Rurawhe AdrianHon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Immigration): Can I start off by thanking the Hon Gerry Brownlee—first elected in 1996 under the Jim Bolger Government and then first a Minister in 2008 under the John Key Government—for his lecture on the need for newness and freshness in the Government's agenda. Can I also note that the very same member who had quite a lot to say about the use of Government consultants not 10 years ago was having to explain why it was that the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority an entity which he was responsible for was spending $1.3 million on external communications consultants to do its job and alongside his chief executive explaining that sometimes public agencies do need to pull upon that support to do important work. Receiving those lectures on newness and freshness and the use of consultants in the public sector from that member was like receiving a lecture in business ethics from Del Boy. And the contrast with the Prime Minister's statement at the start of this debate could not have been stronger because not once from Mr Brownlee—not once in that entire 10-minute bloviation—did we hear one single new idea or policy to actually deal with the real challenges and issues that New Zealanders face in 2023. We heard an endless stream of criticism and whingeing but not eight months out from a general election did we hear from a senior member of the Opposition party one new idea or policy for how they would do anything differently to the benefit of the people of this country. We can contrast that with the speech and the statement from our Prime Minister Chris Hipkins which was clear and laser-focused on the focus of our Government to support New Zealanders with cost of living issues—Andrew Bayly: Tax cuts!Hon MICHAEL WOOD: —taking concrete action like extending the fuel excise duty road-user charges and public transport reductions to save New Zealanders around about $700 million between now and July taking $700 million of cost out of the pockets of Kiwi households and the Government taking care of that to make things a little bit easier. One of the members opposite calls out What about the tax cuts?" Well what about the tax cuts indeed Mr Bayly because of course those tax cuts proposed by that party—as a matter of ideological obsession—would give the very greatest benefit to members of this House and those on the highest incomes and give $2 per week to the lowest-earning New Zealanders in this country. This is a Government which since it came in to office has ensured that minimum wage workers in this country—those workers who do critical work for us on the checkouts serving us the coffees that we enjoy so much cleaning these buildings—are $240 per week better off because of the minimum wage increases that this Government has put in place that have been opposed year in year out from members opposite. So this is a Government which is relentlessly focused on cost of living issues and making sure that ordinary Kiwis get a fair go and that the wealth of this country doesn't just flow ever upwards but gets there to the people who do so much work to make our country function well. I want to speak in the remaining time that I have on the extraordinary resilience courage and determination of New Zealanders who have faced down extreme weather events this year. I know the thoughts of everyone in this House are with our fellow New Zealanders who have had to bear so much through the course of the devastating anniversary weekend floods in Auckland and Cyclone Gabrielle which has devastated a large part of the upper North Island where 50 percent of the New Zealand population lives. Never before have we had weather events of this magnitude across such a large part of the country doing so much damage and we cannot forget that between those two events 15 of our fellow Kiwis lost their lives. Many people had their livelihoods seriously compromised. We have hundreds of our fellow New Zealanders who aren't able to sleep in their own homes tonight. It has been so tough for many people around New Zealand. I'm enormously proud of my city Auckland and the community of Mt Roskill that I represent. We were one of the hardest hit communities when the floods hit Auckland and we have the highest number of people whose homes have been red stickered; people who do not as of today have permanent accommodation. And what I saw at that time when things were so so difficult for many people was the spirit of our communities was people coming together and helping each other people reaching out people digging deep people recognising that the way that you get through tough times isn't just to look out for yourself; the way we get through the tough times is by focusing on "we" not just "me". And all around my community community groups individuals and schools banded together. They brought together what resources they had: somewhere to sleep food to eat supplies to keep the family going things to do for the kids. We brought those things together in a community kete and we looked after each other. And it is always the case that in the most difficult times or when we face big challenges we get there together. We don't get there just by focusing on ourselves; we get there together and that has been an important lesson which we have perhaps relearnt throughout this crisis period. In Auckland there is much work still to do and I will be focused on that in the new role that I have as Minister for Auckland. We have a big job to do as we work through the recovery period and as we look to rebuild back better. We have an ongoing situation in which significant numbers of Aucklanders in our west coastal communities do remain cut off through a seriously compromised transport network and there is ongoing work to make sure that the welfare and the needs of those people are met. That will be an important priority as we work with Auckland Council as it continues to develop its recovery response. There is ongoing need to make sure that emergency accommodation is provided to around about 600 Auckland households whose homes have been red stickered and potentially will remain uninhabitable for a period of time. And I want to acknowledge the work of my colleague the Hon Megan Woods and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment who have been working very hard to set up the temporary accommodation service in Auckland and provide as much certainty as we can to those Aucklanders who have had their lives so seriously disrupted. As we move out of the recovery period there is a lot of work to do to rebuild the infrastructure and to once again get our economy and our supply chains in Auckland moving. Because when Auckland does well all of New Zealand does well. It has been a tough couple of years. Following on from COVID Auckland was seeing the sun on the horizon as we came through summer. Things were moving ahead positively and then we've had the setback. But our city is tough; it's resilient; it's a beautiful diverse place. It is dynamic and it has limitless potential. We are the first city of the Pacific and we will work together to recover and to rebuild even better and that will be a big focus for my work. We know that these series of extreme weather events have devastated large parts of the country and I also want to acknowledge those parts of regional New Zealand who are so devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle: our friends and our colleagues in Northland Waikato the Coromandel Hawke's Bay Tararua Wairarapa Tai Rāwhiti; communities who have had to bear so much over the last month. And I want to reaffirm our Government's absolute commitment to rebuilding the key infrastructure and connections that enable those communities to connect and supply chains to work. The cutting off of key roads and rail links particularly in the Hawke's Bay Coromandel and Tai Rāwhiti have been so tough for people—whānau hapū and businesses—who do rely on those connections to get around. Our Government's commitment is a resolute one and in case any member wants to question that there is no question: we will rebuild those critical transport links and that work is under way. We put $250 million on the table as an immediate response two weeks ago to make sure that Waka Kotahi KiwiRail and councils are able to get on with that job. Our transport recovery has three key phases. The first is restoring the emergency lifelines to communities who were cut off in the incredible flooding that was experienced. Around about 70 percent of that work is now complete and remaining communities are a huge focus for our transport agency to make sure that we do reopen those connections. Some of the damage is extreme and I ask the communities for patience as we work through that and commit that we will put every resource that we can into that. Secondly we will make sure that we then invest to bring our transport network back up to the levels of service that were experienced before Cyclone Gabrielle. And that is a complete commitment from our Government without reservation. And thirdly we will make the investments that we need across the country to build a more resilient transport network.One of the lessons coming out of these extreme weather events is that we are in an era of climate change. We must do both things. We must reduce our emissions because that is a moral responsibility and a practical responsibility so this situation does not get worse. And we must also invest in the resilient transport network so that we can withstand the weather that is to come. Anyone who says that it is just one or the other is putting up a false choice and is playing cheap politics. Our Government will make sure that we support New Zealanders through this recovery will invest in the resilient infrastructure that we need and will take farsighted decisions to reduce the impacts of climate change. Thank you Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: This is a split call. I call Jan Logie."