Twyford PhilHon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): The Minister responsible for the Building Amendment Bill the Hon Jenny Salesa described the provisions of this bill as common-sense changes. I think the fact that there's agreement across the House and there was clearly a very constructive committee process to get the bill to this point is probably testament to that.I want to underline the comments that Jenny Salesa made at the beginning of her speech on an earlier sitting day when she acknowledged the work of Nick Smith the former Minister who oversaw all the policy work and the beginnings of the legislative process for this bill.This bill strikes me as being just one of many ripples really out from the Canterbury earthquakes—policy and institutional changes that have been in response to those disasters both the Canterbury quakes and the Kaikōura quakes as we try to build more resilience into the system and ensure that our policies and our institutions are able to respond in a serious way to the risk and the damage done by those disasters.Well as the previous speakers have said there are two main parts to the bill. The first is about managing buildings after an emergency event and the bill introduces this process for managing buildings following an emergency from response through to the recovery phase. It includes the ability for the Minister to take direct action and make decisions to manage buildings during a significant emergency. It gives new powers to manage buildings during and after the event including inspecting and requiring works to be carried out clarifications on the use and timings of powers and in particular requirements around the decision to carry out works on important heritage buildings. It provides a framework for recognising personal and property rights including the criteria governing the use of the powers and consultations. So there's a fair bit of thought that's gone into ensuring that there's a framework so that the new powers that are included in the bill have to be exercised within those constraints.The select committee process came up with some proposals that were incorporated into the bill: the reference to an individual" replacing the phrasing "owner or occupier" in order to be consistent with other provisions and a new section was inserted to give a responsible person—a police constable in the case of evacuations—a clear power to enter a building or land for specified reasons. Those reasons include evacuations measures to keep people at a safe distance notices and signs on buildings urgent works to remove or reduce risks and works for long-term use or the occupation of the building. There were also changes made at select committee around the directions to carry out work and there were provisions to empower responsible persons to direct that work be carried out. They were amended to clarify that the notices must describe the outcomes rather than just describe the work itself.The second part of the bill is really about investigating building failures and it proposes amendments to the Building Act that give the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) as the regulator a clear set of legislative powers to investigate building failures that did or could have resulted in serious injury or death. It gives MBIE the power to investigate the circumstances and the causes of building failure including securing the site entering a property carrying out inspections requiring information and sharing relevant information related to the building failure with the relevant regulatory bodies. Again the select committee inserted a provision that would provide for follow-up investigations as an additional measure.So I just want to add my words of acknowledgment to all the work that's been done over the last few years in getting this bill to the final stage in the process. I commend this bill to the House."