Dyson Ruth: Taxation (Canterbury Earthquake Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Dyson Ruth: Taxation (Canterbury Earthquake Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:672;Page:19055] 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills) 
: 
 As I said earlier this debate is a very good note to end the parliamentary week on particularly after the very tense debate on the National - ACT - Maori Party provisions to hack away at our KiwiSaver which many people around the House and around the country are very distressed about. Being able to conclude the week on a unanimous vote of support for Canterbury is very good. 
I remind the Government members that the Taxation (Canterbury Earthquake Measures) Bill is not the end of the work that needs to be done in Canterbury. I hope they take some note of the concerns that have been raised about the plight of early childhood education centres. A large number of people are still living in homes that as a result of damage from the earthquake do not have a source of heating and it is cold in our city in the winter. I would really like everyone to have at least one source of heating in their home. We want speedy resolution of our land issues. We have land that people are not certain they will ever be able to rebuild on. We have the danger of rockfall. People are not sure whether they will be able to move back to their homes because of the danger of rockfall. Those are the practical and big issues that are facing our residents at the moment. I do not want the Government to relax after we pass this bill tonight but to understand that we have not by any means finished the job. 
This bill is a good measure. It recognises the generosity of individuals and organisations that donated various items either to their employees or to other people affected by the earthquake. That generosity should be matched by the Government taking away some tax liability. That is what the Government is doing tonight. It is a very good move. Pushing out to October the tax credits for people who have been made redundant as a result of the business situation following the earthquakes is good but it is not enough. We should have used the opportunity tonight to get rid of that scheme altogether because it is basically unfair. I am saddened that the Minister of Health did not take the brief moment of power he had while acting for the Minister of Revenue to accept the amendment I proposed which would have extended the scheme to events covered by the 26 December earthquake because that was a significant event. Omitting it makes the legislation look a bit cheap and it need not; it could be a complete package. But that is the decision of the Government. 
I have enjoyed the contributions from members around the House tonight. It is good to know that even though the people of Canterbury are off the TV screens and out of the newspapers we are not out of people’s minds altogether. I have only one lasting regret and that is that despite what has clearly been a lot of work from the officials—they have put a lot of work into this legislation—they did not have to do a lot of work at the select committee because the Government bypassed that opportunity for them. They clearly gave the Minister in the chair very good advice and he reported it back to the House well to his credit in response to the questions that we raised and I appreciated that. Some Ministers do not bother doing that for their own portfolios so for an acting Minister to do that was very good. But it is to my deep regret that they were not able to provide him with a third reading speech in time for him to give it.