Bakshi Kanwaljit SinghKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. It's my pleasure to stand in the third reading of the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Levy) Amendment Bill and in support of it. I would like to acknowledge the Minister Tracey Martin for her offer yesterday to collaborate to work on this bill and I accept that and I assure her that we will be working positively to ensure that Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) is properly funded.This is a real opportunity for us to fix this problem as the Minister has just mentioned in her speech that we know how much money is required. Yesterday during the committee stage a few times I asked the Minister about the surpluses right now that the FENZ levy is creating—where that money is being spent—but unfortunately I could not get the answer. But definitely that is one thing which I would like the Minister to consider. Right now the income of FENZ is more than the expenditure they are doing and—because this bill extends the process until 2024 and every year there is surplus available—where is that money going? It will be a better option that the people who are paying the levy should get the discount because there are excess funds available in FENZ and that is one thing which I would like to request the Minister consider in the days to come.The second point which I would like to say is that while considering different options on how to fund FENZ as I know that there is an option for general taxation the funding can be taken from there or properties—the local government can collect the funding from rates—and other options are also available. So I request the Minister to consider that in our neighbouring country in Australia there are different states which have got different provisions as to how they are funding their fire services. The one which is very close to my heart—I have gone through Queensland's provision where they have got a system. They have got five different areas categories where they are funding according to use. If there is a fire station which has got around-the-clock services available and paid firemen and women are available they are charged more. In a rural area where there is a voluntary service that area is a levied at a lower rate.That means that the requirement determines how much levy the people should pay and that will be a fair way to go. For example in New Zealand we see that in some of the rural parts where there are more paid workers they are paying very high levels of levy in comparison with what volunteers are to the extent of about $127 to $21—something like that. So I would like to request the Minister to consider these things and obviously as she has offered. I am happy to collaborate and discuss this in detail when the time comes.Before I conclude I would also like to acknowledge that the women and men the volunteers and the paid workers of FENZ do a fantastic job. We know that the number of call-outs for the fire services is reducing and call-outs for other purposes like floods car accidents other accidents are growing. These people are really the front-line people who come and rescue the people from time to time. So I would like to thank the whole Fire and Emergency New Zealand team for the excellent job they do and I commend this bill to the House.