McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. I stand on behalf of the ACT Party to speak to the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Levy) Amendment Bill in its first reading. The straightforward approach to this bill is to support it but to do so with some reservations.It delays the provisions that were to come into force on 1 July 2024 back a further two years to 1 July 2026 specifically on how the levy is calculated and what it applies to. The justification for the delay is a recognition that the provisions were going to be too complicated and potentially costly. Those provisions could end up doing more harm than good. We do question though whether this bill is just kicking the can down the road. ACT questions why the Government is delaying these provisions by two years to 2026 when the original implementation date is still two years away being 2024. Instead of two years it's actually going to become four years before these provisions can be implemented. So that leaves us questioning why the intricacies of implementation cannot be determined over the next two years and why it requires four years instead; specifically so when our firefighters are literally protesting for help and support.That being said on the whole it does make some sense to do this amendment if it means that at some point we have legislation that can be implemented without issue. If we can ensure that our Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) workers are adequately paid and looked after for the work that they do we can support that. However four years is a very long long time. Our firefighters' pay has increased by less than 5 percent since Labour took office in 2017 but the administration staff at FENZ have seen at least an 11 percent increase in their pay. Prioritise our firefighters our front-liners over the next four years please because with a mere 5 percent increase in pay our firefighters are doing so much more than extinguishing fires now. Increasingly they are attending more and more to assist in all types of emergencies. They turn up to medical emergencies family harm and domestic violence incidents suicides and flooding. They just want to be valued and recognised for the work that they do and they totally deserve this. Firefighters have told us that they are happy to take on these extra responsibilities and attend at incidents not fire-related because they went into this line of work to serve their communities. But they need to be helped so that they can help others.The nationwide recruits' course for 2022 was cancelled. What was the reason behind this? The rumour is that it was cancelled to save on costs yet FENZ administration staff did get an 11 percent increase in their pay. Operators who are over 60 years old have been asked to delay their retirement plans so that new and future staff members can be trained before they leave. It is hard to train new firefighters when courses are cancelled or there are no appliances to train new recruits with let alone there being no recruits to be trained. We are aware that there are firefighters who were enrolled in aerial courses over 2½ years ago and they still haven't been able to enter training because there aren't any appliances for them to train on. We are told of firefighters being given basic two-day St John first aid courses and then are expected to attend some serious medical events. The workers at the centre of the FENZ reconstruction were not consulted about this massive expansion in their job description. Some told us they don't feel that they've had adequate training to deal with some of the issues that they are attending. Their response to medical calls including respiratory cardiac and other life-threatening situations is leaving them wanting—wanting for further training wanting for support and financing so that they can continue.This should also include mental health assistance. I know in the short time that I worked for the Rotorua Coroner some of the situations encountered by our professionals left them in need of help for themselves. They're now in situations where they themselves have to give help to members of our communities suffering from suicidal tendencies or needing mental health assistance. Many are doing this without adequate training. It is common for firefighters to be working tens of hours of overtime each week due to staffing shortages attrition and the sheer lack of recruits. While they dedicate themselves to protecting and helping our communities the truth is many of them cannot afford to go by without the money earned from working overtime.Equipment is failing mental health assistance is failing training and recruitment is failing. ACT would like to see provisions in this bill for better fiscal oversight. There are many questions that do need to be asked. If we're going to keep delaying the difficult questions should we be investigating alternative avenues such as privatisation? If we want to keep giving firefighters more tasks to do is the status quo good enough? They're asking for better wages less overtime newer equipment more staff more training better mental health services among other things. ACT argues that this bill isn't addressing the hard issues.We thank our hard-working FENZ front-liners for the work that they do in and for our communities and acknowledge the struggles that they face. We do support the Government getting it right and hence we will support this bill in its first reading. However we do think addressing some of the issues they are facing now rather than in four years' time is essential and we implore this Government to give this the urgency that it deserves. Thank you Madam Speaker.