Rurawhe AdrianMELISSA LEE (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'd like to echo my colleagues right around this House who have wished and actually passed on their condolences to the families and friends of those people who have lost their lives through the floods and the cyclone.I acknowledge my colleague across the House—Helen White—who mentioned in her local area Sal Rose—am I guessing that the member is now looking at Mt Albert as an electorate that she may contest? Because it is actually in the electorate of Mt Albert. During the Auckland floods the Alberton Avenue shops were absolutely devastated where the shops—including the New World Fresh Collective; the Little French pastry cafe; Sal Rose; Anne Duncan Real Estate; and the Rocket Kebabs where most people go for lunch—were covered in water.That when you consider the fact when you look at what the cyclone has actually devastated in the regions up North and Muriwai on the west coast of Auckland and also in the Bays and also in Wairoa you know communications were absolutely lost; people could not even call 111. On that note I'd like to acknowledge the telcos the Telecommunications Forums members of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association of New Zealand Starlink. There's even a notice of motion in my name where I acknowledge the work that they've done to restore those telecommunications which is utterly important because they are the lifeline—not just physical lifeline but when there is danger that is the lifeline that they actually need to alert people of the danger that they're in so that they can seek help. But in this instance it has actually failed. I hope that the Government will actually look at how we can be more resilient in times of trouble.So the Prime Minister's statement apart from talking about the disaster that we've actually faced in terms of the weather is about how this Government with a new Prime Minister was going to be different to the previous one—as in the same Government just with a different leader. But if I could say: considering the fact that the Prime Minister was a Cabinet member and in the kitchen cabinet that actually decided on the RNZ-TVNZ merger that got cancelled I'm just not sure how different this new Prime Minister and the new Cabinet and the Government make-up will be considering the fact that the cancelled RNZ-TVNZ merger actually has cost a minimum of $16.1 million—$16.1 million that hasn't actually produced anything apart from lining the pockets of consultants. Apparently according to WPQs—written parliamentary questions for those people who don't understand what WPQ" is—the establishment unit and board some of them will still be paid in March. Considering the fact that the merger has now been cancelled I would've thought that that was a drop-dead close-up kind of a thing where all payments stop. It hasn't ended. They're still paying them till March.Hon Judith Collins: No that's the real world—the real world.MELISSA LEE: Well the stop payment will happen in real world but not as far as this Government is concerned. And 14000 new bureaucrats when this Government came into power more consultants that actually got paid more than $6000 and you sort of wonder how much that minimum $16.1 million would actually help the people who are really really struggling in the cost of living crisis in this country right now.I'd like to also acknowledge the first responders that have responded in this disaster that we've actually faced in the last month almost; and the churches the temples the gurudwaras the mosques; and also people in our collective who have actually housed at Wesley Primary—I know it's actually not in Mt Albert; it's in Mt Roskill I've gone there to try and help out as well—where they house 29 people and many other families who have lost everything as a result of the floods and the devastation it has caused. I would just say thank you to all of the volunteers and all the community who have come to help other people who are worse off than they are even when their own houses—SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired. This is also a split call. I call Steph Lewis—five minutes."