Rurawhe AdrianHon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): As we begin our journey as a nation for 2023 we've suddenly found ourselves beset with torrential rain flooding and a tropical cyclone. None of us imagined that we could be in the eye of the cyclone at the beginning of this year. I saw families in West Auckland as we were driving home on that Friday night—rivers just pouring down and taking families taking vehicles and taking homes. Even in my beloved Māngere the same thing was happening and I had not imagined that we would be in that state. The cyclone has also devastated lives and livelihoods and even the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers from overseas.I suppose the point I want to make in those preliminary remarks is that in times of crisis people need certainty people need leadership and people need calm. I suppose I want to acknowledge the speech from the Prime Minister in his statement because I thought that that delivered that and gave confidence to our communities that the Government is doing all it can to respond and to respond quickly however ill-prepared we may have been as a nation with climate change.I think when I'm hearing criticism from the Opposition—and that is their task but I also put on the table for their consideration that when families have lost loved ones when families are unsure what to do with a house that has been red-stickered or yellow-stickered and they don't want to stay with temporary accommodation they don't want to hear the bickering and the criticism from this House; they want to hear responses that will help recover and recover quickly. If there is to be criticism from this House then let's point the finger at those who seem to think that hiding your head in the sand not recognising that we are living in an era indeed of climate change that is not going to go away.About a couple of weeks ago one of our scientists—a Niuean woman; her name is Coral Pasisi and I'm sure she won't mind me acknowledging her—was speaking to the United Nations Security Council on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum. In that speech two or three weeks ago she said to the security council at the United Nation that these one-in-100-year events will become regular annual events. I suppose as we rebuild it is important for us to take that into consideration.I want to acknowledge as others have done the response of Auckland Council our councillors and local board members and their leadership. Our emergency centre at the Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa in Māngere will close this Friday and I'm hopeful that Government agencies will continue to gather and provide support and information because the needs of those who were harmed during the torrential rain will not be resolved any time quickly; it requires long-term solution. The work that I'm hearing from a number of Government agencies is indeed important.I want to also offer my thanks and appreciation not only to Government agencies—including the Ministry for Pacific Peoples whose coordinating work amongst the Pacific communities in the Hawke's Bay region alongside its local members of Parliament—but I want to than the local church leadership particularly Pastor Charles Faletutulu of Kings Church and also Reverend Nua of the Ekalesia Faapotopotoga Kerisiano Samoa Hastings. And of course the employers who are working to support the RSE workers who themselves have been displaced alongside our local communities.But I come back again to the statement by the Prime Minister. That's the sort of rhetoric that is required in times of crisis—leadership calm and certainty—so that our people have confidence.SPEAKER: I understand this is a split call. I call Damien Smith.