Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker tēnā koutou ngā rau rangatira huri rauna i tō tātou Whare. Me pēnei taku korero: ko Te Tapuwae-ō-Uenuku te maunga ko Te Tai-ō-Marokura te moana ko Takahanga te marae ko Ngāti Kurī te hapū ko Ngāi Tahu te iwi nō reira; tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and acknowledgments to you esteemed ones of a hundredfold throughout our House. Allow me to say this: the mountain is Tapuwae-ō-Uenuku the sea is Te Tai-ō-Marokura the marae is Takahanga the subtribe is Ngāti Kurī and Ngāi Tahu is the tribe; therefore salutations greetings and acknowledgments to you and to us all.]I wanted at the outset to relay the pepeha for my whanaunga at Kaikōura the hapū of Ngāti Kuri and also extending through to the community of Kaikōura. Those geographical features of the landscape—yes they have withstood a magnitude 7.8 earthquake but the mountain the moana the coastline the marae the hapū and the iwi stand firm stand resolute and stand strong. So I wanted to first of all acknowledge this in this my first contribution back in the House. I want to acknowledge Mr Smith my colleague. We share the same geographic space with the Kaikōura and Hurunui districts albeit mine is slightly larger. You could add another 20 more electorates on to his electorate and you will just cover Te Tai Tonga but I would like to acknowledge his work in the immediate aftermath as the local member. There is one other constant and that is the Māori member—and that is I. I am the other constant member the other local constant member who is there to dutifully serve my constituents who mostly are my whānau and I would like to put a plug in for the Māori member as well.Last Wednesday I was fortunate enough to speak at the daily public briefings that take place on Churchill Park and I was joined by our leader Andrew Little and also Mayor Winston. It was heartening just to see that although there was hardship amongst the local community there was a real sense of determination to get things back to normal in Kaikōura. That was very strong. Do not get me wrong—things are tough there at the moment particularly with the access routes being closed off and the flow-on effects obviously through the damage done through the earthquake to the infrastructure and in particular the impact on housing the temporary relocation of whānau outside of the district and the economic impact on the tourism industry in particular and on all the interconnected businesses and the fisheries industry. But there was a sense of determination that they would get through this and that they wanted to bring normality back to their lives. I spoke at that public meeting as did Andrew Little and we gave a reassurance—because that meeting took place just in the initial stages of the crafting of this legislation—that we would work in a cross-party fashion and approach to ensure that we would expeditiously pass this legislation. So I am delighted to be able to do that—to be able to stand here at this first reading.I want to take this opportunity—because this is my first—to say that although with this bill we are moving into a recovery effort a recovery phase I must give some acknowledgments to those who responded at the emergency phase whom I have had the pleasure of mixing with in my various helicopter visits and vehicle rides over rough terrain and massive cracks and landslips. I got to talk to the local people and also the wonderful emergency services and other support that have been there and that continue to be there. In particular I do want to acknowledge the community obviously of Kaikōura. We are there and we are supporting them through this but I also acknowledge the local hapū Ngāti Kuri and the wonderful work that they have done and continue to do in Takahanga Marae. I also acknowledge Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and the wonderful work that they did with the use of their helicopters the deployment of staff support getting provisions in dealing with local families—absolutely unbelievable—and even extending that back to the whānau in Tuahiwi Ngāi Tūahuriri who have been hosting and still are hosting some evacuees at the marae there. This effort cuts across all the communities and we are putting forward this legislation which is going to help get the resulting approvals or consents that are required to deal with all of the compliance aspects of emergency work that is being undertaken. I do not intend to take up too much time but I wanted to say just quickly that we know that we are dealing with an emergency situation so the usual time frames even the usual emergency time frames have to be extended in extraordinary circumstances. We all support and endorse the intent around that but I want to focus on the restoration of the harbour aspect. For those who know Kaikōura South Bay is the main marina the main access route for all boats and other vessels so it services the fishing industry and the tourism industry right there in that marina. As we know there has been a major uplift of the coastal area which means that access is permitted only roughly around high tide so it has caused a huge disruption. But I was fortunate enough to again talk to my whanaunga at Whale Watch Kaikōura Kowahinga and Ngāpora and also the wonderful people at Encounter Kaikōura who also run a well-renowned business with the dolphins. It is essential that this dredging work take place to allow access to the port. It was good to talk to the engineers who were already on site. Engineers Environment Canterbury people—there is a lot of mobilisation of expertise and these people are planning how they are going to tackle those works. Having fished in South Bay recreationally I have lost quite a few cray pots just beyond the passage routes where the vessels come in and out. It is rocky; it is pretty hard down there. So I am sure that there will be quite a lot of works that will be required and as we know the work that will be taking place will require some exceptional amendments to the Resource Management Act to ensure that it can be carried out in compliance with the law. Just in conclusion I do want to once again commend everyone who has been involved from all sides in the creation of this legislation and I also commend the referral to the Local Government and Environment Committee. I know that it will be continuing this good work tomorrow however long it takes while the House is sitting to hear and follow a robust process so that we can bring the bill back on Thursday and complete its passage through the House. To conclude I would just like to say: apiti hōno tātai hōno rātou te hunga mate ki ā rātou āpiti hōno tātai hōno tātou te hunga ora ki a tātou. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora huihui mai anō tātou katoa.[The lines are joined they the dead to themselves and we the living to ourselves. So salutations greetings and acknowledgments to us all once again assembled here.]