McLellan TraceyDr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker for the chance to say a few words on this Building (Earthquake-prone Building Deadlines and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. Thinking about this bill and listening to some of the contributions always reminds me of one of those frustrating but real facts about human beings and that is our reliability if not always in a valid way to favour the immediacy bias to always be thinking about what's right in front of us and how much it might cost or what a hassle it might be instead of actually putting the work into saving our own skins and doing what's best in so far as a safety issue.As other contributors have also mentioned the impetus for this current law is premised on the lessons we learnt from Christchurch. I know I certainly will never ever get out of my mind all of the sights and all of the sounds and all of the smells and all of the horrible things that I witnessed on that day in the city centre in Christchurch in 2011. Whilst nothing could ever have provided any forewarning and there was no building code that would ever have prevented the CTV Building coming down and taking the life of my friend and workmate I think it is up to the people who lived through that experience—particularly some of the people who experienced real harm and have dedicated their time since then—to campaign for better regulations and for better safety particularly with buildings in what can only be described as a very earthquake-prone country that we live in.But it's not to say that we don't also appreciate the fact that this is complicated and there are various considerations that need to be made. We're not supporting the bill primarily because of a fundamental understanding that if you keep kicking the can down the road nothing ever gets done. There will always be a myriad of considerations that need to be made there will always be competing variables at play but at some point you've just got to get on with it.I'd like to also note that whilst we talk about the fact that people should never be put at undue risk due to the buildings that they're living in—and we talk about apartments if we talk about Wellington. Can I also just remind everybody that we also shouldn't be put at undue risk from buildings that we merely may be driving past or we merely may be passing by just for a moment. It took me a long time to notice it—years actually. Particularly I would notice it coming up to Wellington walking in the CBD—which is a novelty because we didn't have one for such a long time or a concept of some sort of business district—walking up the town and without even thinking about it my first thought was always You won't survive if you walk past that building" or "That won't last five seconds." You know people that haven't seen it take it for granted. We have sayings about things being as strong as buildings or you know as safe as houses and all these various other sayings that we've learnt over generations to take as a truism—and it's just not when you see them fall down as easily as they can.So I think that it is incumbent upon the Government to look at different ways in which we can support—and as my colleague Arena Williams intimated earlier no one's saying that this is an easy solution or that there are quick fixes but we are saying that the State and the Government probably do play some sort of role in ensuring that we can move forward. And we definitely need to move forward. This could potentially be the first of several different extensions and before we know it we will be no further ahead and we will be regretting that decision.Also intimated in a prior contribution from Arena Williams was the fact that she didn't quite have enough time to go through specifics of what the solutions to this were. But Labour's solution in Government was the Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme and it has been cancelled by this Government. Whilst the member who made the contribution before me found it somewhat perplexing that we weren't supporting this particular bill I likewise find it somewhat perplexing that some things that could have been helpful and could have moved us along in a bit more steady way have been cancelled. But nevertheless this is the situation that we find ourselves in.I will watch with keen interest as it goes through the select committee stage undoubtedly and I look forward to hearing all the contributions from people with lived experience and all of the expertise that will be lent in that direction. Thank you."