Power Simon: Taxation (Disaster Relief) Bill — Procedure First Reading Second Reading Third Reading 
Power Simon: Taxation (Disaster Relief) Bill — Procedure First Reading Second Reading Third Reading 
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SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 While the Minister remains in the House—I say that at the risk of breaching the Standing Orders—I thank him for the introduction of this Taxation (Disaster Relief) Bill. It will bring some aid to the many people in the lower North Island who are feeling as the Minister put it substantial pressure in several areas. The flexibility afforded to the Inland Revenue Department by this bill will go some way towards assisting those people as constituents of mine have told me at various meetings around the electorate over the last 2 weeks. The bill is a helpful step in the right direction and the National Party will certainly be supporting its speedy passage through the House. 
At the risk of trying the patience of the Speaker I wish to say a few quick words about the scope of the disaster in my first opportunity to do so in the House when referring directly to the bill. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I have talked to the member about this and I have agreed that this may be the case. If any other speaker wants to talk about the scope of the disaster that will be fine. 
SIMON POWER 
: The local people of Horowhenua Rangitikei Wanganui and the surrounding districts have responded with extreme selflessness and dedication to fellow members of their communities. The agency relief and flexibility afforded to those members by the Government has been excellent in terms of the way in which local people have carried it out. Federated Farmers have done an outstanding job in the districts of organising particularly the collation of information from various farming districts and farms throughout the region. Federated Farmers as I say deserve the thanks of the House as does the Defence Force which did a very good job in the initial stages. 
It is worth taking up the point that the Minister made about the scale of this disaster. It ranges from severe crop damage on the flats of Horowhenua through to the Manawatu area to some of the most vicious scarring of the hill country in areas like the Turakina Valley and Whangaehu that I am sure members who have viewed that damage will ever see in a lifetime. It has been interesting to watch the reaction of members of the community who have acted in a dedicated and supportive way towards each other. I am aware of visits from members of Parliament from across all parties in this House to the disaster-affected areas. It is worth saying this to members. In case they have not seen one particular area of Whangaehu I will take a moment to describe to them what it is like. The best way to describe that area is to say that it is like a moonscape of mud. It is simply kilometres and long stretches of nothing but brown cracked mud over what was previously lush green farmland. 
The people in that area of Whangaehu are holding up well but the damage to their crops and stock is difficult to describe due to its quantum. I have seen reports in the local media of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s first indications of the extent of the damage when it indicated 5000 sheep had been lost. One farmer I spoke to last week lost 3000 sheep himself so those first best-guess estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry are way off the extent of the damage that is being felt in the district. Another farmer I spoke to had had several hundred lambs drowned as he tried to move them from the paddocks where peril was looming into the woolshed. They were freshly shorn lambs and several hundred of them drowned. So to say at this early stage there were only 5000 sheep lost is I can assure the House way off the mark. The crop damage that has been done particularly to the younger farmers in the area who have all their capital invested in those crops is horrendous. Various stories that have emerged of several big chunks of herds of cows being swept out to sea and then having to be shot from a helicopter 2 days later as they were still swimming 2 kilometres from the shore will give members of this House some idea of the scope of the disaster we are dealing with. So it is fair to say that a qualifying event under this bill must be extreme as the Minister pointed out. I think that is fair enough but let me say to any members of the House who may doubt it that this disaster has been extreme in every sense of the word. 
There have been offers of assistance from all over New Zealand. Southland farmers have phoned to say they remember how people from the district helped them in 1984. They are very keen to help and have asked what they can do. Those types of offers show something of the spirit of New Zealanders. The warehouses in Feilding are full of donated goods. Pallets and pallets of brand new goods are being deposited there every day and there is a whole warehouse full of clothes and other household items. That just goes to show a fraction of the generosity that is being shown from throughout the country. 
Like my colleagues across the House on the Government benches who have had a lot to do with meeting local people during this disaster I do worry that now the initial adrenalin rush has worn off we are entering into a very difficult phase in this disaster indeed. We are entering a phase where people are now beginning to appreciate the actual long-term impact of what has occurred rather than just working through the initial adrenalin rush to save families and homes. Now we see grief and concern for the economic viability of some of the affected farms and properties pouring out at public meetings throughout the Horowhenua Rangitikei and Wanganui districts. I know my Government colleagues have attended a number of those meetings and I know they will be experiencing the same outpouring of concern that I am experiencing. 
This bill does go some way towards assisting the affected farmers. Even though the Minister himself acknowledged it was a small token gesture frankly the fact that those people have one less thing to worry about is a very positive thing. I am delighted that all parties in this House will be supporting the speedy passage of this bill. I hope that the bill will go some way towards dealing with issues of use-of-money interest remittance for fines and the like that the Inland Revenue Department could otherwise impose. I notice in a late letter from the Minister of Revenue that in the circumstances the Inland Revenue Department will accept verbal applications as well as written ones. I think that is important as many people do not have access to fax machines and the like. Frankly some of the people in some parts of my district have only recently had their telephones reconnected and at this point they have more important things on their minds than providing estimates of provisional tax. 
It is left to me to say one thing further and that is to thank all those members of Parliament from across the House who have extended to me as a representative of the people of Rangitikei their good wishes and offers of help. Many members from all parties have done that and I wish to put it on the record that I truly appreciate that as we enter this difficult time in the recovery process. The heavy grieving begins quite frankly and I look forward to the Government’s substantive response by way of an aid package to be announced in the next few days I understand—I hope. 
I commend this bill in the spirit in which it was brought to the House and I ask members as they make a contribution or listen to the contributions of other members to the debate on this bill to take some time to think of the people who have suffered huge financial and emotional losses during the last month.