Doocey MattMATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): Well sorry Madam Speaker I was a bit slow to follow on. I was a bit surprised after such a rousing speech from that Government member Naisi Chen on what is such an important bill this was in her mind—she took all of about 45 seconds. That very much sums it up because with that last speaker using words like save money" and "increasing efficiency" I would go as far to say I doubt there is one firefighter in New Zealand whether they be volunteer or paid who would use the words "save money" and "increasing efficiency" and "Fire and Emergency New Zealand" (FENZ) in the same sentence at the moment. I mean what a shambles. And it is no surprise that we haven't heard from the responsible Minister Jan Tinetti who's the Minister from the Department of Internal Affairs today because that is symbolic that she has been silent on this whole debate around FENZ. What FENZ is looking for is some leadership from this Government. That is exactly what we are missing in New Zealand today: leadership from this Government.I want to echo the words of my good friend and colleague Todd Muller who led off for the Opposition in this bill today when he spoke of engaging the many brave men and women around New Zealand who today—who this morning—will put their lives at risk responding to emergency calls on behalf of their communities. As Mr Muller quite rightly pointed out it's not always responding to fires; it is responding to emergency health incidents as well. They don't feel backed at the moment by this Government and they don't feel backed by FENZ.The Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act was passed in this House in 2017. We had this review of Part 3 five years later and here we are debating a levy framework that will be enacted in four years' time. If you think of all the issues facing our brave firemen and women today—here we are in this House and they wonder why New Zealanders feel that more and more increasingly Wellington is being disconnected from the issues of real New Zealand. We're debating a levy framework that will be enacted in four years' time. There's some real serious concerns—how do we have this independent Crown entity with an income of around $661 million as Mr Muller quite rightly pointed out an expected increase of $220 million. Yep there might be some nice fire stations around the country. In my electorate of Waimakariri in my region of Canterbury there's a number of new fire stations largely of course to do with the devastating earthquakes but it's actually the equipment and their personnel that this funding needs to flow down to.If I could tell a story of when I visited the stations in Canterbury specifically the Redwood fire station in my electorate and the ANZAC fire station in Canterbury. It's quite heart-breaking to hear the stories the intensity and the level of complexity that our firefighters are now going out to and engaging especially in emergency health incidents. Quite rightly we need to make sure—and it is Mental Health Awareness Week this week—they get the right services whether we want to call them employee assistance programme (EAP) services or mental health support services. One fireperson told me that they got given the number for the EAP service they rung up they needed some support and the therapist actually had to stop them and say "Actually I'm a relationship counsellor; I'm not a trauma counsellor." These are the lack of services that our brave firemen and women are not getting at a time when it's greatly needed. Yet in the House we are debating a bill that got reviewed five years after the enabling legislation and now we're debating a levy framework that will be brought in in four years' time.When you look at the changes yep they seem quite perfunctory. They seem the right way forward—we're going to change to looking at a levy based on sum insured and the insurance around the motor vehicle and defining and giving more clarity to the insurance sector around insuring a physical loss from fire. But actually when we look at the levy and the methodologies this Parliament needs to know and needs to be comforted that when that levy is taken and it is dispersed through FENZ that money will get to the front line. That's a problem we have today. We have a FENZ that doesn't seem to be backing our front-line fire and emergency workers. What we have is a Minister who is missing in action—a Minister who should be stepping up at this time of crisis.There wouldn't be one member of Parliament across any party in this House that hasn't received a heartfelt email from someone who's working at the front line. I'd be very disappointed to find out if there was member of Parliament in this House who actually based on those emails hasn't gone out and visited one of those fire stations because that's when you'll hear the real stories of what's happening on the front line. So it's all very well for this Government to get up today and say "Yep we're bringing this bill to the House. We've had a review based on engagement with the insurance sector and other sectors. We're moving forward about"—what did that last speaker say?—"saving money and increasing efficiency." I mean that really has to be a Tui ad doesn't it? A Labour member of Parliament getting up—and the audacity to keep a straight face and to say that under their Government they're going to save money and increase efficiency. If there's one thing that the New Zealand public has learnt under this Labour Government it's that there is no saving of money—profligate spending a Government addicted to spending—and there is no increasing of efficiencies.In fact when you listen to some of the stories of our firemen and women at the front line you've really got to scratch your head about equipment that is turning up not fit for purpose money paying for a number of consultants where work never goes anywhere. So I suppose it's all very well debating this levy framework today but I tell you what: New Zealanders listening today will want to know "Yep there is a social contract there. We quite rightly agree to levies being taken through our insurance whether it be in our property or to our motor vehicles to fund a fire and emergency response." But they want to know there's due diligence in FENZ to ensure that that money is getting spent well and wisely and getting into the front line.You can't help but think that what's happening in FENZ at the moment is the permeating culture from this Labour Government that is addicted to spending and there is actually no fiscal discipline and there's actually no outcomes. There's no evaluation. Are we doing what we want to achieve? You've got to wonder why this has been kicked out for four years. I tell you what when you look at what these guys tried to do—sneak through a retirement tax they're trying to sneak through a jobs tax at the moment. What's up around this four years? What is their plan for the levies? Why is it going to take four years? That's I think the question that hangs over this House today. Maybe we might hear some clarity from the Government members when they take their call. But I've got no doubt that there will be some suspicion out there in New Zealand and quite rightly so because every time they seem to turn on the TV costs are going up and this Government's coming up with another reason to tax hard-working Kiwis."