Smith StuartSTUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): Thank you Mr Speaker. Hon Dr Duncan Webb: It's going to your committee.STUART SMITH: May be out of order but I'll take it anyway.But thank you very much. It's a great pleasure to speak on this Contracts of Insurance Bill first reading. And it is going to my committee which I think is a great thing—we're really looking forward to it.For most New Zealanders their house is their largest asset. And if it isn't if they don't own a home it will be a car most likely. So these assets have a lot of their wealth tied up in them and they need to lay off that risk by insuring it if the worst were to happen. Unfortunately the insurance contracts are sometimes quite complex and it is the ultimate in a transaction where you have people that are wanting to when they make a claim get the most out of that claim and an insurance company that wants to minimise the amount that's paid out because they not only want to make money themselves but they also want to keep the premiums down for everyone else. And let's face it if they don't protect that and they pay out money unnecessarily that will be reflected in other peoples' premiums further down the track.Now it is as for anyone who's had—certainly me with a Christchurch MP across the way after the Christchurch earthquakes will know a lot about insurance claims. I do from the Kaikōura earthquakes and my colleagues from Tai Rāwhiti and from the Hawke's Bay they know about dealing with the claims and how difficult it can be. And best will in the world there's always a crunch when the claims come in. And it's very stressful for the people concerned let alone then having to go through negotiations or to find out that they didn't answer a question properly or didn't give full disclosure because they didn't understand what that meant and then have their insurance limited in some way. So this bill goes a long way to correct that.Now work on the previous bill which was alluded to earlier by Dr Duncan Webb that began in 2019—as I understand it. Imagine if we'd had this bill passed before the Auckland Anniversary floods before Cyclone Gabrielle how much better off the constituents of Auckland MPs and those in Tai Rāwhiti and those in Hawke's Bay would have been. There would have been a lot less heartache and a lot better result for people. Unfortunately it hasn't happened. The Hon Andrew Bayly has done a great job. He's picked up what was the basis of that bill and consulted with the industry to find out what were the shortcomings of that bill and to address them. And it's made it a much better bill and a better result for both the consumer and for the insurance industry. And we want the insurance industry to be successful. If they're not they don't have to be here in New Zealand. Insurance is a privilege it's not a right. We have to ensure that everybody is getting a fair deal—that's what a transaction is. A transaction is about a fair deal for both sides of the transaction and that's what this bill is about.And I congratulate Mr Bayly. I think he's done a fantastic job on it and it's really going to make a lot of difference in putting things in plain language but also ensuring that legal obligations are made is not an easy thing to do. It's not a simple thing to write it in a way that would satisfy both parties but this will ensure I think that we get that sort of thing done: simple terms that people can understand so they know what it is they have to disclose. And the example that Mr Bayly gave of the life insurance claim which really seemed to be just trying to find the fine print for the betterment of one side of that transaction is totally unfair and should never happen. And I believe this bill will go a long way to fixing that.I see that Mr Bayly is requiring this to be reported back in September. That gives us plenty of time to consult more widely in the select committee. And I can assure Dr Parmjeet Parmar who in her speech pointed out some things that we should look at we will look at that. We will consider all of those issues before us and we will improve the bill in that way if it's needed. So with pleasure I commend this bill to the House. Thank you.