Faafoi KrisKRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana): It is a privilege to speak to this bill and as I rise I would like to acknowledge the member who just sat down Stuart Smith and acknowledge the work that he is obviously doing in his electorate. I would also obviously like to acknowledge my own colleague Rino Tirikatene who has spent some time in the earthquake-affected area. One of the important changes within this bill is the obligation for owners of buildings to get an assessment of the safety of the building after an event whether that is an earthquake or another natural disaster.There has been a very good process that has been had amongst all parties and in that spirit there is going to be a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP). I think it is important that we do note that and it was noted by my colleague David Parker and has been mentioned by the Hon Gerry Brownlee. I will just make sure I get this right—in new section 26A inserted by clause 7 in new subsections (2) to (8) there is the ability for an owner to appeal a request for an assessment of a property. The issue that David Parker has found within the proposed legislation as it stands now is that it should not act as a stay in the process of getting an assessment. So it is my understanding that along with the help of Mr Parker and also with the Government an SOP will come to this House to make sure that is made very plain and clear through that legislation—and that is a good process.It is an important process because I think it must have been an issue for many building owners and members of Parliament in the Wellington region on the day after the quake. I know that a lot of people on the Monday were asked to stay away from their workplaces and their offices. On the Tuesday as my staff went back to work I went and saw my landlord and asked him what the situation around the structural safety of the building was. I am lucky because he has acted in good faith. He has seen the importance of making sure that an assessment is done. He has had a very quick one done initially and he has committed to making sure that another one will be done when time allows and when the availability of a structural engineer allows to make sure a proper assessment of the building is done.This piece of legislation does create an obligation other than the current health and safety legislation requirements for an assessment of a building to be made to make sure that it is structurally safe. In those hours on Tuesday morning when I wondered whether or not my staff would be safe in the building I wondered what the obligations of a building owner are. I am glad that that has been clarified in this piece of legislation. As I acknowledged obviously Stuart Smith the MP for Kaikōura I would like to send my condolences to the families affected by deaths there and obviously to the community of Kaikōura. As a youngster I spent a lot of time in South Bay of Kaikōura. I had some very good family friends there at the time. Sarah Bradbury—now Sarah Thompson—was in Kaikōura at the time and I was very happy to see via Facebook that her family who live in South Bay now Ian and Bev are safe and well. I wish them our love as well.The other issue I wanted to raise—because I do not want to take up my full 10 minutes—is the issue of preparedness. There was some confusion especially I think in the Wellington region and especially in my area of Mana around the tsunami warning system and some of the confusing messages that were sent to the public. We were first told when the notice came out on RNZ National that the tsunami alert was for the eastern areas of New Zealand. Then we were told that it would be widened and also included Wellington. That did not specifically cover the areas of my electorate. I live in Tītahi Bay quite close to the beach so I like many people was confused by some of the messages coming out on the radio. We were not sure whether Wellington included us. If we can learn some lessons from the 7.8 quake that we had recently I think it is that kind of thing that needs to be sharper. The other issue that has certainly been raised by constituents in the areas that are coastal in the electorate is a tsunami warning system—that is whether or not there are tsunami sirens in our area. After speaking with the senior manager of the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office in Porirua yesterday we were told that there is no siren—and that is a good thing to know as a definitive—because there are not the back-end processes or systems in place for there to be an effective tsunami warning system there. My colleague Grant Robertson has mentioned it already but I think a big lesson that we need to learn from this is that we need to take a serious look at making sure that we are as prepared as we possibly can be and we need to have a Parliament-wide discussion about warning systems such as a tsunami warning system where people can get the message nice and early when there is a local earthquake event where minutes make the difference. I know the Government has mentioned that there could be the ability to have a text message service that is specific to specific areas and I would ask that that be expedited because that is the kind of thing that I think people who are a little bit anxious in low-lying areas certainly in communities that I represent would like to see happen. Another example is a simple nationwide system where the local volunteer firefighters' alarm can be sounded continuously and people know what that message is. The system around the country at the moment is patchy. I understand there is a siren in the likes of New Brighton and such in Christchurch but there is no system in Porirua. I think one of the learnings is that we need to make sure that we take a decent and thorough look at a tsunami warning system where people have good clear messages about who is going to be affected what the messages are about when the alarm sounds and where to go. Thank you.