Salesa JennyHon JENNY SALESA (Associate Minister of Health): Thank you very much Madam Speaker for this opportunity to debate the Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill. I'd like to first of all congratulate and thank the Minister of Health the Hon David Clark for his leadership and his work on ensuring that we address this legislation and ensure that it gets passed through the House. I'd also like to commend members of the Opposition for working collaboratively with us to ensure that this is a bill that goes through the House. I'd also like to thank the Health Committee for all of the work that they did as well as the submitters that came through with submissions. As you've heard Madam Speaker addressed by both the Minister of Health and the former Minister of Health the reason why we're debating this bill is because of Havelock North. In August of 2016 we know from the inquiry report that at least 5500 people fell ill because of the water that they drink. These are people that live—and I'm told the total population around the area is about 14000 people. But we know from the inquiry that this was a systematic way and you don't expect that when you turn on the water that when you drink from the tap whether you're a child or whether you're an elderly person you would then fall ill just from doing something that you do every day—drinking water from the tap.The bottom line of what this legislation addresses is public safety. People expect that when they drink water from the tap it is indeed safe and this is a reasonable expectation that each New Zealander should have. We do not want to see this many people fall ill just from drinking tap water. We most certainly do not want to see at least three people from the inquiry report who died because of the water that they drank and we know that there's possibly a fourth life as well that was lost because of this water. We know also from the inquiry that 45 people were hospitalised. Now in reading some of the report we know that especially those who were seniors especially those who were frail and our very very young kids—some of them were in hospital for many many days. This is not something that we should continue to see across—but one of the things that was quite shocking to me reading some of the report is that I would have expected that after Havelock North in August 2016 you would have seen improvements in the water quality. But what the report actually told us is that we didn't see major improvements. In fact what they saw was that we need to do so much more which is why we need this particular legislation to go through.One of the things that also comes to mind and this is from one of the GPs at Havelock North was when he's quoted as saying that the day that people started to be admitted not only to his clinic but to hospital was one of the worst days of his life as a doctor because he did not expect to see that many people especially young people coming through only because of the water quality. But the reality is that we need to ensure that our water is indeed safe. What the report also found is that our local councils should have actually had much more in terms of ensuring that the water quality is monitored so much better. There are a lot of failings that this legislation will absolutely address.New Zealanders expect safe drinking-water. This bill is an important step towards ensuring that we have ongoing improvements and have a framework to ensure that our drinking water is safe right throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. I'd like to again thank each and every member who sent through a submission to this bill but I also would like to send my condolences to all the families who were affected in Havelock North. The majority of the submitters that came through to the Health Committee were really really supportive of what is proposed by this bill and it is indeed heartening to see that all of us around this House when there is something as important as ensuring that our water is safe when there is something as important as ensuring that people's lives are saved we can actually work together and agree on moving forward in an efficient way.As the Minister of Health addressed one of the things that this legislation allows is when we need to address the safety of our water we don't necessarily have to put through and wait for three years and then another two years to Gazette the notice—that when the standard of water quality needs to be improved it can go through in a much more efficient way. There was also very clear support from a lot of our submitters to clause 4 which deletes the unnecessary references to operators of ports as well as airports.One of the things also that came out of the inquiry is the fact that so much of the water quality around Havelock North and around other parts in Aotearoa New Zealand—we have water bores that are so close to sewerage areas. One of the things I recall reading was from one of the water scientists that gave testimony during the Havelock North inquiry and this is what he had to say—and I quote—I have to say I've never seen drinking water bores that close to sewerage assets before even in developing countries […] I have seen them sometimes relatively close […] but actual live pressured sewerage assets literally on the same pad I've never seen that before." This is something that we as a country need to address and ensure that our water quality is safe and that when there are water bores that are so close to sewerage areas we have a framework in place to ensure that the water they sell that comes out of those is indeed safe to drink.The final inquiry's report also found that there was a lot of complacency at all different levels. This is also something that this particular bill is going to address moving forward because we must ensure that we have a systematic way of ensuring that our water quality is indeed safe for all of us in this country. Thank you Madam Speaker."