Prime Willow-JeanEMERGENCY MANAGEMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Minister of Conservation) on behalf of the Minister for Emergency Management: I present a legislative statement on the Emergency Management Bill. DEPUTY SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website. Hon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME: I move That the Emergency Management Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Governance and Administration Committee to consider the bill. I wish to start by acknowledging the work done by the parliamentary colleagues who also recognised the need to strengthen our emergency management system. In particular they are the Hon Kiritapu Allan who led the initial development of this bill and former civil defence Ministers the Hon Peeni Henare and the Hon Kris Faafoi and in his absence—as I am delivering the speech on his behalf—the Hon Kieran McAnulty. The development of the Emergency Management Bill continues the work of predecessors to implement the Government's response to the Ministerial Review: Better Responses to Natural Disasters and Other Emergencies in New Zealand. This review was set up by the Hon Gerry Brownlee in 2017 to advise on the most appropriate operational and legislative mechanisms to support effective responses to natural disasters and other emergencies and I acknowledge the Hon Gerry Brownlee for establishing a cross-party group in 2017. Emergencies are above politics. We need a system that will work for all New Zealanders regardless of who is in Government. The frequency complexity and consequences of recent emergencies like Cyclone Gabrielle have highlighted the importance of updating the legislation to improve how we manage risks respond to and recover from emergencies and empower and support community resilience. The Emergency Management Bill will repeal and replace the now two-decade-old Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002. The strength of our emergency management system is that it is locally led. The bill reinforces that approach and makes some practical improvements to ensure the system is best placed for the future. It is not designed as a fundamental transformation of the emergency management system.Terminology: I am going to take this opportunity today to outline some of the key changes the bill introduces. First the bill replaces the term civil defence" in the current Act with "emergency management". Current civil defence emergency management groups will become emergency management committees. This is consistent with international practice and better reflects the broad and integrated nature of the emergency management sector.Roles and responsibilities: second there is a lack of clarity about the respective roles and responsibilities of civil defence emergency management groups and local authorities have impacted the effectiveness of the emergency management system. To improve role clarity for example the bill specifies the distinct and separate functions of local authorities and emergency management committees. There is also some uncertainty about the scope of the roles and responsibilities of agencies that play a role in leading or supporting emergency management activities. Managing the consequences of emergencies does not always sit neatly with the lead agency and may require other agencies to provide support—for example providing welfare services or temporary accommodation for people who have had to leave their home. The bill includes a new power for regulations to be made relating to the roles and responsibilities of lead and support agencies. This power is subject to specified safeguards including a requirement to consult with relevant Ministers and Public Service agencies' chief executives.Enhancing Māori participation: next this bill recognises the important role Māori play in our emergency management system and enhances Māori participation at all levels—national regional and local—and across strategic planning and operational activity. Māori including iwi whānau hapū and marae already play an important role in Aotearoa New Zealand's emergency management system but it is not expressly referenced in the 2002 Act. Māori have significant knowledge and expertise as well as resources that are activated early in times of emergency. Time and time again we have seen Māori respond swiftly to emergencies and carry out vital work in supporting the welfare of everyone in their communities. For example during the Auckland floods in January this year Manurewa Marae provided kai packs and set up a phone line for people in the community to ring if they needed support and again during Cyclone Gabrielle we saw iwi hapū and marae mobilise to help with evacuations and support impacted whānau. Given the role that Māori play in response it makes sense to ensure that they have a guaranteed presence on the committees that plan for such responses. The bill introduces a requirement to include Māori members on both the emergency management committees and emergency management co-ordinating executives formally co-ordinating executive groups. It is important that Māori members are appointed via systems that are developed locally. To achieve this the bill enables regulations to prescribe locally appropriate appointment mechanisms for members which will be developed with Māori and local government. The bill also requires emergency management committees to collaborate with Māori and iwi in the development of local emergency management plans.At the national level the bill establishes a new National Māori Emergency Management Advisory Group to provide advice to the Director of Emergency Management on Māori interests and knowledge relevant to emergency management. The bill also recognises the role of Māori in emergency management by including Māori in the national emergency management plans. The bill enhances the resilience and accountability of critical infrastructure. As you will all know Cyclone Gabrielle caused significant damage to critical infrastructure including transport networks and telecommunications. Cyclone Gabrielle and other recent severe weather events have highlighted just how vulnerable these systems are. The ability of infrastructure systems to function during adverse conditions and quickly recover to acceptable levels of service after an event is fundamental to the wellbeing of communities. The Emergency Management Bill introduces several changes to the increase of resilience in New Zealand's infrastructure and infrastructure services before during and after emergencies. These include clarifying the roles and responsibilities of critical infrastructure entities in emergency management a requirement for critical infrastructure entities to develop or contribute to the development of sector-specific plans for responding to and recovering from emergencies a requirement for critical infrastructure entities to establish and publicly state the levels of service they plan on being able to provide during and after an emergency and a requirement for critical infrastructure entities to report annually to the Director of Emergency Management and their regulatory agencies on how they are planning on meeting their obligations under the bill. I acknowledge there has been some concern about the potential cost impacts of these changes on critical infrastructure entities and I welcome the select committee considering this further.Enabling equitable outcomes: we know that emergencies can amplify existing inequalities and disproportionately impact some population groups including rural communities culturally and linguistically diverse communities seniors and disabled people. To ensure that their needs are met in emergency response and recovery the bill requires emergency management committees to engage with representatives of these communities during the development of their emergency management committee plan. Emergency management rules: finally the bill updates the legal framework on emergency management. This includes empowering the Director of Emergency Management to make rules for the emergency management system and for the inclusion of the new infringement scheme to achieve compliance with the law and reduce harm caused by minor offending.Select committee process and recommendations: the bill takes into account many lessons identified from numerous emergencies that New Zealand has experienced and I encourage the select committee to consider whether further amendments could be made to the bill to adopt improvements in response to more recent emergencies. New Zealanders are and will continue to be at risk from a broad range of hazards and threats. It's critical that we work together to ensure the legislation that underpins the emergency management system is inclusive modern and enduring. I encourage people and organisations to make submissions on the bill at the select committee. Hearing a wide range of views and experiences and being open to ideas and change is essential for ensuring that the legislation that underpins our emergency management system is inclusive and will deliver better outcomes for all people before during and after emergencies. The goal of the Emergency Management Bill is to set the emergency management system up to be responsive and to deliver for all people in Aotearoa New Zealand and I commend it to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."