Mitchell Clayton: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Clayton: General Debate[Sitting date: 29 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:3013. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLAYTON MITCHELL (NZ First):I would just like to acknowledge the fact that that was a very wind-filled delivery by the Hon Nick Smith. It was full of hot air and I dare say that the honourable member would probably make a very good hand dryer. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome on board our newest member Ria Bond who sits here beside us. What a fantastic person to have as part of our caucus. New Zealand First now makes up 10 percent of this debating chamber. We have 12 members in the House. New Zealand First continues to grow. It is the fastest growing political movement in the country at the moment.I would also like to take away some of the filibustering that has been going on and acknowledge some of the comments that have been made in the House this afternoon particularly in light of the ponytail pulling. Even Dr Nick Smith has mentioned it. Hekia Parata also mentioned it. I do not want to take too much time on it but I have to say it is a little bit “vierd”—kind of weird like a Dutch accent—and I still have not got my head quite around why and how it got to where it is.Hon Member: Very very “vierd”.CLAYTON MITCHELL: It is very “vierd” yes. It is a little bit creepy as well.I would also like to take the time to acknowledge the people of Nepal. Four years ago we were in a very similar situation and we had the world come to our aid. Some of those other countries made their way to the shores of New Zealand. Within 12 hours we had representatives from Australia with their urban search and rescue teams arriving here. We had the UK representatives arriving 48 hours later. They were on New Zealand’s shores helping New Zealanders get their lives back on track. We had people from Canada the United States Japan—everybody came together to help us out.I do find it somewhat embarrassing that as a country with the training that we have got cannot get our act together. Just last month our urban search and rescue team got a distinction an accreditation for its skills in urban search and rescue. Yet we cannot get our act together as a Government to deploy immediately to Nepal a country with which we have got a very good strong-standing relationship that goes back 62 years to 1953 of course when Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summited Mount Everest. We have built this fantastic relationship up and we cannot get our act together and get a team—some of the best urban search and rescue operators in the world—over there to lend a helping hand.I said when I got into Parliament that I did not want to be in Opposition just throwing stones willy-nilly at the Government for argument’s sake. I would like to be able to say that I have not done that and that this party has the decency to commend the Government when it does good things and to point out the flaws in areas where it is not getting it quite right. This is an area that seriously needs some attention. With the Minister not in the House today—[Interruption]. I beg your pardon?Tim Macindoe: Tell us the things you like—you were happy to tell us.CLAYTON MITCHELL: Oh no—I have got some things I can tell you right now that we need to address. We have got some major issues particularly with the protocols around sending off our search and rescue team overseas to provide aid. We need to change those protocols. What we should have done in hindsight was send off an early deployment team of five or six people heading over to Malaysia and into Nepal to do a ground survey. And I have to say I would much rather be somebody asking for forgiveness for sending people early than be somebody asking for permission.You Mr Macindoe would agree that if your house was burning down and you were not there to call 111 you would expect your neighbour to call the fire brigade regardless. You would not want for them to wait to say to you: “Yes your house is burning down mate. Would you like to call the fire service?”. And if the fire service arrived and realised that it was not required to assist in any way it could always turn round and go back.That is what we should have done with supporting Nepal in its time of crisis because that is what was done for us when we went through the same situation down in Christchurch 4 years ago. We need to take heed of these mistakes and change the protocols the way we are operating because we have got some of the best most highly-decorated and distinguished operators in urban search and rescue standing around waving their tongues in the breeze waiting to be deployed.What can we take from this? How can we make this situation better? We should be sending our search and rescue people there and certainly be offering up our services in the urban and regional areas around Kathmandu that need—[Interruption] Miss Anne Tolley you cannot tell me that sending help is search and rescue. What about clearing rubble cleaning up and helping? We had people coming over here promptly but it took 72 hours—72 hours—for us to get ready to deploy. It is not good enough and whichever way you dress it up this Government needs to look at itself. The Minister of Internal Affairs needs to be doing a better job to get better outcomes for this country.Tim Macindoe: This is a very poor attack by an ill-informed member.CLAYTON MITCHELL: It is an embarrassment Mr Macindoe and there is no other way of looking at it. We need to get on top of it.