SpeechHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Minister of Customs): E ngā mate huhua o te motu kua wehe atu ki te pō haere haere moe mai rā. [To the many deceased across the country who have departed into the night farewell farewell take your rest.]I'm pleased to take a call on the Severe Weather Emergency Legislation Bill. But as is our custom it is important that we acknowledge those that have passed and I want to take the time to name those that have passed through the recent event that we've experienced in this country. I want to mention Ivy Collins two years old from Eskdale Valley; John Coates 64 from Te Karaka; Marie Greene 59 from Puketapu; George Luke father of the former Kiwi Issac Luke who died on the Taihape-Napier Road; Shona Wilson who passed away from Tūtira; Helen Street 86 from Onekawa; Brendan Miller 43 from Matapiro Road Hastings; Ian Mclauchlan 76 from Waiohiki; and Susane Caccioppoli 55 from Eskdale Valley; and on top of that the two Muriwai firefighters Dave Van Zwanenberg and Craig Stevens. My heartfelt acknowledgment to the whānau of those that have lost their lives during Cyclone Gabrielle.This legislation is an omnibus bill which addresses and is the first suite of legislative tools to help those most impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle. It involves amending several of the pieces of legislation that the Minister the Hon Kieran McAnulty acknowledged: the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act the Resource Manage Act (RMA) and of course the Local Government Act. There are two pieces on this bill that we are debating tonight that come under my purview as the Minister for Food Safety and those are changes to the Food Act and of course introducing some changes around the Food Regulations. And those two pieces as part of this bill is really to acknowledge those businesses who would normally register but due to being cut off cannot and this gives some guarantee whether you're in the Far North in Auckland in Te Tai Rāwhiti or Te Matau-a-Māui that you've got some protections as a business operator. So that's why I'm standing in support of this piece of legislation.But like many you know it is a time to reflect that Gabrielle was a massive event in the history of our country. And if we talk about where we were on the 13th which is where we got the notice for those that come from Te Matau-a-Māui—and of course as the MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti I go from Wainuiōmata right to the very top of the East Coast. And so the heart of Gabrielle really did impact the epicentre of my electorate which was from Wairarapa up to the very top of the East Coast. But I was here on the 13th because we were supposed to start back in Parliament on 14 February and of course the last flight out of Napier—I'm surprised our flight took off because it was not very good weather. Heoi anō we loaded and we got to Wellington. Early hours that morning I took a call from my sister. My sister is currently a resident in Awatoto and she only just got her power on three days ago. So for 28 days—and she's a resident of Napier—no power. These are the realities of many of our communities that come from Te Matau-a-Māui. But I took the phone call that people were evacuating from our papa kāinga which is not far from where I live—four families—and that they were going to my home. I live in a place called Whakatū which is in-between Hastings and Napier. I said without doubt take the whānau to wherever you can to help at this time. I was here about to start Parliament. I have an 85-year-old mum and she would have been beside herself knowing what to do to awhi and manaaki our whānau. So I took the decision to get in my electric car and all the way back to Hawke's Bay I was wondering why are you driving into a storm with an electric car? But that's what you do when you want to get home to loved ones; you take whatever you can and I never thought twice and I jumped in my electric vehicle and I stopped at the Pak'nSave at Porirua and I filled as much stores and supplies into my vehicle because I knew that where I was going there would have been a huge demand and a calamity as I discovered when I finally got there. The normal drive from Hawke's Bay to Wellington on a good day is about a 3½ hour drive for me. It took me most of the day. I left here at 8 o'clock and I pulled in at home at about 6.30 and I was greeted by a very wet whānau. We'd lost power we'd lost the phone and for a week we cooked off the barbecue. I was appreciative that we had the barbecue because that fed the families they had vacated to my whare. But that was a small price to pay considering the enormity of it for many whānau that were impacted by Gabrielle. So I do want to acknowledge those first responders. I want to acknowledge the three Navy SEALs" that came to the rescue of Chris Barber and his brother Philip from Eskdale. When these three Māori fellows turned up on the floatable to rescue Chris and his family he said to them "Are you the navy?" And they said "Nah we're just three Māori boys." So now he calls them his Navy SEALs. Of course there are many important heroes that tuned up to help. I want to also acknowledge Corporal Storm Harrison and Staff Sergeant Davey Forbes who were actually commanded to go to a place called Glengarry which is just west of Puketapu but they chose to actually go into Eskdale Valley and through that they ended up saving people. So in times of great tragedy the human body that I witnessed and saw firsthand on the ground showed that people put other people's lives before theirs. And it's important while we are debating this important piece of legislation that we don't lose sight of the human cost that this storm and this cyclone—and past cyclones and future cyclones—is going to be paid. But the resilience of the community—and I was based in Te Matau-a-Māui in Hawke's Bay. For 21 straight days that's where I based myself to ensure our region had what it needed because I couldn't get to Tai Rāwhiti because the roads were closed. So Hawke's Bay was where I based myself.And for all those communities that just rallied that took care of themselves—and I want to especially acknowledge the marae: the maraes of Waipatu of Te Aranga of Omāhu of Waiohiki of Tangoio of Pētane Moteo Pukemokimoki. They stood themselves up as welfare centres. They didn't ask for any money but just did what they needed to do. And they supported whānau large whānau large hapū—Māori non-Māori our Pacific whānau. They awhi-ed them all because they needed to be awhi-ed. And I want to acknowledge the enormous effort our marae played in this event. I want to also acknowledge the iwi around the country that loaded containers and ships of kai and resources and just got them to the areas that they needed to get to. And I want to mihi out to all those iwi that took the time to actually provide support and awhi to those areas that needed it the most. Of course our regional leaders and councils continue to do enormous work and of course our growers and farmers. I want to say that they have been hugely impacted and I know this bill will go some way practically for our growers our orchardists actually being able to burn trees that they can no longer use because there's too much silt and they cannot use them. So they need to ensure that the RMA enables them to do that. For our farmers getting stock out of isolated places where they've got no bridges and no roads and so they've got to cross stock either through waterways or in trucks pulled across waterways—that's why the changes in this legislation are needed because practically that's what our producers our great food producers from Hawke's Bay have asked us for. I'm pleased to say that we're taking on that plea and this bill will hopefully go some way to ensure that our growers and our producers of good food will be able to return back as quickly as they can through this legislation which is one of a suite of legislation that will be required to get our communities to get our nation back up on its feet. I commend this bill to the House."