Sio WilliamAupito WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): Thank you for the opportunity Mr Assistant Speaker. During Anzac Day I had the opportunity to share my remarks like many others would have with our local community and I reflected on the legacy of the Anzacs. In doing so I not only acknowledged the original Anzacs—our servicemen and servicewomen and our police—but I also deliberately acknowledged our fire and emergency services on that particular day. I have to say that our community responded with much support and recognition of the work that our fire people do. I think that is important. I think it is important to put it out there because what is happening today is a significant milestone in updating the legislation so it recognises truly the work that our firemen and firewomen including our volunteers are doing.We have this traditional view that our fire department simply puts out fires or turns up to a non-fire emergency but the reality is that it is much more than that and the legislation has not kept up pace. Normally you would see a police car driving down the highway with the siren on and you think: All right that's not so bad." If an ambulance follows then you begin to worry but if the fire department follows with the siren on full blast then you know that it is an emergency that cannot be handled simply by our police force. So I think it is important that we recognise that this legislation is keeping pace with the work that the fire department is already doing.Therefore I want to acknowledge—as others have done—Minister Dunne Ruth Dyson and members of the Government Administration Committee because this is change that has been a long time coming. Certainly this House has heard from both our leaders on this legislation on why the Labour Party is proud to stand and support this bill. We have done so right from the outset despite the fact that there have been some issues that we have raised with the Minister of Internal Affairs. One particular issue that I raise again is that of Fire and Emergency New Zealand—I still believe that the word "service" ought to be there.The other issue I suppose I have after seeing an emergency where a plane crashed and lit up the city that it crashed into is that I have to wonder why we exempted the airlines because despite the fact that they spend a major part of their time in the air if and when an accident occurs and God forbid it does—that the airplanes crash—the debris of that accident lands on land and can destroy property and life. Therefore when we are talking about the service we are talking about a public good that everybody benefits from.The other point I want to raise is that whilst this legislation ensures that Fire and Emergency New Zealand remains a Crown entity I would say that the Minister responsible for the Crown entity needs to ensure that this department continues to have adequate funding here and throughout because we are not just talking about a small entity; it is bound to grow because of population growth. Also the costs are bound to grow because of the need for us to adequately pay for the services of our fire and emergency men and women.The final point I want to raise is the issue around levies. Prior to the change of legislation there were a lot of sources for the fire department but now we are depending on the increase of that levy. There are some issues there regarding the museums and the discretion that is given to the Minister and I would just say to the Minister that he needs to sort out whether the museums—a public good—end up paying based on the value of their assets. The Minister also needs to ensure that there is confidence in the new entity and confidence about the source of funding so that it can get on with the job without having to worry about the politics of funding."