Jan Tinetti Labour MP

Firstly, I'd like to give a big shout out and thanks to all the organisations who've helped Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty region through some significant weather events in the last three weeks. This includes the staff and leadership teams at Emergency Management Bay of Plenty and Tauranga City Council; they have done an outstanding job in their communications and assistance given to residents.

Also thanks to local organisations like Good Neighbour, who I met with last week, for helping people like Linda and her family from Tauriko who lost their house and possessions due to flooding. Good Neighbour has helped the family into a new home.

I'd also like to thank Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who visited Tauranga last week to see how we coped with the recent floods and to meet with the business community.

On Monday the Government announced an $11.5 million Community Support Package to help tens of thousands of people affected by the recent floods, and for regions to respond to Cyclone Gabrielle.

The package includes: $4 million for providers to ensure they can meet increased demand and to support the wellbeing of their staff and volunteers; $1 million to replenish stocks at foodbanks currently experiencing high demand; $2 million of grants for community groups to support flood response; $4 million expansion of the scope of community connectors to support Auckland and impacted regions' flood response efforts; and $500,000 ring-fenced funding to respond to the needs of disabled people.

This is fantastic support from the Government and enables these groups to respond quickly to the needs of their communities.