Smith NickHon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson): There are three points that I wish to make in the important third reading of the Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Bill. The first of those is that I cannot think in New Zealand of a more iconic heritage building than the Christ Church Cathedral. It is a building that has stood over the Canterbury Plains for over 140 years as a symbol of Canterbury's both pride and also prosperity. I think we also need to acknowledge that those crippling photos of the Christ Church Cathedral became symbolic of the tragedy of the 22 February earthquake in 2011. And I think if we're honest its image would have been repeated millions of times around the world as symbolic of that major disaster for New Zealand. That is why the reinstatement of that cathedral is such an important part of the rebuild and the recovery of Christchurch.For those of us that have travelled to Europe and you'd go to some of the cathedrals and buildings that were restored after World War II I do not think any one of those cities would regret either the time or the money that they spent on the repair of those buildings and I'm sure future generations of both Cantabrians and New Zealanders will feel exactly the same way in future years when the Christ Church Cathedral is reinstated.The second point I wish to make is about the quite wide-ranging powers that are in this bill that are being vested with Megan Woods as the Minister in charge of the recovery in Christchurch. We on this side of the House are pragmatic. Yes they allow a Minister to issue Orders in Council that override the Resource Management Act the Building Act our Historic Places Act and many other laws. The only point I would make to members opposite is that I sat in this Parliament and heard my colleague Gerry Brownlee accused of being a Henry VIII accused of all sorts of sins for identical law actually under far more pressing circumstances in the immediate recovery of Christchurch and Canterbury. I am actually proud that Nicky Wagner and the team on this side of the House has not played that game of saying one thing in Government and doing the opposite in Opposition.Hon Tim Macindoe: Doing the Maharey rule.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: We have consistently—as my colleague refers to it as the sort of Steve Maharey rule. Actually National has been consistently—both in Government and in Opposition—pragmatic so as to be as supportive as possible of Christchurch in doing everything possible to recover it. And I do challenge members opposite to reflect on some of the speeches that they gave and the hard time that they gave my colleague Gerry Brownlee when he was doing the right thing for Christchurch in the recovery of that city.The third point I want to make is actually one of tribute. That is a tribute to the work of actually both Nicky Wagner and Megan Woods for rising above the normal argy-bargy of Parliament and working hard on this outcome. It's actually really hard to get all the ducks in a row to be able to reinstate the Christ Church Cathedral. There is no magic formula as to how much the church trust itself should pay how much the ratepayer should pay and how much the taxpayer should contribute. The pragmatic deal that sits behind this bill in my view has occurred only because—whether it has been the diocese property trust whether it has been the synod of the cathedral as well as both the former and current Ministers applying pragmatically and being focused on a solution. Yes there will be those that are frustrated that it's taken six years to be able to get to this point to enable a clear plan for the reinstatement of the Christ Church Cathedral but Parliament should reflect on the fact that it took over 35 years to build the original cathedral and in the same way we will get there.I have one last little plea: there is another gorgeous beautiful Christ Church Cathedral in New Zealand. It's actually the second-most visited—prior to the Christchurch cathedral—tourism cathedral in New Zealand and it is in the city of Nelson which I'm privileged to represent. I do say to the Government that actually rather than waiting for the next earthquake and for the next one of our cathedrals to come down it is far more economic to strengthen our heritage buildings now than to wait for the next quake and the sort of dilemma that we've had over the Christ Church Cathedral.I was pleased to work with my colleague Maggie Barry in establishing a Government fund to assist with the strengthening of those heritage-type buildings. I'd encourage the Government the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance in the House to support that fund and to ensure that we get ahead of the risk and that for those iconic sorts of buildings like the Christ Church Cathedral we work with the communities and strengthen them before we get the next earthquake so that we don't again face the sort of dilemma that we faced over the cathedral. Again I commend the Ministers that have been responsible for this bill. We should celebrate this plan to reinstate Christchurch's cathedral.Bill read a third time.