commend both the officials and the parliamentarians who supported that reform that is paying dividends in my community.Myself and my colleague Maureen Pugh have been dealing with dozens of constituency cases and it is a reminder for our officials to just be a little bit flexible in these circumstances. Can I give an example: I was confronted with a situation on Monday where a parent of a special needs student—where the family had been compulsorily evacuated from Wakefield to a home in Nelson—was told that the normal special needs transport for their child could not be provided because it wasn't their normal home. Now when I spoke to the official responsible they were so focused on the regulations that they had lost their humanity and I thank the intervention of the director of the Ministry of Education for dealing with that.Equally there have been situations where I say the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) needs to be more responsive to farmers. It was insulting for MPI to tell farmers they didn't know about the welfare of their animals and that only they were sufficiently expert to be able to go on to those properties and can I thank the Ministry for Primary Industries for changing their approach after representations over the weekend. Let's be practical: it's the farmer who knows where the troughs are it's the farmer who knows where the feed is it's the farmer who knows where his animals are and it is the farmers who need access to those properties to ensure animal welfare.There are two important flow-on issues that I would like the Government to address. We've got hundreds of volunteer firefighters from Richmond from Stoke from Wakefield from Māpua from Golden Bay and from Tākaka who have been working in this fire under trying conditions for a week. Some of them are self-employed and their businesses have financially suffered. Some of them are with small employers and their businesses have been in touch and I would invite the Minister of Internal Affairs to give consideration to ensuring that every volunteer firefighter—they or their business—is not disadvantaged as a consequence of their tremendous efforts over the last week.There is also a further issue that needs to be addressed. Fire and Emergency New Zealand have quite appropriately created firebreaks across private property—bulldozed through people's fences through their driveways through their landscaping and through their crops. The Minister and MPI and no one from the Government are able to answer those property owners as to whether that will be repaired or whether there'll be any compensation. Let me make plain: Fire and Emergency New Zealand have been absolutely right to create those firebreaks but if damage has been done in the course of that to people's private property it is the Government's responsibility to put that right.Yesterday myself and Maureen Pugh asked the Government to consider in the same way that National did for the Christchurch and Kaikōura earthquakes providing financial support for some of the businesses that are just bleeding right now. Civil defence have used their powers to ban any agricultural contracting any forestry contracting and any civil contracting in my community because the district is a tinderbox which is appropriate but those businesses involving hundreds of employees are now in real difficulty. None of us know when the rain is coming. My plea to the Government for those businesses is to provide a similar block of support for those employers.I now want to turn to the issue of the drought because in financial terms that has now become so severe in my district that we are looking at close to $100 million of impact on my community. The council has announced today that we will be moving to stage four rationing. That means on the Waimea plains a 65 percent cut in the amount of water that they are able to use for their apples for the hops for the boysenberries and for other crops as well as for major vegetable producers. I want to say to the House that these are the worst drought conditions on record in the Nelson community. We've got large businesses like MG Marketing that employ nearly 200 people whose jobs are now at risk as a consequence of the economic impact of this severe drought.The last time I gave a speech in this House was last year in securing the support of this Parliament for the Waimea Community Dam. I challenge the Greens to come to my community to see the scale of that drought and to see why that dam is absolutely essential to responding to this sort of issue. But my plea again to the Government is to consider the extent of that drought and the financial support. I note that the Prime Minister has announced a $20000 contribution for the Rural Support Trust and $50000 for the Mayoral Relief Fund. With due respect those sums of $20000 and $50000 do not cut the mustard. This is a Government that has provided an extra $700 million in aid internationally. This is a Government that's provided $10 million for Tonga last year $1.5 million for Indonesia and over $9 million for Papua New Guinea.Charity begins at home. Businesses in my home community are bleeding. The Government needs to provide the support for my community to be able to get through the damage that is coming from the fire and the impact on those rural contracting businesses as well as the impact that is coming from the drought. I would invite members of the Government in any of the parties to come to Nelson and to see first-hand the extent of the issues that our community is now facing. Whether it be Mayor Richard Kempthorne our mayor in Nelson Rachel Reese or whether it's our economic development agency or our chamber of commerce there is a universal plea from our community for the Government to recognise the scale of the challenge that is facing our community.I don't know whether the rain is two weeks away four weeks away or six weeks away but what I do know is that the level of stress and anxiety in my community has never been so high. We have never in our history had 3000 people evacuated. We've never had the level of financial stress or the extent of the drought or the scale of this fire. Today is a day on which we as a Parliament need to back my Nelson-Tasman community and give it the support it needs to get through this environmental and climate crisis.DEPUTY SPEAKER: I understand this is a split call—two five-minute calls.