Woolerton R Doug: Taxation (Disaster Relief) Bill — Procedure First Reading Second Reading Third Reading 
Woolerton R Doug: Taxation (Disaster Relief) Bill — Procedure First Reading Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:616;Page:11675] 
R DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First) 
: 
 Likewise New Zealand First supports this bill. We are pleased to do so because we have an understanding of farming and of people in the provinces. They are hardy people and they will recover from this catastrophe as all people do but that is not to say that they can recover without some help and understanding from the Government and in particular from Government agencies. 
New Zealand First—and this is not to make political capital—has always believed that help can be provided to different industries through the taxation system. We have seen—and any farmer will tell us—that it is an inequity that when people face periods of drought flood pestilence or anything else and have to divest themselves of stock or plant or both in the short term the money they receive shows up as a huge increase in their income for that year making it very difficult to even out their taxation. They may well get the tax back a couple of years later but that does not help them in times of crisis. I can see from my farming colleagues’ nods that even if they have not been in that situation themselves they certainly understand it. So I think it is great that in this instance we are seeing some understanding in terms of taxation and are seeing instructions from the Prime Minister down that people in the departments should use their initiative and be flexible. Above all else that is what needs to happen. 
My leader will berate me when I say these next words but I have not been to the disaster area. That has been deliberate because I think that the time immediately after disaster strikes is a time when Government members Ministers and people directly involved in departments should go to that area. The last thing people need is a person like myself trundling around. But I will go and I will take a great interest in this area because I do realise as other speakers have outlined that resowing replanting rebuilding and all of those things have to be done. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
R DOUG WOOLERTON 
: I have taken on board the words of a local member Simon Power who said that once the initial heartbreak and grief of the local people and the outpourings of sympathy and the donation of some millions of dollars from the rest of New Zealand were over a period of grieving—I forget the exact words Mr Power used—would set in and the real grief the sense of real loss would come to pass. I said earlier that I had deliberately not been to the area while people were in emergency mode but I will certainly be visiting in future to see the replanting of pastures and crops and to pass on to people the sympathies of my party and myself. I think that is the appropriate thing to do. 
I understand what Mr Power is saying. He gave a warning to the Government and I think that is fair. The Government whether or not it needs the warning certainly understands that it cannot sit back now. As far as farms go and businesses and people’s lives they need to be rebuilt they need to be made productive again and the hurt and the tragedies that have been experienced need to be put right. So the Government’s job really is just beginning and it is great to see the House across parties endorse the help that is being extended to whatever degree with this bill. 
Millions of dollars will be needed—not only in the lower North Island but in other parts of the country. In the break I was talking to my colleague Gerrard Eckhoff about the situation in Otago where people have just finished experiencing their worst drought in maybe history—certainly in living memory. To then have other parts of the country some not so far from that Otago area itself hit by floods is rather ironic. It is a weather pattern we expect to see in our dry neighbour Australia. 
I endorse Mr Power’s comments and say that the Government’s work is just beginning. I want to put on record that I will be visiting the area on behalf of New Zealand First and out of my own interest to pass on our sympathies to people there and to watch the rebuilding and whatever steps the Government takes to put money and resources into the area to get it back to how it was previously. We endorse and support that wholeheartedly. I do not think there is much more I can constructively say except that it is right to bring this bill to the House. New Zealand First has supported taxation incentives since its inception. This legislation is not seen as an incentive yet that is what it is. It is help that is sorely needed and we support it wholeheartedly.