Smith StuartSTUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): It is fantastic to be at the third reading of this Hurunui/Kaikōura Earthquakes Recovery Bill. As I said a little earlier the people of Kaikōura are really anticipating this moment getting this bill through. I thought I might take a moment to reflect on some of the issues that are affecting daily life in that area. For example only just recently dairy farmers had cowsheds that were destroyed in the earthquake and their cows had to walk some distance to be milked which affected their production. It caused some real questions about animal health had that needed to continue for some time. Those cows have now been able to get out of the Kaikōura area and are being looked after elsewhere. That is a huge relief to those farmers and the people of Kaikōura. I can say that a couple of weeks ago when I was down there talking to one of the farmers he was extremely stressed about the animal welfare issues that he was facing and all the extra work that was occurring. To not have the road open—it took some understanding that actually people were not taking any silly risks. I am pleased they did not but at times it is difficult to understand why these things are not happening. It really comes down to communication but it is difficult to get all these things lined up in such a short time. As I said earlier it is just over 3 weeks since the earthquake and so much has happened in that period of time. But if you are in there living it it seems like for ever and that not much is changing. But things are changing rapidly and that is starting to dawn on the people of Kaikōura.Today I got around and spoke to a few business people in Kaikōura. One of the things that is concerning them is getting supplies in and out because of the convoy nature: in and out at different times of the day. Getting trucks to take stock out and back in the same day is not possible because of that convoy system. It can only be a truck that goes out; it cannot be a truck and trailer. So to get all the stock that are coming up to the peak selling season off the farms and out of Kaikōura is a real challenge—a very large challenge. I know that people are being very patient. I actually would like to take time to acknowledge Downer Construction which is working on the roads—State Highway 1 from the south and on the inland road. They have gone the extra mile well and truly to speed up that work. They have done a tremendous amount of work on the roads. They have exceeded expectations to date. It is the nature of that work that they could run into something today in trying to clear that road that might delay them for quite some time. I know people are quite frustrated because they do not know when the roads are going to open but I think it would be unfair to make a prediction that inevitably is going to be wrong and then disappoint people or mislead them by putting on a date that is well past when the work is likely to be finished. All they can have is an indication. I think people are coming to those decisions.I would like to acknowledge and thank Simon Mackle who is a dairy farmer in Kaikōura and quite a leader in the community. Simon has rallied the farmers around. He has been a great point of contact. He like other people has been working extremely long hours helping other farmers out. I know his father Ron is supposed to be retired but he has probably never worked harder trying to get the water systems up and running again that have been destroyed by the earthquake; again just adding more work to what is a really difficult situation.I would also like to thank the deputy mayor Julie Howden and her son Matt who were kind enough to provide me with transport in Kaikōura. Despite the fact that there are a lot of rental cars stuck in Kaikōura a lot of them are not suitable to go on the roads and also once the early stages of recovery started there were lots of people trying to hire them to get around within Kaikōura itself. So I would like to thank Julie and Matt. They have been a great support for me and indirectly for the recovery. And of course Winston Gray the mayor of Kaikōura has really stood up and led a really good strong team. They have only 20-odd employees in the Kaikōura District Council but boy have they performed and I think they really need to be congratulated. They cannot ease up yet; there is a lot more to do.But back to the bill itself I think there was a lot of concern about pushing stuff into the sea. I think that is only really a bit of colourful language to illustrate that we are going to speed things up. It is truncating a process; it is not usurping our environmental obligations at all. In fact the people of Kaikōura rely on the pāua and crayfish fisheries and those fisheries rely on the inter-tidal zone where the juveniles really harbour. It is really important for the safety of that fishery that that area is preserved. No one is going to be irresponsible in this recovery and there will be all due care taken—I am absolutely confident of that. I think although we tend to be focusing at the moment on Kaikōura Hurunui is where the epicentre of the earthquake was particularly in the Waiau area. I know there are some severely damaged buildings in that area—wrecked cowsheds among other things—but also significant shifts in land. Those scars will be there for many years to come before they start to heal over a little. This bill will enable the work to go on that is required to get those roads open. As I said I think the effort that Downer Construction has made has been phenomenal but the Hurunui District Council has also stepped up—another small council and I am pretty sure they are the council with the most kilometres of road per ratepayer in the country and you know they have got this tremendous burden now to try to fix those roads. They are doing a really good job.I drove down the Leader Rd I think it was last week; it might have been this week—I am not sure what day it was now—but they will just about have that road open next week. In fact it was Monday now that my memory has finally come back. They have gone in and blown that whole road out and fixed it within a very short time so people can get on and they can get things done. That is just all about application and the will of the people. It makes it pretty difficult to drive along that road and fortunately most people are staying off it—it is not closed but it is preferred that traffic does not go down that road until it is finished. I called at the Waiau School also on Monday and spoke to Mary the principal there. It is amazing how quickly things have turned around in that area but boy there is a long way to go for a lot of people. This earthquake is really about communication. It is about the roads and the ability to get in and out. I note in some places they are now running fibre-optic cable across the ground. Water pipes are going to be run across the top of the ground for the Kaikōura domestic water supply. That is a much quicker way to get its water supply up and it increases the security of that for the local people in that area.But of course the earthquake went right up into Marlborough which also has some significant issues. In fact yesterday I was out with Doug Avery who is well known for his work in the mental health area. He is organising all of the kind offers to help people. When these organisations ring up people people say Oh no we don't need help. Ring someone else." but he has gone and taken it on himself—driving around organising people. Helpers are bringing their own lawnmowers and hedge trimmers and coming in and mowing their lawns and trimming their hedges. It sounds like a little thing but it is a huge weight off people's minds people who do not have the time to do that. So as I said this is going to be a very welcome piece of legislation. It really marks the start of the recovery and I commend the bill to the House."