Ferris Tākuta; O'Connor GregTĀKUTA FERRIS (Te Pāti Māori —Te Tai Tonga): Otirā tēnā tatou. Kia ora kia ora. Otirā tēnā tatou. Tēnā tatou i te āhuatanga o ā tatou kōrero.[Good health and wellbeing to us all. Greetings to us all in accordance with what's been said.]I want to use this opportunity to talk about something that's not just one of the most important long-term issues facing Aotearoa but one of the most important issues facing humanity and that is climate change. Climate change is probably the most prevalent theme across all of these reports. The Finance and Expenditure Committee report He Tirohanga Mokopuna discusses the uncertainty of the economic and fiscal impacts of climate change especially in an economy like ours that is dependent on land use our natural ecosystems and the environment. The national security long-term insights briefing also noted climate change will create competition for scarce resources and result in more migration to Aotearoa. The increase in severe weather events—as we all know a consistent occurrence around the world—will inevitably place more pressure on our ability to recover. We experienced these ourselves first hand particularly on the East Coast with Cyclone Gabrielle.Poor planning and management of land use of flood protection housing and infrastructure means the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle will be felt for many years to come. Tens of thousands of people were displaced in the middle of a cost of living crisis. People lost their loved ones their homes their livelihoods. The impacts will be intergenerational. We saw marae completely flooded without insurance. We saw urupā desecrated and whānau having to dig up tūpāpaku so that they could be moved to safety.As Māori climate change poses a direct threat to our whakapapa our culture our livelihood and also as Māori we have always adapted with the changing nature of Papatūānuku. Aotearoa cannot continue to treat climate change as a distant threat because it is a very real part of our present day reality. We cannot sustain an economy that is based on the exploitation of whenua the exploitation of our moana and the exploitation of te taiao. Now that climate change is with us we cannot continue to drag our feet on adaptation. Māori and poorer communities will be hit the hardest by the Government's inaction in this space if we fail to move. Climate change isn't just an environmental or economic issue it is a human issue. Anā kē ko te kīanga o te ao Māori. He aha kē te mea nui? Arā he tangata he tangata he tangata.[There is that proverb within the Māori culture. What is the most important thing? It is people it is people it is people.] We cannot take care of our environment without taking care of our people and we cannot take care of our people without also taking care of the environment. The only way to deal with climate change is with system change. None of this will be achieved to its ultimate extent without indigenous leadership and knowledge. It's a leadership and knowledge base that has been developed in this very environment over more than 1000 years and the realisation of these rights and the place and value of mātauranga Māori that is inherent in tangata whenua in the tangata whenua experience—experience of our lands ō tatou whenua ō tatou moana me ngā rawa o te taiao [our lands our seas and the resources of the environment] all of our resources. Only we have this knowledge and only we can create the solutions that will bring us back to a more balanced place in terms of where we sit as he tangata ki te ao ka puta ki te whaiao ki te ao mārama. [people in this world to find the pathway to enlightenment.]Tangata whenua have always been at the forefront of climate action and we are always the first to step up for our communities in times of crisis. Our marae are safe havens in times of crisis providing warm showers food and shelter for hundreds of people each and every day all around the country as natural disasters strike in their regions. Places like Takahanga Marae in Kaikōura who stood up and looked after a community supported by Ngāi Tahu whānui at the time of the Kaikōura earthquakes. Marae like Whakatū Marae in the Nelson district who came to the fore as the Nelson fires ravaged the area and looked after the people who were displaced.The solution to climate change is through sustainable resilient indigenous thinking action and modelling. Before I close off I'd like to just expand on a couple of key ideas that are always talked about throughout discussion with te taiao and the environment—the sustainability of our environment—but are rooted in te ao Māori and they are whakapapa. Whakapapa is not just about people whakapapa is about everything; it's the interconnectedness of everything and everything is connected to you. Te mana o te taiao. [The rights of the environment.] We are not separate from te taiao. We are not separate from the environment we are a part of it. So we must think more about not only the rights of the individual but the rights of the collective and the sustainability of the collective te mana o te iwi te mana o te taiao [the rights of the nation the rights of the environment]. Nō reira e te Pīka tēnā rā koe tēnā rā tatou. [So then Mr Speaker thank you. Thank you all.]ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): We come to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development long-term insights briefing.