Boyack RachelRACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): Thank you Madam Speaker. It is a pleasure to take a call on the Severe Weather Emergency Legislation Bill. Can I just begin by acknowledging the people of the Hawke's Bay Thames-Coromandel the Wairarapa Auckland Northland Waikato Manawatū all of the areas that have been affected by the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle. It was an honour and privilege to be a part of the select committee that considered this bill. At the first reading of this bill we heard a series of powerful speeches from colleagues across the House who had been present during the events had attempted to get home attempted to contact family and we heard from them about the devastation that they had seen on the ground. I particularly want to acknowledge my colleague sitting next to me Anna Lorck for her work over the last few days and weeks with her community.I know only too well what it is like to be the MP when your electorate in a state of emergency and when people's lives and livelihoods are at risk; the anxiety that comes with that the uncertainty the uncertainty that continues for months afterwards. In Nelson we have many people who are still out of their homes and uncertain about what the status of their home will be.In the comments that I've made regarding that is that what happened in Nelson last year was devastating; what has happened in the North Island is at another entire scale. It is a scale that for those of us who haven't been there is difficult to comprehend. The reports are that what you see on the television screens—it is significantly worse than what you see in photographs and on social media. It was humbling to be part of the committee and to hear from members of the local community about the steps that they need this Parliament to take in order to be able to continue appropriately with the recovery.Can I just begin as I get into comments around the bill and some of the changes that we look to make and some of the submissions that we heard by acknowledging particularly the work of the officials. There were a number of agencies who provided advice to the committee and I want to name them today: the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet the Department of Internal Affairs the Ministry for Primary Industries the Ministry for the Environment the National Emergency Management Agency the Office of the Clerk and the Parliamentary Counsel Office. At times there would have been 30 to 40 officials in the room and others on Zoom and others working behind the scenes in order for us to treat this legislation even though we did so quickly with the respect that it deserved during that time. So I want to pay particular tribute to those officials for the work they did throughout the night to ensure that we were as best advised as we could be as a committee to make the recommendations that we have done.Just to the bill the bill is an omnibus bill and so it amends the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act the Resource Management Act the Local Government Act the Food Act and Food Regulations 2015. The measures in the bill ensure that people communities and organisations are able to take the steps and measures they need to as they continue through the recovery period following Cyclone Gabrielle.Myself and the chair Ian McKelvie—who I wish to acknowledge who did an excellent job of chairing the committee throughout yesterday—sat down and agreed 96 interested groups that we would invite to submit on the bill. Following that we received 14 written submissions and we heard oral evidence from 13 submitters yesterday.There were a number of themes that came through and some other submitters have already mentioned those but I'll just mention some of those briefly. What came up which Mr Woodhouse has already noted is around some of the inconsistency with the repeal dates that were in the bill. So we looked at that and have recommended some changes to some of those dates so that they are consistent across the bill.We heard from submitters about the work in the bill that extends time frames for remote attendance. Currently for those who are members of a local council they are not able to participate remotely like we do at our select committees. This is something that has been called upon by the sector actually to be a permanent change and it's the committee's hope that that will eventually become a permanent change. But that is important. We have a number of councils in the affected area where councillors may have to travel for one to two hours or three hours in each direction in order to get to a meeting and in order for those councils to make good quality decisions as we got through a recovery. The ability for them to participate and represent their communities is extremely important. So I'm pleased that we have that in the bill and I do note that it's something that probably needs to change in the legislation in a permanent fashion.We heard from a number of iwi and Māori organisations and I want to acknowledge them in particular. At times like this it is often our marae who lean in and step up and offer their resources offer their services offer their whare for people to be safe for people to be looked after for their welfare to be considered. We did hear from agencies about their views that it would be good for iwi Māori to have more engagement with emergency management and I note in my own region following the Pigeon Valley fires a few years ago that we bedded iwi representatives both within the governance framework that we use for civil defence but also for the civil defence and emergency management room. When they're in the room and whenever I've now visited in other emergencies that we've faced having those connections to iwi who have deep relationships in their communities is incredibly important. And the value and skill that they bring to the roles is something that I have valued as a local MP and the select committee has noted in its report which I do encourage you to read—and I'll just read this statement that We wish to acknowledge the valuable role that Māori play in supporting responses to emergencies including the work that various marae have undertaken and the resources they have organised to assist in the response and recovery from the events."One of the conversations that I spent a lot of time having with officials—and I'm looking forward to when we reach the committee stage hearing from the Minister regarding this in particular—following some feedback from a couple of the councils was around the retrospective consenting for work undertaken in that emergency phase and I just acknowledge comments on that from my colleague Simon Court.I do want to acknowledge officials. I think I tested their patience a little throughout this time just testing out exactly what that could look like. The committee have noted that it's an area of work we would like to see further work explored over the coming time because if work has already been completed in that emergency phase in order to save lives and livelihoods there is I think a fair point there around the time it takes to put in place a retrospective consent. But I would also note my view on this that it is very important that there is a record there is knowledge of the activity that has occurred because if it has affected a land use or a building that does need to be placed on the record somehow. So I think it will be good to see some further work on that occur in the future.I just want to finish again by acknowledging the exceptional work of the officials on this bill. I saw officials work in a way that you don't always get to see as a member of Parliament in terms of working quickly with each other. I was so impressed with how the officials from across different agencies actually sat down and talked amongst themselves to ensure they were together collectively providing the best advice. They're exceptional New Zealanders and as New Zealanders in this House we saw the best of them yesterday.So it's an excellent bill. Despite the short time frame I'm convinced that the committee and the officials have done their best to bring back recommendations to the House that will support this region through its recovery and I commend it to the House."