Nash StuartCANTERBURY EARTHQUAKES INSURANCE TRIBUNAL BILLThird ReadingHon STUART NASH (Minister of Police) on behalf of the Minister for Courts: I move That the Canterbury Earthquakes Insurance Tribunal Bill be now read a third time. This bill will help support thousands of weary frustrated Cantabrians resolve their long-standing insurance claims. The people of Canterbury have been sidelined for too long and with this bill we are putting them back in the centre. I am proud to be moving this bill through the House and look forward to the tribunal being able to make real progress in resolving these issues. I'm pleased to see that there is majority support across the House for getting closure for these homeowners who have waited nearly nine years to resolve their insurance claims. I'd like to thank everyone who contributed towards this bill in particular the Governance and Administration Committee for their thorough work in suggesting improvements to the bill and the members of the public who took time to provide a submission on the bill for their valuable feedback. The bill will establish the Canterbury Earthquakes Insurance Tribunal. The tribunal will be a specialist judicial body that provides policyholders affected physically mentally emotionally and financially by the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes with a way to resolve their long-standing residential insurance claims with the Earthquake Commission (EQC) and insurers including Southern Response. The tribunal has been designed to provide fair speedy flexible and cost-effective services including a funded mediation service to Cantabrians with outstanding claims so that they can achieve some closure on what they've been through for almost nine years and move on with their lives.The tribunal will be homeowner-initiated and easy to access. This means the decision to access the tribunal will be in the homeowner's hands rather than driven by the insurers or the Earthquake Commission. There will be no application fee for the tribunal and policyholders do not need to bring a lawyer if they do not wish to. Policyholders may also bring a support person with them if the tribunal agrees—which is particularly important as we know from a Canterbury District Health Board wellbeing survey that policyholders with unresolved claims have experienced significantly more stress compared to those who have settled their claims or other Cantabrians. The tribunal has been developed as an alternative pathway specific to the Canterbury earthquakes' context emphasising speed flexibility cost-effectiveness and of course fairness. It is not intended to replace the courts or any other existing dispute resolution processes. The tribunal will provide people with another option to help resolve their claims in addition to all other existing options including courts private mediation and facilitation and the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service. Flexibility is the key element of the tribunal process. We know that the remaining insurance claims are complex and that the one-size-fits-all approach would be unhelpful. For this reason the bill allows resolution processes to be tailored to the needs of each claim. For example the tribunal process includes a fully funded mediation service; however after eight years parties may already have tried to settle their claims through other dispute resolution processes. Therefore the bill gives the tribunal the flexibility to decide on a case by case basis when mediation will be helpful and when it won't. The tribunal has a number of powers to help it consider claims. For example it will be able to appoint independent experts. These experts will play a key role in helping the tribunal to understand complex information and provide an independent view of competing expert opinions. The tribunal can convene conferences of experts to streamline evidence within claims. This can make for a more effective and efficient process and help avoid duplication of advice or evidence. The tribunal can also bring separate claims together to hear technical evidence on similar subject matter at a special hearing with all affected parties present provided all the parties to the claim agree. This means that a number of claims with similar technical issues can if the parties agree be resolved more efficiently. The tribunal will also be able to set time frames that parties must follow. This will help ensure that claims keep moving. Overall there are many benefits for policyholders to bring claims to the tribunal: homeowners are the ones that get to choose to use the tribunal and it is accessible for homeowners with no fees no requirements for lawyers and allows for support persons. The tribunal has powers to manage experts and technical evidence sufficiently and fairly for all parties and keep claims moving forward through the process. All of this will be carried out with the bill's purpose in mind: to be fair speedy flexible and cost-effective. Again I extend my sincere thanks to the Governance and Administration Committee and to everyone who submitted on the bill for their contributions. This Government promised that it would help those policyholders left behind for too long after the Canterbury earthquakes and I believe that this bill and this tribunal meet that promise. I am pleased with how we have developed this bill to work for Cantabrians and I am confident the tribunal will help those who need it. I commend this bill to the House.