Faafoi KrisHon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Broadcasting Communications and Digital Media): Kia orana Madam Assistant Speaker. It's always a pleasure to follow that member Maggie Barry because on this side of the House we like to call her Teacher Only Day"—whenever she speaks there's no class.I'd like to wish all the parliamentarians in this House a happy New Year especially that member. But can I begin my contribution and spend quite a bit of time on thanking the effort of the many many people who have been—for the last week and a bit—fighting the fire in the Tasman area. As the Minister of Civil Defence I have visited the area numerous times and have been witness to a massive effort and spirit in and around that effort. I want to first of all acknowledge both mayors in the region: the Mayor of Tasman District Richard Kempthorne and the Mayor of Nelson—sorry; it's coming—Rachel Reese. Rachel Reese—sorry Rachel if you're watching.Since the fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon last week it grew to an epic proportion similar to that of the Port Hills fire. The initial effort to control the fire was huge so I also want to pay tribute to the men and women both local and national of Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ). I will point out a number of people: first of all controllers John Sutton and Ian Reade who have led the fire effort but also Grant Haywood—who is the local manager of FENZ I understand—who have been putting in a massive effort to lead the fire fight itself.On Wednesday morning of last week the local state of emergency was declared by the joint mayors of the area. Since then the emergency operations centre has been standing out 24/7. I want to acknowledge the efforts of Roger Ball who has been the main controller in the emergency operations centre and the team that has been pulled from not just the Tasman and Nelson area but civil defence and emergency management teams around New Zealand to make sure that the communities that have been affected by that fire have been well looked after. There have been evacuations obviously in and around Pigeon Valley Eves Valley and Teapot Valley and some of those residents haven't been able to return to their homes. We thank them for their patience. They have been out of their homes for over a week and we are trying everything we can to make sure that they can have some limited access to their homes but while the fire risk remains as it is the civil defence controllers have seen fit to keep that evacuation in place.To the Wakefield evacuation—not an easy feat around the logistics of moving 2500 people out of that village. So first of all thanks for the cooperation of the people of Wakefield who are thankfully now back in their homes but also thanks to the authorities who made that happen in an orderly and safe fashion. So to the civil defence team to the police team to the defence force team who were leading that evacuation of Wakefield when the fire was becoming a risk to that village—thank you very much.I spent yesterday in Wakefield. I dropped into the Four Square where Phil the manager said that things are slowly returning to normal. I also had the pleasure of going to the Wakefield volunteer fire station where one of the managers there John showed us around. The effort is still continuing to make sure that the fire can be fought. The fire is not as visible as it has been in the last week as of yesterday and I understand today but to people who are watching that closely and obviously to the residents there is still a lot of hard work to be done to put that fire out. We can't see it; a lot of it is underground because it is a vegetation fire but there is still a hell of a lot of work that will need to go into that area to make sure that the fire is put out and the community continues to stay safe.So to wrap that part of the speech up again huge thanks to all those volunteers all those professionals within the civil defence and emergency management sector FENZ other agencies and the Ministry for Primary Industries—notably because of the big animal welfare issues in the area—who have slugged their guts out and will continue to do so to make sure that that community is safe.Back to politics. Can I acknowledge the speech that was made by the Prime Minister yesterday. While we have set out to make sure that we deliver this year I'm actually very proud of the delivery that we made last year. In the important areas of health housing and education we are making a massive improvement because of the massive need in those areas for the communities of New Zealand.I want to talk a little bit about my own community because on Friday morning I'm going to wake up very early and go to a piece of land on Castor Crescent that has been barren for the last nine years but nine years ago did have some Housing New Zealand properties on it. While the previous Government was in office for about 7½ to 8 years that land remained barren but on Friday morning we're going to bless that land because this Government is going to take an empty piece of land which most locals in the Cannons Creek and Waitangirua area had given up for parkland and thought was going to remain parkland. The building is going to start to make sure those families in that community can have warm safe and affordable housing.If you're talking about delivery over the last 18 months of this Government I am extremely proud of that. That land known as the Castor loop land has remained barren and has been something that I have been fighting for for many years. I am very proud to say that our Government—this coalition Government of New Zealand First Labour and the Greens—is going to get off their backsides and make sure that the people in my community are going to have homes to live in and at an affordable rate. So that is delivery.In the area of commerce and consumer affairs last year we did deliver in market studies to make sure that New Zealand's markets are operating effectively. Now in English that means consumers are getting a fair deal. At the moment the Commerce Commission is looking into the issue of whether or not petrol prices are fair because we understand that many New Zealanders are feeling the pinch that increased fuel prices can have on their day-to-day living. Now to make the point again about the politics of that the previous Government had nine years to do something about that. In fact I think the previous Minister of Energy and Resources—Judith Collins—wanted the market study power but the last Government didn't deliver. Last year this Government did deliver so that the Commerce Commission will have the power to look into those markets and if they're not giving the average New Zealander a fair deal and making sure that they can have a cost of living that is affordable for them and their families then we can take action. That is something that this Government has delivered.Also I want to talk about the delivery that we've got this year and I'm focusing a bit on myself. We want to make sure that those consumers who are vulnerable consumers who are being preyed upon by third-tier lenders or loan sharks have protection. Again it is something that the previous Government had nine years to do but it didn't go far enough. Well I'm very proud that hopefully all going to plan—and I'm wondering what the National Opposition is going to do about this; whether they're going to support it or not—we're going to crack down and put limits on what those loan sharks can charge those vulnerable consumers. We don't want those consumers to be trapped in debt spirals—something that continued to happen under the previous Government. It is something that we are extremely proud of—that we will bring it into legislation and give more protection to those vulnerable consumers. So my challenge within this speech to the Opposition is: are you going to support those measures or not? Are you going to be on the side of consumers and giving them some protection from the likes of loan sharks and third-tier lenders or are you going to be on the side of the loan sharks and the third-tier lenders—something you didn't do a thing about in the previous Parliament?So that's my challenge. I'm going to be very interested when that piece of legislation comes to this House in whether you're going to man up and support us in our effort to look after vulnerable New Zealanders or whether you're going to look after the loan sharks who have been ripping off New Zealanders for nine years under your Government—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Thank you!Hon KRIS FAAFOI: —under that Government. That's one of the big things that I'm looking forward to: seeing whether the National Party is actually going to support that piece of legislation because if they do it will be almost unanimous. I think our friend David Seymour probably won't but I'm looking at the likes of Alfred Ngaro and our list member from Māngere who are in those communities where those consumers need that kind of protection. What are they going to do to make sure that those vulnerable consumers are given those protections? That's something that I am going to deliver for the people—for those vulnerable consumers—of New Zealand.In the areas of health housing and education we are going to deliver in 2019. We've got those challenges and we are going to deliver. The National Party has some other challenges which others have spoken about much more eloquently than me but we are focused on the things that matter to New Zealanders: making sure we put more money in their pockets and looking after health housing and education. Good luck to the National Party for the challenges over the next wee while."