Henare PeeniPEENI HENARE (Labour—Tāmaki Makaurau): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Thank you for this opportunity. To inform the House the Astrolabe Reef was originally called by the local iwi Ōtāiti—Ōtāiti reef. So when we refer to the Astrolabe Reef we are talking about the Ōtāiti reef and I would like to acknowledge the member Su'a William Sio who mentioned the iwi involvement in that particular incident and I too would encourage them to make a submission on this particular bill as we support this bill going on to the next stage to the select committee.I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage other iwi. As we know the exploration for oil has turned its focus away from the Far North and has now headed down to the area where the Minister Hon Hekia Parata calls home the waters of Te Tai Rāwhiti. The permit afforded to that particular company runs from Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka or from the top of the South Island all the way to Ruatōria up the East Coast. I just want to point that out because talking about the compensation level rising to allow in the case of a tragic environmental disaster—the limit of that compensation of course has been lifted so that money can be paid out to make sure that we can return as much and as best as we can the pristine environment. It was mentioned quite well by the member Julie Anne Genter that New Zealand takes a lot of pride in the 100 percent pure green New Zealand image.I want to now turn my attention to the alcohol and drug provisions within this bill around the testing and the need for plans. Look I think every member in the House and in the community will agree to make sure that these vessels are operating safely that those who are in charge and working on the vessels are of sound mind and that their vision and their judgment are not impaired by drugs or alcohol. I wonder whether in this bill we could explore more definitions when requiring a plan around drugs and alcohol. For example recently we talked about the ability for those who are on bail to be tested for drugs and alcohol and it was very specific in that particular bill around the use of psychoactive substances in line with the Psychoactive Substances Act 2013.I wonder whether we can be a bit more specific with our definition around that because we all agree that it is important to have a good plan and it is important to make sure that safety is paramount. But I wonder whether we can just be a bit more specific there—and I would encourage the submitters who do come in front of the select committee of which I am a proud member and I hope that we hear from the Maritime Union. We also as I mentioned earlier will hear from environment groups who will take an take interest in the matters being proposed in this bill.My colleague Mr Su'a William Sio also mentioned the need to hear from councils. It is mentioned in this bill here that there is the ability for regional councils to keep those infringement notices and the money that is paid to them and also to have a bit more say in the care and the discharge if you like of this particular bill within their regions. That is an important thing. But for us to truly comprehend that we need to make sure that those interest groups will submit or kōrero to the select committee.I am also interested in hearing from the Shipping Federation. The point has been made many times through this debate about the need for a fully integrated freight and transport system. And in light of the recent events—the earthquake and the damage to the infrastructure mainly road and railway in New Zealand—we wonder why this bill is not more ambitious in making sure that the infrastructure is there so that we can have a more sound sea-freight operation.I was reminded as I sat in the House recently as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Amendment Bill went through the House that the Government continued to tell us that we cannot simply trade with ourselves; our country would die. That is true but it is important that in the event of natural disasters like we have experienced we are still able to connect with each other. Obviously the road network and the rail network are severely disrupted in the South Island and have isolated certain communities. Kaikōura is a classic example. If the infrastructure or more importantly the will of this Government was there then perhaps we could have connected better and supplies would not have dried up. There would be a stronger connection with that particular community of Kaikōura who have suffered over the past few days.One of the things I like to do when we read these particular bills is this: my colleague Mr Parker mentioned the large amount of content focused on the drug and alcohol provisions in this particular bill but there are of course some as the explanatory note says miscellaneous amendments—miscellaneous amendments. It is important to cast our eye over those because we have experienced in the past from this Government that it sells you the old dummy. One thing Government members are saying is that We're going to do this." when really when you look just a little bit below the surface you will find more miscellaneous amendments—ones that perhaps have a far wider impact than those larger chunks of the bill that are being debated like the drug and alcohol requirements of this particular bill.So we read through some of those and first of all in the explanatory note there are a few grammatical errors in there—but never mind; we will move on. Some of the things really are about transferring responsibilities shared by a territorial authority which brings me back to my point. I hope that we can hear from the territorial authorities as the bill progresses through to the select committee.Another one—subclause (4) of clause 32 inserts new section 3A which provides that a transfer of a responsibility in relation to construction works under section 331 of the Maritime Transport Act does not transfer ownership of the works. I think that is slightly more important than being just a miscellaneous amendment because too often when disasters happen such as with the Rena everyone points the finger and nobody knows who to blame. Somebody built this; it is their fault. Somebody was the captain in charge. It was the technology system which Mr Young says will never fail us and will in fact lead us into the future. It was the technology that failed us in the case of the Rena crashing into Ōtāiti and those particular clauses are I think important to make sure that we are able to establish in the event of an emergency who is culpable.I just want to conclude by saying that we do support this bill going to the next stage to the select committee. We will welcome all the submissions that will come to it and we look forward to making sure that we take the opportunity right now—the opportunity that is being missed by this Government—to make sure that this particular bill is robust that this bill is more aspirational than what it is right now and that we can make sure that we do have a maritime transport system that better serves our country. We commend this bill to the House."