O'Connor GregSARAH PALLETT (Labour—Ilam): Thank you Madam Speaker. I beg your pardon for referring to you as Madam Chair. I rise this afternoon to respond to the Prime Minister's statement but before I get into the detail I'd just like to take a few moments to address and acknowledge the devastating effects of the Auckland flooding and of Cyclone Gabrielle. I don't think that I can really add much to what my colleague Anna Lorck has said so movingly earlier but like many Cantabrians I am very aware of the realities of living through a disaster of this magnitude. I remember the feelings of fear fear for my children and loved ones hopelessness in the face of such widespread destruction and genuine concern for the future. But through all of it what I remember really clearly is how the community pulled together from the very small things—you know kids baking muffins for the evacuation centre people piping spring water to the street—to of course the enormous heroism of our first responders ours and those who came to support us from overseas. Watching people responding to the floods and cyclone with the same concern for each other and the same heroism has been a powerful reminder to me of who we really are as a nation and I want to add my immense gratitude to them for everything that they have done and continue to do as well as my sorrow over the lives tragically lost.So yet again we are looking to how we can support each other. We're looking to how we can rebuild looking to how we can recover and build back better. The Prime Minister said we will do what it takes that we will stand by New Zealanders as we recover and he said you are not alone. I wholeheartedly endorse that statement because we do have some very real challenges ahead. We know that in order to support New Zealand families and businesses through the difficult economic conditions that we're facing we have to get back to basics and respond to the cost of living pressures that all families are facing.I'm very proud to be the MP for Ilam. It's an electorate that is incredibly diverse. It's diverse in all respects. We have arguably the richest blend of ethnic communities. I'm sure to hear no argument about having the best university in the University of Canterbury. We have the best international airport in New Zealand. We have the best wildlife park and best tourist destinations. We also have the second largest social housing area in Christchurch and we have a real mix of the highest and lowest socio-economic status and everything in between. So when I heard the Prime Minister talk about how we're investing for example in public transport with the extensions on fuel excise reductions road-user charges and half-price public transport I immediately thought of what that would mean to my community to our large student population to those on low incomes. With transport being the third largest expense to households after housing and food and the average cost saving that this represents of about $17.25 for a 60 litre tank fill up or $25 on public transport this will make a huge different just in and of itself. These half-price public transport fares have been made permanent for community services card holders and Total Mobility card holders.From 1 May 1.2 million New Zealanders will receive up to $31.82 a week to help with their heating through winter through the winter energy payment. In April New Zealand Superannuation and main benefit rates will increase. That's not the only thing that's increasing we continue to support workers by raising wages. From 1 April we're increasing the minimum wage again to $22.70. This will maintain the real value of more than 200000 workers' incomes and ensure that our lowest-paid workers are able to keep up with the increases to the cost of living. From $15.75 in 2017 to $22.70 on 1 April—that's the rise in the minimum wage that Labour has overseen. That's $15.75 to $21.20 in six years and we increase that to $22.70 in a month or so. The National Party oversaw an increase of $12 to $15.75 in nine years. The ACT Party—well they want a moratorium for the next three years and unfortunately the National Party describes it as a great shame that we've increased the minimum wage so much. A great shame—putting cash in the hands of our lowest earners!But because it's International Women's Day I'm going to move to something a little bit more positive. Happy International Women's Day. It's worth highlighting that this week only this week our Minister for Women the Hon Jan Tinetti signalled a historic pay equity settlement for 1200 school librarians and library assistants and around 400 science technicians. Those new pay equity rates will mean that school librarians and library assistants will have their income increased by between 10 and 38 percent and the science technicians between 20 to 40 percent—that's massive. Since the passing of the amendment to the Equal Pay Act in July 2020 there have been six claims involving 110000 people who have had their pay corrected—110000 people—and we've got another 27 claims under way.But I know you want to hear more about Ilam. Because it's my favourite subject I obviously want to talk about it more and that's fair enough. We are closing the housing shortfall that we inherited and we're doing that in Ilam too. Under this Government there are 11473 more public houses including 9236 newly built homes. This Labour Government has delivered nearly one in seven of all New Zealand public housing stock. In Ilam construction began on a new Kāinga Ora housing redevelopment just around the corner from my office in Bryndwr. That's 34 new dry warm homes for people in need. It's a mix of two-storey one- to five-bedroom units with a communal garden and a play area and lots of recreational green space. Eight older existing houses were demolished to make way for those 34 new warm dry homes. And that's not all we're doing in Ilam. This is only one of many redevelopment sites in Bryndwr and Burnside. In the next few years up to 113 new units on 14 sites will replace 39 older units. That's another 113 warm dry homes.But wait there's more—of course there's more. In his statement the Prime Minister spoke about the importance of investing in our schools and in our kura. And he announced last week a further $301 million for Christchurch schools to complete building and refurbishing 115 schools in the next two years. We celebrated the opening of the first set of new classrooms with the Prime Minister on Friday at Heaton Intermediate School and it was fantastic to see students in their warm dry learning environments—modern beautiful spaces—after such a long journey. And on Friday morning the same day—before that—I was absolutely honoured to be able to turn the first sod at Fendalton Open-air School to mark the beginning of their rebuild. It was a good day for schools in Christchurch. As I said before it was a long journey but I'm so honoured to be a part of it and to have been a part of it and what this does is send a really strong message to people who are currently in the aftermath experiencing the aftermath as they're still in the grips of flooding and cyclone damage.What this says is as the Prime Minister said we are with you as we have been with every challenge we've faced since Labour came into Government because Labour shows up for the people of New Zealand. Labour shows up each and every time. And that's why I support the Prime Minister's statement.DEPUTY SPEAKER: This is a five-minute call—Nicola Grigg.