Ministerial Statements — Fire and Emergency Services—SkyCity Auckland Fire

I seek leave of the House to move a motion without notice and without debate to acknowledge the efforts of fire and emergency workers in Auckland at SkyCity. [Interruption]

No, the member has a right to make a ministerial statement. She has chosen to seek leave to move a motion without notice and debate. Is there any objection to that?

Hang on a minute. Can we please—I think it’s quite reasonable that we know a little bit more about this. Is this a ministerial statement or not?

Can the member give a brief explanation, because some of us are maybe not quite as up with the news as the Minister is.

Sorry, Mr Speaker. I apologise. At the moment, there is a large fire at SkyCity in Auckland. There are 23 trucks on site, an aerial appliance on site, and they are fighting high winds as well as major fire.

OK, I am going to interrupt and suggest that we not put leave but the Minister do what is her right, and that is to make a ministerial statement. I think it will have the same effect. It will have the possibility of an ability of other parties to respond, but I think in this circumstance, they should have the right to respond, if they so wish. The Hon Tracey Martin—ministerial statement.

💬 Hon Paula Bennett: This is a new rule.

Thank you, Mr Speaker—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Can I just say that having an ongoing commentary from the Hon Paula Bennett on my decisions when I’ve just made a significant decision which advantages her party’s ability to respond is just not good enough.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I don’t want to take up too much time of the House, but I do want to acknowledge the incredible efforts going on at the moment in Auckland by the fire and emergency services: 23 trucks, an aerial appliance—they are fighting winds of up to 70 kilometres an hour. People have been asked to stay away from the central business district of Auckland while the firefighters go in and seek to contain this blaze. I wanted to make sure that the House was able to acknowledge their efforts. Kia ora.

Look, just on behalf of the Opposition, to acknowledge all of the workers on site, their families, but also all of the firefighters that have been battling the blaze. I know that many members of this House will be concerned for those people and, obviously, have extraordinary respect for our firefighters across New Zealand. Some of us are getting updates as they come to hand. At the moment, as I understand it, they have got people off site, but we will wait to have further information. This is devastating, and our thoughts are with everybody affected by this.