O'Rourke DenisDENIS O'ROURKE (NZ First): New Zealand First will be very happy indeed to support this bill and indeed to do all we can possibly do to support the people of Kaikōura and surrounding districts. The scale of the damage to homes businesses farms and roads and other infrastructure demands urgent action to ensure that the complex provisions of the Resource Management Act do not operate to prevent quick action to facilitate recovery—and for as long as is necessary while of course still optimising environmental protection as far as it is practicably possible to do.The first thing the bill does is extend the time frames where that is needed. The time for people who have had to undertake emergency work on their land will now be 40 working days—or in other words 8 weeks—instead of 1 week to advise the relevant consent authorities. The time within which a resource consent for such works must be applied for is increased from 20 to 120 working days. New Zealand First would have been happy to support longer periods if that had been proposed. We know that when people are under stress and have such a lot to do as a result of an event like this we actually need to give them ample time and opportunity to comply with the law so if the time limits were greater we would have no difficulty with that at all. We also support the list of the districts that the bill applies to stretching all the way from Hurunui through Kaikōura and Marlborough to Wellington and Hutt City. We also support in that regard the provision to add other areas should they become affected by the continuing earthquake sequence by way of Order in Council.I want to turn now to the all-important issue of Kaikōura harbour access because that of course is one of the most urgent matters needing attention. As we know around 100 metres of coast has been uplifted as part of the ongoing and intense geological processes of mountain-building in this part of New Zealand which has gone on for incredible periods of time and no doubt will continue to do so. Kaikōura harbour sits right there—right on the edge of that process—and its works are critical infrastructure not only vital for tourism and fisheries businesses but also providing access for many other things including emergency supplies.Even before the earthquakes I know from using my own boat in that area that access on both sides of the Kaikōura Peninsula was actually always very difficult—it is very rocky and quite a difficult place to gain access to the shore from—so I have got some idea of what will be involved now that the seabed has risen. I am told that it has been lifted by something like 2 metres on average across the whole area which is actually massive when you think about it. That means that many of the harbour facilities are either out of action or can be used for only very short periods of time at the top of the tide. Dredging is going to be needed as soon as possible to address that problem and sections 330 and 330A of the Resource Management Act which authorise emergency works will be necessary to implement it.But of course current planning rules make that seabed work non-complying. This bill makes it a controlled activity so that retrospective consents will be obtainable and so that the work can be carried out as of right but with suitable conditions. New Zealand First has no difficulty with that and thoroughly supports it. We have asked for only one minor change to clause 15 in relation to the deposition of the material removed as a result of the dredging process. In addition to the provisions in clause 18—requiring simply the consideration of environmental effects on the activity—we have also sought in clause 15 itself a requirement for attention to be paid to the place or places whether on land or on the seabed chosen as the site for the deposition of the material. This is so that to the greatest extent practicably possible the least harm to the marine environment will be caused. The marine environment is critical to Kaikōura for tourism and fishing and so on.With regard to the remediation work required for State Highway 1—by far the biggest amount of work needed—New Zealand First accepts that the scale of the damage is so huge and the degree of urgency is so great that to ensure that the road is opened as soon as the work to remove the slips and rebuild the road can be done both to the north and to the south of Kaikōura the usual provisions in the Resource Management Act concerning the deposition of the vast amount of materials involved will simply not be practicably possible. Therefore the material will simply have to go on to the foreshore as is where is—the foreshore which of course itself has already been significantly damaged by the earthquake.New Zealand First also accepts the emergency provisions in clause 10 which allows rural landowners to take emergency remedial action where danger to life or to the environment or to stock land or property is concerned provided that the action they take is proportionate to the loss. In each of those cases the remedial activity will be deemed as a permitted one. That is very appropriate given the need for those people to take quick action to save their stock or indeed to save life and to get on with the farming activity that they need to do. We thoroughly support that approach.Finally the provisions in clause 19 concerning the new requirements around the consents for controlled activities—including the requirement to advise the organisations that are listed in the bill and to allow them to comment and for those comments to be properly considered—are very necessary and very appropriate. There are many people and organisations as well as Government departments and so on that have expertise they can use that can provide local knowledge and that can make sure the right decisions are made. So it is very important that the Minister concerned does get that input does consider it properly and where appropriate does take notice and take appropriate action.I think that that is actually a very important part of the bill. It is one that has not been mentioned so far but I have mentioned it because I think that it is one of the most important things that the Government should do which is to actually listen to local people and to those with the expertise so as to make the right decisions first time up and therefore not have to go back and fix things again later. We support the restrictions on appeals in those circumstances for the same reasons: get it right the first time listen to the people and therefore you do not need appeals because they are simply not necessary. I think that is the appropriate way to proceed and we thoroughly approve of clause 19 for that purpose.We in New Zealand First also wish to express our gratitude to the Minister for our having been consulted so well in the development of this bill. It is a process that we would like to see done more often. We particularly appreciate the opportunity in this case and we trust that our input on the development of the bill has been helpful and that it will be understood and supported by local people in the affected areas as well. With those comments made and wishing the people of Kaikōura all the best for a speedy recovery we will certainly be voting in favour of the bill.