Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Madam Speaker the question of how we rebuild and recover from COVID is particularly relevant to the community of Papatoetoe in the wake of the tornado on Saturday. Papatoetoe is between the electorate of Manurewa and the very good electorate of Panmure-Ōtahuhu. But first I'd like to talk about the person who lost their life at the Wiri Inland Port. His name was Janesh Prasad he was 41 years old and he was a mechanic. He was working a forklift when the freak winds hit the container yard. He was a father of two and will be lovingly remembered by his family.Loss destruction and shock followed that tornado and its path includes the well-off parts of Papatoetoe as well as one of the most deprived areas in South Auckland. Its effects are felt particularly hard when homes are irrecoverably smashed apart and cars are written off. In a neighbourhood that earlier this year was hit by a major COVID outbreak centred around its high school this was a hard blow. I got to Papatoetoe after the storm had cleared. The things that occurred to me at first were the randomness of the tornado's path that this was something that completely destroyed some homes in the middle of a street by ripping the roof off and then the house next door could be absolutely fine and untouched. I was also struck by the severity of the rain which came after the holes in the roofs and the roofs were removed to destroy what was left of people's possessions and their livelihoods. I saw the power lines scattered around the streets and the damage to that public infrastructure footpaths and roads which caused significant damage to the ability of people in that area to even get out let alone their friends and family to get in. I saw how Plunket Ave which runs along one part of the tornado path was affected in a very small way compared to the streets like Freyberg which came right off it. These were 50 metres apart and yet one street looked like a monster had come forth from the ground and thrashed around and one street was almost untouched.At the same time that I arrived Auckland Emergency Management was out making an assessment of the physical damage and the immediate safety concerns. Vector was getting into action to restore power safely and assessing the damage to the poles that were uniformly flattened and the Red Cross was setting up the welfare centre. Fire and Emergency New Zealand were putting out boots on the ground in the affected streets and cordoning dangerous areas. Police were setting up road blocks and assuring residents that houses that couldn't be secured because of the damage would be safe and the Supreme Sikh Society from the Takanini gurdwara was pulling its volunteer network together and amassing food supply for food parcels. Local businesses like roofers All in one Builders and the Cavendish Mitre 10 were digging deep to donate time and products to fixing roofs before the rain destroyed homes even further.I door-knocked for five hours that day and went back on Sunday again because I wanted to hear from households who'd been hit hard about why they needed help and to do my bit as their local MP to make sure they got it. Things like tarps—I heard from ordinary people on the street that they couldn't get tarps from anywhere in South Auckland because they had all sold out and there were holes in the roofs and the rain was coming. So I put out a social media call for all people in South Auckland and Labour supporters who follow me and asked for donated tarps. In a few hours we had 150 tarps donated by Labour electorate committees and by members of the public who just wanted to help. Those got donated through volunteers and I want to thank Brittany O'Brien and Melissa O'Connor for coordinating all of that. Brittany went to every North Shore Mitre 10 just to get those tarps.I also want to acknowledge those dairies who I asked for local businesses to give them generators so that they could run the system which they were already running which is a paper note of all of the neighbours who they had given supplies and food and they had just written down their name their address and their bill to be paid later. Thank you to those business owners for supporting your community.What I learnt is how deep the resilience of the Papatoetoe community runs. International evidence shows that the communities that recover from a natural or health disaster aren't the richest ones they're the most connected and that's the lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic for all New Zealanders. Where we have been united we have pulled through. Where we care for people we have led the world and we're not the wealthiest nation but we're getting on with the job of rebuilding now. It's a lesson for me. I'm a community organiser I believe in the practice of community organising. I've always been committed to using my political and legal skills for the benefit of my community and to build power around the issues that elevate leaders from the grassroots. I've been attacked in question time today for that community organising philosophy but I will not apologise for a commitment to helping my community at the grassroots through door-knocking and elevating those leaders. To Papatoetoe I say Keep it up we're with you.""