Urgency

I move, That urgency be accorded the introduction, first reading, and referral to select committee of the Hurunui/Kaikōura Earthquakes Emergency Relief Bill, and the introduction and passing through all stages of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Act 2016 Amendment Bill. These are two bills in a sequence of three that the House will deal with this week. The House deals with these bills in response to the earthquake events, which are well known to everyone in this Chamber and outside.

I think this would be an appropriate time for me to acknowledge the considerable work that has been done by officials over the past 2 weeks, working very long hours in many cases, to ensure that these bills have got to a point where they can be further discussed. I want to also acknowledge the efforts of all parties in Parliament, which have come together on two occasions to consider a number of matters that are in these bills and to try to shape them into pieces of law that will do the job that we all want to see done but also show due respect for appropriate legal processes.

The Hurunui/Kaikōura Earthquakes Emergency Relief Bill can be described, first, as a bill that will make legal some of the things that, particularly, the rural communities have had to do to get themselves out of their farm properties or, perhaps, to put water back on for their stock or to re-erect sheds, or any of the other things that are necessary to keep a farming operation going—all, generally, with the welfare of the animals concerned to the fore. We will talk further about the details of that bill.

Can I say that there have been appropriate concerns expressed as the bill was developed, and, as a consequence, after the first reading it will go to a select committee—for just 1 day, but that day will give the members of the Local Government and Environment Committee a chance not only to further test the bill’s meaning with officials but also to consider any other matters that might arise out of that discussion.

The Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Act 2016 was passed just 4 days before this earthquake event. It had in it a commencement date of 14 May 2017 for what are called transitional powers and authorities. What this bill does is amend the Act further to bring that date forward, but it does not put the same obligation on councils that do not need it at this point.

💬 Grant Robertson: Is this your first reading speech, Gerry?

This is far from a first reading speech; that will be a more scintillating offering to the House, and I know that Mr Grant Robertson will probably want to record it for those hours of the evening when he is suffering from insomnia and needs a little bit of help to drift off.

For those reasons, the Government, with the support of other parties in the House, considers that urgency is appropriate on this occasion.

Motion agreed to.