Nimon KatieKATIE NIMON (National—Napier): I just want to start by acknowledging the passing of Fa'anānā Efeso Collins. I know that we've had a lot of acknowledgment of his passing; today obviously is his funeral. And I just want to make it known that he was a fantastic contributor alongside us in select committee specifically the Education and Workforce Committee and we do feel his loss across the House.Look what I want to talk to today is the fact that the last month has been a real time for commemoration for Hawke's Bay. We have very publicly had the year anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle but more than this and less commonly reported on in the news is the 93rd anniversary of the 1931 Napier earthquake. So that was on 3 February at 11 a.m. Myself and my colleague Catherine Wedd attended commemorations across the region.I wanted to make a first mention of a very spritely 99-year-old named Veronica who was the oldest at the Napier commemoration—the oldest living survivor from the 1931 earthquake. Incredible that she was 99 because we were looking around the room trying to work out the youngest and the oldest. And they did this little thing where they said All right who was born before here and who was born after this time?" And nobody could work out that she was the oldest one in the room—incredible for her.But what I loved is the fact that her name is Veronica and Her Majesty's Ship Veronica was the ship in port at the time that the earthquake happened. And if it wasn't for the New Zealand Navy in Napier at the time we would not have had the immediate support that we did in 1931 to help all of those people. So we celebrate every year with the ringing of the Veronica Bell four times and then another four times at the changing of the shift. That is something that is very special to our region. Actually at the time my great-grandfather was the chair of the Harbour Board so he was the one responsible for ringing the Veronica Bell in the years passed.Look as a result of the 1931 earthquake in the years gone by we have had a fantastic celebration called the Art Deco Festival. Now for a number of years recently we have had a sad disruption for this being COVID—the many COVID lockdowns in various categories whether it's red or three or orange or whatever it was called at the time—and of course weather events. It has been a huge event for our region both for heritage and for tourism. It has been disrupted year on year. But this year 2024 was the first year it came back and what an event it was. It was absolutely special. I invited my colleague Tim Costley the MP for Ōtaki out. He joined me and Catherine Wedd at some fantastic events hosted by the Art Deco Trust which is a brilliant trust that restores and maintains heritage in Hawke's Bay—something that's very important to our culture.But what I want to point out is the massive work that they did but not only that the continued support of our Defence Force. We had the great privilege of going on HMNZS Manawanui. We had a tour from the captain just to hear about the fantastic work that they're doing the struggles that they're having and what fantastic work our Minister of Defence is going to do for them.However the air force also provided a brilliant set of displays. The Black Falcons led by squadron leader Stuart Anderson and display director the legendary Jim was something that crowds flocked for. This event is not an exclusive paid ticketed event; it is a public event for everybody. And the thousands of people that came into Napier and Hastings for the weekend from all around the country and from outside of New Zealand were absolutely wowed by the spectacular things that our region could put on for them.But one thing that was noticeable and one person that was notably missing was Pat Benson. He passed sadly a week prior. His funeral was on the day before the Art Deco Festival. Now Pat Benson was a very notable figure in our region not just for his support for art deco heritage but also for sport surf lifesaving many other things software technology. But Pat in the days before he passed away and a couple of days after the earthquake commemoration wrote a message that I want to share. Pat and his brothers owned a great number of art deco buildings in Napier including my family's Daily Telegraph building. They spent millions of dollars maintaining them for businesses around the region but at great expense to restore them to absolutely unworkable earthquake-strengthening regulations. In his last message he asked for some practical pragmatic consideration of an unworkable law that means that these buildings rely on kindness and generosity. I want to share that with the people in this room."