Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Minister of Civil Defence): Mr Speaker thank you for this opportunity. First if the House will indulge me a few words of farewell to those who have passed.Nō reira koutou kua ngaro atu ki te pō ki roto i te pahū nui ki runga o Whakaari tēnei te tangi atu ki a koutou haere haere haere. Ka whakahokia mai waku kōrero ki a tātou te hunga ora tēnā koutou. [Therefore to you who have departed to the underworld in the great eruption on Whakaari / White Island farewell farewell farewell. My thoughts return to us the living greetings to you all.]I want to in my contribution speak to some of the events that have unfolded over the past few days. If I can I would like to start down on the West Coast. In the past week the West Coast was hammered by large rainfall which saw significant damage to the infrastructure throughout the West Coast. It saw up to a thousand tourists trapped in Franz Josef; it saw communities isolated across the West Coast.This isn't anything new to the people of the West Coast but it does continue to provide an ongoing challenge for the people of the West Coast. In that vein I want to acknowledge their resilience—the resilience of the people of the West Coast to get on with life to make sure that whatever the weather that impacts upon them they have a rather optimistic attitude towards what goes on. I want to commend them also for wrapping their support around the many tourists who found themselves stuck throughout the West Coast. I want to acknowledge also the patience of those tourists as we looked to support them to continue their travels and explore the beauty that is our country.In our recent package and announcement by the Prime Minister we committed to $100000 to go towards supporting both the West Coast and South Canterbury who have been affected by the heavy rains.I can confirm today that now there are only approximately 32 tourists in Franz Josef. Many of the tourists have gone on to continue their vacation here in Aotearoa New Zealand to explore how beautiful our country is. With that beauty they acknowledge that there are many challenges in particular when a significant weather event hits. So can I just thank the councils and all of the local people for the work that they did to ensure that the West Coast can continue to be the beautiful place that it is. I now turn to Whakaari to White Island and to Whakatāne. Over the past two days I have spent time amongst the people and I want to acknowledge a few of them in my contribution today. Can I start close to home. I would like to acknowledge the Prime Minister for her compassion and leadership in what is a truly tragic event for the community not just in Whakatāne but internationally. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my colleagues Tamati Coffey and also Kiritapu Allan—and I want to acknowledge the Hon Anne Tolley—for the work that they did in their community to make sure that that community felt supported and that community knew that we were there to support them and awhi them through what was a challenging time. I also now want to turn to my contribution to the local civil defence emergency management group who alongside first responders many volunteers DHBs health professionals and the community at large worked particularly hard in the aftermath of the volcanic eruption. The Prime Minister has already spoken about the bravery the selflessness and the attributes of a community that cares about people. I was fortunate to be there firsthand to witness the people in motion the people who hadn't slept for nearly 48 hours all because they were driven to make sure that those who were affected by the significant event were supported. The local government and particularly the local mayor and mayors in surrounding districts who came to support—I want to acknowledge them. I want to acknowledge the police. I want to acknowledge the Defence Force. I want to acknowledge the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I also want to acknowledge the Immigration Service and the ACC service who have worked hard with tour operators with families with community and with people travelling from afar and those travelling nearby. They did an exceptional job and every person in this country should hold their head high in the way that our agencies local and central come together to support people through such a challenging time. I apologise for the sombre note of my contribution. But I feel today and on behalf of everyone here as the Minister of Civil Defence a big acknowledgment to all of those people involved. And I say to them all: kia kaha kia māia kia manawanui [be strong be brave be steadfast].