Local Government (Community Well-being) Amendment Bill

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just very briefly, as we come to the end of this committee of the whole House stage, clauses 1 to 3, which are the title, the commencement, and then, of course, we move to the principal Act. I think that the bill will go through because the numbers are there on behalf of the Government, and the Opposition do oppose the changes in this bill.

The arguments that have been promoted this evening—particularly by the Minister in the chair, Nanaia Mahuta—I have not been convinced by. To try and convince anyone that with regard to development contributions, a long exposition on the transitional rearrangements isn’t an argument, and then, really, advancing the argument that “Oh well, the citizens of a community, including developers, always have the opportunity to engage in the development of a development contributions policy.”—well, that doesn’t prove anything. It just describes a process.

I think that underlines the paucity of good policy work that has gone into this bill, and there is nothing new in this bill. There is nothing here that advances affordable housing. There’s nothing here that actually advances the interests of people living in local communities. All it does is, indeed, use that tit-for-tat principle, “Well, you took it out so we’re going to put it back in.”, and if that is an example of good policy development on behalf of this Government, then I’m afraid it only gets a bare D.