Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Bill

Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Bill

Second Reading, Tuesday 14th of September 2010; 5.30pm

Te Ururoa Flavell, MP for Waiariki

Tēnā koe, Mr Deputy Speaker. Kia ora tātou katoa e hoa ma e noho nei i roto i te Whare i tēnei pō.

[Greetings to you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Greetings to us all in the House this evening, colleagues.]

Our co-leader has already advised Parliament that we will support this bill, as it gives those involved in the rebuilding effort another tool to aid the recovery in Christchurch. I do not think there are too many people at all in the whole of Aotearoa who would stand in the way of Parliament seeking to develop an effective response to the Canterbury earthquake. Such is the nature of our nation that there are many links to Te Wai Pounamu throughout our party and our electorates that have been important during the time of need.

I have been in touch with my brother a couple of times now just to see how they are going. Fortunately he has not been in the zone. But despite the fact that he is not in the zone, those after tremors in Christchurch city are certainly keeping them on their toes.

Like other members over the last week or so, we feel very much for them. For our party, the local MP Rahui Katene has been our eyes and our ears. She has kept us fully apprised of the situation. She has been checking with our people, checking on marae, seeing where the needs are, and listening to the stories. She has seen the destroyed homes, roads, and the whole streets of houses, tracing a fault through collapsed roofs and walls, through the new divisions as well. Although she said that she had shared some of the sadness and the grim reality of the hardship for whānau in Kaiapoi, Bexley, St Albans, and New Brighton, she has also heard plenty of stories of hope: so many people opening up their homes to complete strangers, emptying their freezers and cupboards to feed their neighbours, checking on their whānau and neighbours, helping to pick up or move furniture, dig out the sand, which is everywhere, and listening to other people’s stories.

Again, that is reiterating many of the discussion points that other members have said tonight. I want to pick up on the comment made by my co-leader Tariana Turia on this legislation. She said that we should not minimise the damage caused by the earthquake to the social and human infrastructure.

This bill sets in place the appropriate statutory powers to assist in the response to the Canterbury earthquake. It does what is required to enable the relaxation or suspension of provisions and enactments. But, importantly, the Order in Council mechanism gives priority to the facilitation of information.

I want to come to this from a Treaty of Waitangi perspective. Our policy manifesto “Requires robust and accountable work practices by local government and regional authorities when working with mana whenua … ” It also stipulates “As provided in the Treaty, tangata whenua should have an equal say in the decisions which affect them.” So we make it known that Māori, specifically Ngāi Tahu as mana whenua, should have representation on the commission that is being discussed, since there are 30,500 Māori who live in the wider Canterbury area.

There is a wealth of information that has come in, whether it be from Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, from Te Puni Kōkiri, or from our own Rahui Katene.

I know from the Minister of Māori Affairs that Te Puni Kōkiri staff have visited whānau as homes were reported damaged and assisted them to locate. They have monitored the operations of the welfare centre. They made daily visits to the Christchurch city emergency welfare centres. They visited the Selwyn District emergency command centre and the district welfare manager. They also spent time with residents in Darfield, close to the epicentre of the earthquake, who were exhibiting much greater distress levels than elsewhere in the district. The same was true for Tai Tapu.

I share some of this information because it is vital that the recovery commission incorporate the experience of tangata whenua. We recommend that the mana whenua be represented amongst the four commissioners to be appointed by the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery. One of the things that were really hard to hear about from Rahui was visiting whānau who were too afraid to leave their homes despite the fact that their homes would be distinctly threatened if they stayed in them. In fact their whole whānau would be threatened by that.

We need to know why they did not feel that the welfare centres catered for their needs, and how they can best be supported in the next few months as they try to return to some form of normality. Some of the people she talked to did not realise that the welfare centre was for the public; they thought it was only for the emergency staff. That is clearly an example of an aspect of communication that needs to be tidied up a little. I share these things because it is important to have the full range of information available in preparing for full recovery.

In closing, I say that we believe that this bill will aid the recovery and rebuilding of Christchurch, which will boost the collective wairua of the people who have been affected by the quake. We will be advocating to ensure that Māori have a guaranteed voice on the commission and we continue to promote the importance of engaging with mana whenua to ensure that the pathway ahead is one that meets the needs of all of the people in Christchurch and the general Canterbury area. Tēnā koe.

ENDS