Dyson RuthHon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills): It is a pleasure to take what will be just a brief call in the Committee stage of the Canterbury Property Boundaries and Related Matters Bill. The reason that it will be a brief call is that like many others in this Chamber I am keen to see progress made on this bill. It has been a little longer in coming back to the House and being debated than some may have hoped but now that it is here I am keen just to get some points on the record and then get it progressed. I want to begin my contribution by acknowledging and thanking Minister Louise Upston for the inclusive way in which she prepared this legislation and brought it to the House. On an issue where so many people have been affected in such a personal way—i.e. the boundaries of their home property—to have the opportunity as local members of Parliament to hear directly from the Minister and the officials about the options that are being considered and the thinking behind the legislation was really appreciated. It put us in a stronger position to competently represent the situation to our constituents who have been asking about this so I just want to note to the Minister that she has set a very good example and I hope that it spreads throughout her colleagues—I am not holding my breath on that point though. The reason this bill is necessary is that as a result of particularly the 2011 Canterbury quakes but to some extent the September 2010 quakes—nearly 6 years ago now—a large amount of land literally moved and therefore the determination had to be made on where the boundaries were. Were the boundaries on the old place or did the boundaries follow the land? That is not a situation that Parliament has considered before to the best of my knowledge. I hope it is not one that it has to consider again actually given the circumstances that caused it. It also was not an easy position for Parliament to determine. It was really important though that clarity was given. I have a number of constituents who have currently got their building consents on hold while this legislation is being determined. So they cannot put in their building consent applications until they know where their property boundaries are. I hope Minister that next week you can get the third reading of this bill progressed and we can see those people being able to get their building consents in and then take the next step of getting their homes rebuilt and they can move home. It is 5½ years since the February 2011 quake; that is a long time for people to have been waiting. There is a lot of uncertainty in Canterbury. My colleague Dr Megan Woods mentioned the mental health issues that have been totally ignored by the Minister of Health and one that I know as constituency MPs we feel week after week by the representations we have had. This is one of the uncertainties: what is going to happen with the property boundaries? This legislation will mean that that uncertainty will go and perhaps the Minister could support the Canterbury members of Parliament in dealing with the others. The bill is a good initiative. It will support some people better than they have been over the last little while. I commend its progress to the Committee.