McAnulty Kieran; O'Connor GregThird ReadingHon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister for Emergency Management): I move That the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill be now read a third time. I would like to take the opportunity to thank submitters who considered the bill in such a short time. Even though the consultation phase was short the bill has undoubtedly been improved. I also want to acknowledge the Governance and Administration Committee for their collegial approach their careful consideration of the views of submitters and the thoughtful recommendations they made. This omnibus bill will support and provide relief to local authorities and communities in those areas affected by the recent severe weather events in the North Island. The bill supports these areas as they shift towards recovery efforts by providing the flexibility to speed up those efforts through the use of Orders in Council. The bill also sets out safeguards to ensure this flexibility is used sensibly. The bill also sits alongside the recently passed Severe Weather Emergency Legislation Act as part of the broader Government support package for affected communities.The Government has accepted the vast majority of the Governance and Administration Committee's recommendations and incorporated them into the bill through a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP). I wish to take a few minutes to run through the most significant of these changes. I think it is important to briefly outline these changes for the House since there wasn't an opportunity to do so during the second reading of the bill. Firstly I want to talk about the Severe Weather Events Recovery Review Panel. Under the bill as introduced the Minister responsible for cyclone recovery or the associate must consider appointing members with specific experience and expertise such as in the law environment protection climate change local Māori interests and other community interests in the affected area. SOP 348 amended the membership of the panel by expanding the knowledge and expertise of its membership. The SOP broadened the specified areas of experience and expertise by adding in health protection primary industries and emergency resilience. To me these additions will only make the panel more effective in its role of scrutinising draft Orders in Council.The bill as introduced also required the Minister to consult the Regulations Review Committee or each leader of the political party represented in the present or previous Parliament if that is not practicable. The SOP clarified that party political leaders are only intended to be consulted during an interregnum when Parliament has been dissolved or has expired and that this requirement only applies to leaders in the most recent Parliament. I should note that for any Orders in Council proposed to add more Acts to the list of legislation in Schedule 2 of the bill I have opted to retain the test requiring the unanimous or near unanimous support of political party leaders. I consider this test is often used in the House Business Committee and does not need to be specified in this bill. This SOP also allows relevant Ministers to extend the time frame for the Regulations Review Committee to provide comments on draft Orders in Council which is within three working days as currently set out in the bill. I think this is a sensible amendment and it will provide additional time for the committee to scrutinise the draft Orders in Council. The SOP also addresses a point the committee and submitters raised by reiterating that Orders in Council are to be no broader than geographically necessary. Keeping the scope of any orders tight in this way will help ensure the powers are not exercised beyond where they need to be. As I mentioned during the second reading debate I would again like to extend an invitation for an appropriate select committee to conduct a review of the powers contained in the bill. I think this will be a really useful exercise given the short time frame in which the bill has progressed. I also think a post-enactment review by a select committee will go some way to addressing the concerns raised by submitters. The select committee process will complement the ability of the courts to review ministerial decisions about the making of orders reflecting the valuable and ongoing contribution that independent processes operating by convention can provide. Lastly I am appreciative of the efforts of this House for considering this bill within truncated time frames. Despite this constraint there were many considered and intelligent views on points of debate in the bill during the committee of the whole House stage. I appreciate the cross-party support in this House for supporting the best recovery efforts possible to meet the needs of affected communities. I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the efforts put in by officials and by clerks and the select committee team—many people here at Parliament and through agencies that have worked incredibly hard in a short period of time to work with the committee incorporate its recommendations working with officials to come up with something that I think this Parliament should be pretty proud of given the circumstances. This bill will facilitate Aotearoa's recovery from the recent severe weather events and help our communities bounce back to being their vibrant best selves. I commend the bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.