Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Chairman. E ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. Like previous speakers in the Committee I am happy to take a call on the Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Bill (No 2) a fairly small but very significant piece of legislation that we are supporting. Obviously I am referring to the new Part 2 inserted by the schedule of the particular bill where we are talking about extending it out for 12 months. First I want to just say to all our people out there who work in the emergency space those volunteers and those on the committee who respond in time of disaster—I want to acknowledge their efforts. If there is one thing that I think this country should be expert at it is exactly responding to emergencies. In my own electorate of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti I had the 1931 Napier earthquakes where not only did the people at the time respond but particularly the Māori community of the Napier earthquakes responded and often these stories are not told. I want to acknowledge the Minister for Māori Development who made a contribution in the first reading of the bill. Māori involvement in emergencies can go right back in time and often their response in the way they carry out in times of disaster gets lost in the mix. We are passing a piece of legislation to ensure that the technical advisory group comes back I believe with the advice to ensure that we have a world-class civil defence emergency management system in this country. That is why I am standing in support of this piece of legislation.But the point is not only do we have the earthquake; we had the Cyclone Bola floods up the coast. People have referenced all the disasters we have had in the country which goes to my point: if anything we should have learnt from those multiple disasters in our recent history to ensure that the systems that kick into place and the agencies and the response teams are well supported. I take on the point of my colleague Clare Curran who says that the resourcing of the agency that leads this is probably underfunded. I would support her plea to the Government that we need to look at resourcing the agency responsible for coming up with this world-class civil defence response system that we are debating in this Chamber today.I want to acknowledge not just Māori iwi hapū and whānau who have come to the fore in times of disaster—I want to talk about Edgecumbe. Colleagues from this side of the Chamber—Peeni Henare Adrian Rurawhe—and I went to Edgecumbe and we also mucked in to help the many many volunteers. We were impressed by the set-up at the marae there in Te Teko. We got to talk to the lady who was leading the response team who was housing the many volunteers who came not just from the district not only from throughout New Zealand but we actually had international visitors who were actually sleeping at the marae being fed by the marae and being transported down to Edgecumbe to help with the clean-up. In talking to the lady—and the name escapes me sorry—she was really really clear that one of the difficulties in terms of the Edgecumbe response was the lack of coordination between the council and she was talking about the Whakatāne District Council and the community of Edgecumbe itself. They had actually moved beyond just trying to help with the clean-up. They were actually trying to work in the space of providing emergency housing and it was one of the discussions we had. They had a plan so she pulled her team together. We wanted to make sure that her voice and her experience of the Edgecumbe disaster was not lost as we go forward. I mention that only because it is not just about the immediate response of helping people get out and the clean-up; it is also the flow-on effects around providing emergency housing. This particular team in Edgecumbe I believe having sat with them for a few hours and having her share her vision with us was to there to ensure that on-the-ground information about where local housing was how they could put people up who required housing—that that piece of advice was not lost.So when I hear that as part of passing this particular bill in the House there is the extension so that your technical advisory group can come back my plea to the group is to make sure that we are talking to not just ourselves as bureaucrats as politicians but we are actually talking to people on the ground. I do acknowledge and note that there has been engagement with Ngāi Tahu Ngā Rauru Kītahi Ngā Tāngata Tiaki o Whanganui and Ngāti Apa and that is fine. But what I want to plea is to ensure that the technical advisory group are talking to front-line people who are not only in the Edgecumbe example but obviously in the Kaikōura earthquakes and in Christchurch. They are gems of people who are not necessarily the chairmen of iwi or CEOs of iwi; they are actually the people on the ground who can provide insight that I think the technical advisers in bringing back the advice to this House would gain immeasurably by that insight and experience.So my point to the Minister of Civil Defence and through the Minister to the technical advisory group is to make sure we are not just talking to heads but we are talking to people on the ground. That is my advice and there have been plenty of individuals leading recovery efforts who would more than happily provide that experience and insight to the Minister.So that is my small contribution on a very important piece of legislation. We need this extended but I want to make sure that we are aiming for a very world-class emergency management system given our history of dealing with disasters and to give some assurances to all New Zealanders that this Government is committed to delivering and implementing that world-class system. Thank you very much.