Tuiono TeanauTEANAU TUIONO (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. The seas are rising and so must we. For me the alarm bells were ringing a couple of days ago when the work done by scientists hit the media that sea level rise could hit parts of Aotearoa New Zealand twice as quickly as expected due to the movement of tectonic plates. We knew that the seas were rising right across the world as well but because of the special nature of our whenua here with the tectonic plates it means that we're going to be facing that a lot quicker and a lot sooner than other folks. Wellington could expect a 30 centimetre sea level rise by 2040 a level they had not expected by 2060 along with Auckland the Coromandel Banks Peninsula Hawke's Bay Marlborough and Nelson. This is particularly concerning for a lot of our coastal communities. Climate change is real climate change is here—you've just got to ask our whānau up there on the East Coast they're experiencing that right now. Time and tides wait for no one and procrastination is the thief of time and we are running really really short. Hopefully this House has confined the climate change deniers to the conspiracy corners of the echo chambers of the various rabbit holes that they inhabit but we also must take notice of the climate procrastinators—those that want to kick the climate can further and further down the road those that want to re-litigate and put up false solutions given the very succinct time frame that we have. Because people get easily distracted in this House—they get very very easily distracted in this House. It's very easy to lose focus when you have a lot of noise—we had a lot of noise outside on the Parliament lawn as well. And I have noticed that a lot of members have been distracted by Groundswell when actually we need to be focusing on the sea swell. We need to be focusing on the rising tides and the work that needs to be done bringing together all the various interested parties but also all of us across the Government here across Parliament but also with our local authorities as well.Our local government is on the front line of this. This is impacting them as well and I hope they are taking note particularly those candidates that will be putting themselves up for election in the local body election—this should be front of mind for all of them. Local authorities have responsibilities to make key decisions on the use and management of land and other natural resources to avoid or mitigate impacts of natural hazards. They can also enhance community resilience through public education and local planning processes. But it's really important that we have those Māori voices at the table—it's really important that we have those Māori voices in the adaptation planning processes that have been rolled out by the Government as well and it's also important to have those at the council table. I'm relieved and I hope many people around the country are relieved as well that actually this House had the foresight to establish Māori wards to actually make sure those voices are there—those voices that had those very long connections to the whenua to the awa to the takutai—that they have that ancestral knowledge and that connection. I think that it's really really important for people to focus on making sure that we continue to build those connections.So I would say this to our people that are out there considering whether they're going to put themselves up to step into the Māori wards—and I don't know how many there are across the country but there's going to be quite a few—and I would say this to our whānau: kia kaha kia kaha put your hand up. There's a lot of work to be done. Councils need to have that direction there need to be those grassroots voices that actually push back against the climate procrastinators—people that have been dialling us back to the yesteryears the times of nostalgia that to be honest have been holding us back for a very very long time. I would also say this to our people as well: keep Te Tiriti o Waitangi as central in everything that you do—and a reminder that Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a living document as relevant and as important today as when our ancestors signed it. And because it's a living document we have to consider that document in the context of the times that we live in and we are in a climate crisis we are in a biodiversity crisis. E te whānau kia kaha ki te karawhiua tō ringa ki runga te whakatū mō ngā kaunihera i te mea kei te wātea mai tērā tēpu mā koutou. Ehara i te mea tērā mō koutou ki tō koutou nei kotahi heoi anō mō te whānau mō tō hapori mō te iwi otirā te motu whānui.[So family be brave to put yourself forward to stand for council as those seats at the table are available. This is not something that you do for yourself but for the family for your community and tribe as well as the country in general.]So kia kaha get involved in your local body elections. We need to have those voices at the table and they need to be loud and they need to push back against the climate procrastinators and the climate deniers.