Foster-Bell Paul: Canterbury Property Boundaries and Related Matters Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Canterbury Property Boundaries and Related Matters Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 03 November 2015. Volume:709;Page:7596. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā. It is a pleasure to take a brief call on the Canterbury Property Boundaries and Related Matters Bill in this first reading debate. As my colleagues on this side of the House have commented this is a very important and timely bill for the people of Canterbury. I have to actually disagree with some of what Ruth Dyson the previous member who has just resumed her seat has said. The technical issues around the surveying of land and the legal definition of boundaries are technical—they are complicated—but this legislation does not need to be necessarily a highly complex and technical bill. So actually my colleague on this side Nuk Korako is correct in that it aims and seeks to be a very practical measure that will allow people to have the assurance that the boundaries of their land are known to them and that they by and large will be what people already think their boundaries to be taking into account the catastrophic effects of the seismic movement in the province of Canterbury.I think we do have to draw a very clear distinction between the earthquakes which have disrupted legal boundaries in the better part of one of New Zealand’s great provinces and erosion of a certain coastal area or a flood that would affect a far smaller region. This is a far larger problem. As the member quoted it affects over 130000 property owners in some shape or form and there are hundreds of people whose boundaries have moved as much as a metre—a very significant movement in the legal context. This is not a matter that this Government takes lightly. I sit on the Local Government and Environment Committee and I am sure under the very wise chairmanship of our chair Mr Scott Simpson we will be paying very close attention to submissions from Cantabrians and seeking to ensure that this is the best possible resolution to such an enormous disruption of legal boundaries in that great province.This is a bill that has been welcomed by stakeholders. The New Zealand Institute of Surveyors president Mark Allan said that in his view the current draft of the bill promotes the option that causes the least disruption and the least concern for landowners. Mr Allan is very well-qualified to comment on these matters. Surveying is a very important aspect of the service that the Government provides in terms of land information. It has come a long way since the early days of New Zealand when the Surveyor-General along with the colonial Governor secretary and treasurer were among the very first four officials of the Crown appointed here. It has come a long way since the days of theodolites and measuring in yards and miles and feet and we now have technical tools at our disposal such as satellite geospatial information systems and measurements with lasers that can give a huge degree of accuracy. But we have an unprecedented problem in that such a huge movement has occurred in the land itself.So this is a very timely bill. It will be considered very carefully by the committee and I commend it to the House.Bill read a first time.Bill referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee.