O'Rourke DenisDENIS O'ROURKE (NZ First): New Zealand First joins all of the other parties to ensure that there are adequate Government powers so that what needs to be done gets done in order to make sure that the people of Kaikōura and other affected areas get what they need and they get it quickly and effectively. Without these sorts of powers it is unlikely that that would happen. We have no difficulty in supporting a bill for that reason and also we have no difficulty with the shortened time frame within which the bill will pass. We think it is one of those pieces of legislation that we ought to be able to deal with quickly and effectively given the way that is actually proposed.In addition to the Hurunui/Kaikōura Earthquakes Emergency Relief Bill which has had a lot of attention this week this bill which I think of as the Order in Council bill is certainly needed. But there needs to of course be appropriate checks and balances to exempt modify or extend provisions of certain enactments." as it says in the explanatory note. It is those checks and balances that the select committee will particularly need to focus on because as others have said these are pretty extraordinary powers. Subject to that New Zealand First will be very happy to support the bill. I just want to go through some of the aspects of those checks and balances which we are going to need to pay particular attention to over the next few days. The first thing of course to note is that it applies to only a relatively discrete area of the country—the affected areas as they are called in the bill. Most particularly though any order made must be necessary or desirable—necessary or desirable—for the purposes of the bill and not be broader than is reasonably necessary. Because that is the crux of the bill and the most important of the checks and balances we ought to pay particular attention to the words used by which I mean look at the purposes of the bill. They are set out in clause 3. I am going to read them out because I think it is important that that be done. So paragraph (a) is to "provide for economic recovery; " paragraph (b) is to "provide for the planning rebuilding and recovery of affected communities and persons including—(i) the repair and rebuilding of land infrastructure and other property of affected communities or of any affected persons; and (ii) safety enhancements to and improvements to the resilience of that land infrastructure or other property;". Then it goes on with paragraph (c) to "facilitate co-ordinated efforts and processes used to bring about the short-term medium-term and long-term recovery and enhancement of affected communities;" and lastly there is paragraph (d) to "facilitate the restoration and improvement of the environmental economic social and cultural well-being and the resilience of affected communities or of any affected persons." So it is fairly wide ranging. It covers affected communities and affected persons and provides for safety enhancements and also improvements so that they get the resilience they will need for the future. I think that is most appropriate because we do need to remember that this is not a past event. This is a current and future event. There has been a sequence of earthquakes that will definitely carry on and indeed future events may even be larger and more damaging than those we have had already. So I think it is important to particularly think about the purposes in relation to the first and most important of the checks and balances the order must be necessary or desirable to achieve those purposes.In addition to that there is a panel to be appointed under clause 11. I think it is very important that that panel be of people with real expertise whether it be environmental construction agricultural cultural or whatever because again you need to refer back to the purposes of the legislation. I will be interested to see who ultimately gets appointed. I am sure a good job will be done and they will do a good job themselves.In addition to that there is a provision for the draft of any order to have to go to the Regulations Review Committee or if it is not possible to get that together then at least it should go to the leader of each of the political parties represented in Parliament. That provides another important check and balance and ensures that there will not be any politicisation of the process. None of us wants to see that. Of course the bill makes it very clear that the responsible Minister whichever one it may be must actually have regard to the recommendations or the comments of both that panel and the Regulations Review Committee. So there will not be a free hand here. I think those are important provisions in the bill.In addition to that there is an engagement process provided for. That provides for the engagement of substantially affected persons but also the public if the local authority believes that it should do that in respect of any particular order. I think that is very important because as we have seen in the Christchurch earthquake it is very easy for people to feel alienated from these processes. I hope that the local authority makes sure it does a good job in that respect too. The Minister in deciding to make an order must record and give reasons and I think that is very important that that be on the record. I want to also approve particularly of clause 10 and I think this is better than what was done for the Canterbury earthquakes because what it does is list first of all some legislation that cannot be amended by any of the orders made under this bill. They include Acts like the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and the Electoral Act which is what you would expect. Clause 7 also provides for a list I understand of two or three dozen bills that are those that can be amended under this legislation with a provision for other such bills to be added. It is a good idea to do it that way rather than have some general provision trying to cover the whole thing.In addition to all of that you have to remember that this legislation will have limited duration. The orders under it will be revoked on 31 March 2018 or sooner than that so it is not as though this is going to go on for a very long time. Hopefully that will be a long enough period so that any of the orders necessary under this legislation can in fact be made. In addition to that clause 7 provides for additional areas and as I have already said additional Acts to be added to the application of the bill except in limited circumstances that are set out in the bill. We in New Zealand First do believe that this bill is absolutely necessary that the checks and balances ought to be adequate that the people of Kaikōura and indeed the people of New Zealand should have confidence that the powers granted will not be excessive and that there will be proper supervision and limitations on the powers. As I have said it is a necessary bill. It is properly balanced with appropriate checks and balances. It is something that I believe will be an important aspect of the recovery of Kaikōura and other affected areas and I look forward to taking part in the select committee process to go through the bill and make sure that what I have said actually is the case and that the legislation will properly record and state that. Having said all of that I do want to say that the process so far with the emergency legislation has been very good. I think the process for this is likely to be just as good. For that reason New Zealand First will have no hesitation in supporting this bill."