Hayes Jo; Williams PotoJO HAYES (National): Thank you. I stand to take a call on this very important piece of legislation. I digress just a little bit because I was quite interested to hear at a meeting that I was at on Saturday for the opening of the Anzac fire service that it was the Ballantynes fire that caused restructure throughout how New Zealand dealt with fires. As I stand here it was the Christchurch earthquake that actually helped to inform this piece of legislation followed very closely behind with the Kaikōura earthquake. I too work in the East along with your good self Madam Chair and with the issues that some of the constituents there have had over some of the Earthquake Commission (EQC) claims I think that what the Finance and Expenditure Committee have done—I believe they've done a pretty good job at being able to kind of rally everything together into this bill. I think that even though you heard nine submitters at the hearings around the collection and the disclosure of information in Part 1 there was one area that I was really pleased that the select committee looked into quite clearly because of the wording and through the Office of the Privacy Commissioner also recommending replacing clause 5 in the bill to insert new section 31A. So as I read through the select committee report of this bill I was heartened to see that the select committee did take up the recommendations from the Privacy Commissioner because it was closing a gap that would give out wrong signals or be misinterpreted by the claimants and I think that the work that has been done to close that gap has been very good.Then as I move through extending the claim deadlines to two years under clause 7—would extend the initial period of notice to allow claimants to give notice within 3 months of damage occurring. EQC could also accept claims [for] up to 2 years after damage [had] occurred". As the Minister in the chair Megan Woods said in her contribution some of the damage from the earthquakes and the aftershocks—people didn't know until they went to do their house up to put it up for sale. You don't know these things and even where I stay in Burwood there's always these little things that have shown up where I stay with Diane. She has said to me that as each earthquake and aftershock happened in 2011 there was a lot more damage underneath the surface of her house that she had no idea had happened. I also had visited a number of constituents where whilst on top the window was a bit skew-whiff underneath the whole base of the house was virtually off its piles. So they felt that they were outside the time. They still have some issues that need to be addressed and I think that this bill will give some sort of comfort to those that find these faults and need to put forward their claim.I think EQC considering the issue that they faced in the 2011 earthquakes and then the Kaikōura earthquakes did an amazing job. I think that when you have these disasters the Government agencies are then put to the test. So I think that EQC did very well and I think this bill is quite timely to actually help them. And it wasn't just about Christchurch; it's for the future of the whole of New Zealand. We know that—CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): I apologise for interrupting the member. The time has come for me to leave the Chair.Debate interrupted.Sitting suspended from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. (Wednesday)"