General Debate

That correction from the Minister of Housing just proves how all at sea this Government is when it comes to housing and housing affordability. Every single electorate member of Parliament knows that right now the Housing New Zealand Corporation stock is dwindling not because the buildings are not there but because they are being shut up and people are being locked out of Housing New Zealand Corporation homes all up and down the country.

In my own electorate we have recently had families shifted out of their homes on, frankly, spurious grounds. They have been moved into other properties—that is great—but that means that the people who have been desperately waiting for months and months and months to get into a Housing New Zealand Corporation home have been pushed further down the list. There is an entire block of housing that has been empty for more than 2 years. What are the Government members going to do with it? Are they going to leave it there rotting and empty? Are they going to bowl it over? Are they going to redevelop it? Nobody knows. The Government cannot answer that question, and meanwhile people go without decent housing. It is an abomination that this situation is allowed to go on. There is another site in Palmerston North—I am talking about only my own city—where houses were removed more than 3 years ago. What is being done to replace that housing stock? Nothing. What is being done to develop that site? Nothing. There are fewer and fewer houses available for New Zealanders up and down this country, because this Government has no plan. It cares not for the most vulnerable, who need to put a roof over their heads.

David Shearer was absolutely right today when he said that this Government is ripping away the Kiwi dream of homeownership. It is part of the New Zealand way of life that people can aspire to owning their own homes, and this Government is ripping that right away from New Zealanders. The outlook looks extremely bleak because this Government has no plan. For months and months and months we waited in anticipation to see what the Government’s response would be to the housing affordability crisis in New Zealand. We waited to see what its plan was. And what did it turn out to be? Free up some land, forge ahead with deregulation, and leave it to the market. That is not a plan. That is not good enough.

More deregulation is not what this country needs right now. Deregulation led to leaky homes, the grounding of the Rena, the global financial crisis, and the Pike River disaster—the list goes on and on and on. It is a litany of disaster from deregulation. That is not what we need more of in this country. Do not just take my word for it. Do not take the Labour Party’s word for it. In today’s National Business Review, Colliers researcher Alan McMahon on the National Business Review website today said that “The land supply argument rests on the contention that developers will sell their product more cheaply if the cost to develop is reduced and there is more competition from other developers. Currently, the most commonly sold dwelling”—and the most commonly rented dwelling—“… is a three-bedroom stand-alone dwelling. But the predominant type being built for sale is a four-bedroom stand-alone dwelling.”

Why? Because that is what the developers can make their money out of. And because there is so much demand in Auckland, even though the wrong types of buildings to respond to the housing crisis are being built, there is enough of a market out there for people to buy them up. So the market has no solution. The market has no solution to the housing crisis or the affordability crisis. “Single-storey construction is cheapest …” says Alan McMahon, and that is why we continue to see single-storey building on the outskirts of urban centres, far from where people work, so that they have to travel long distances every day, even though that is not what we need. That is what the market will continue to deliver if we continue to rely solely on the market. And as Alan McMahon said today on the National Business Review website, “Developers will not reduce their prices unless they have to.”

It is not for the private sector to respond to the housing affordability crisis. This is something that central government and local government have to work together on, and there has to be a plan. But as always from this Government, we see no plan, no ideas, and no desire to deal with the issues that are affecting the most vulnerable people in our country.

Those final comments from Iain Lees-Galloway were incredibly wrong. I am just so proud to be part of a National-led Government that is not getting distracted by sideshows, like the leadership struggles in the Opposition or an invented manufacturing crisis. We are just getting on with the job—straight and true, on with the job.

Integral with getting on with the job is getting our economy back on track, and we are doing that exactly. My admiration goes to Bill English as the Minister of Finance for doing just that. I just cannot think of another Minister of Finance who has had the same set of problems that he has dealt with to get our economy back on track. We are doing just that. It is getting back on track, no doubt about it.

In 2008 we inherited a rate of unemployment that had risen by almost 30,000. It was predicted that unemployment would go to 10 percent, but in actual fact we stopped it, and it has stayed at around 6.8 percent. We know that it should be lower—it is still on the high side and we are not happy about that—but it is forecast to drop, and that is pleasing. It is certainly a lot better than it is in some underdeveloped countries—it certainly is.

We have helped New Zealanders by growing the after-tax wage by 20 percent. That is more than double the rate of inflation. Personal income tax cuts across the board mean that the average family gains $25 per week. Three-quarters of income earners pay no more than 17.5 percent tax. We have one of the lowest inflation rates since 1999, and that means that the cost of living is increasing at the slowest rate in 12 years. That can only help families. Interest rates are at their lowest in 45 years—that is unbelievable. So a family with a mortgage of $200,000 is saving about $200 a week—that is massive. That is huge compared with, say, 4 years ago. A $200-a-week saving compared with 4 years ago is a massive help to that family. All rates of superannuation have increased since 2008. The married rate of superannuation has gone up by almost $200, which is 22 percent higher than in April 2008. New Zealanders are saving more. There are positive household savings rates for the first time in a decade. We have adjusted Working for Families payments by 5 percent from 1 April this year.

Creating high-paying jobs is one of the Government’s top priorities. We know that when businesses feel confident, when they succeed and want to invest and expand, jobs will open up. It is not rocket science; it is that simple. When businesses have the confidence, jobs will follow. That is why the National Government is putting in the right levers to business—so it can grow, have that confidence, increase its workforce, and compete successfully internationally. It is happening.

As a country we are on the move. Our economy is growing and it is forecast to keep on growing. Despite the toughest of times—the global financial crisis, the recession, and the Christchurch earthquakes—we are on track. Real jobs are being created. The household labour force survey shows that almost 60,000 more Kiwis have jobs now than 2 years ago. More than 13,000 jobs were created by the 90-day trial for new employees. That is a fantastic initiative, brought through by the former Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson. I have welcomed that wholeheartedly. It is a great policy for women who are returning to the workforce. It is a great policy for youth and for migrants, who do not have the work record but want that first step into the workforce. It is a fantastic policy, and it is here to stay.

I work in an electorate where there is a high number of migrants and refugees. Having a job is the quickest way to integrate into a new society. We know that having a job is good on so many levels. It is good for a person’s well-being, self-respect, and health. It is good for families. It is good for children to have parents in work. That is why I applaud the Government’s focus on creating jobs. We hear about lay-offs but not actually about the jobs being created, so I will just run through a few statistics. There are 1,000 new jobs on the Waterview motorway, and in my own electorate, around the corner, a new Warehouse is opening up and it will open up several hundred jobs.

💬 Dr David Clark: How about the prisons? Building prisons.

There are 1,000 new jobs at Wiri Prison. Thank you for reminding me—1,000 new jobs at Wiri Prison. That is great for Auckland.

The debate having concluded, the motion lapsed.