Gosche Mark: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Gosche Mark: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:627;Page:21998] 
Hon MARK GOSCHE (Labour—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 It is wonderful to stand up in this debate and talk about housing. It is something we on this side of the Chamber are proud to speak about. It is an area where this Budget builds on previous Budgets in determining the difference between a Labour-led Government and the rest. What did those members on the other side of the Chamber do in the 1990s to fund their tax cuts for the wealthy? They sold 13000 houses. 
Hon Steve Maharey 
: How many? 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: They sold 13000 houses which can no longer be lived in by the poorest families in this country. That is how members on that side of the Chamber fund tax cuts. Let us make no mistake about it—they would do so again. The National Party spokesperson—and apparently there is one; I think it is David Carter— 
Hon Steve Maharey 
: No. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: Is it somebody else now? National has had about 15 in the last year. [ 
Interruption 
] Is it Shane Ardern? [ 
Interruption 
] Surely not! 
The spokesperson went to Auckland and said that National would sell State houses again. That is what he told the property investors. They would have lapped it up because they would have been buying the houses rather than the low to medium income families this Government helps into housing through things like KiwiSaver. We will not sell State houses; this Budget actually talks about more State houses. There is more money in this Budget for houses to be built which will provide employment skill development and housing for the low-income families of this country who need it. 
Over the next 4 years $134 million will be spent to provide 1300 new homes for those in need. I congratulate the Minister in the chair the Hon Steve Maharey. He is doing a wonderful job for the families out there who look to Labour for traditional things such as a roof over their heads that they can afford not more of the market rents of the 1990s. When this Government came to power we got rid of those. We brought back income-related rents and families in our communities benefited. 
Judith Collins smiles. She pretends she represents the people of Papakura. She could not care less about the poor families of Papakura who paid market rents under the previous National Government. She was on the Housing Corporation. She implemented the policy. She was proud of the market rents and the sell-off of houses and she would do it again if she were given the chance. But nobody is stupid enough to give her that chance—not in this country. [ 
Interruption 
] She thinks screeching like that makes some sort of difference. She cannot hide from the fact that this Budget provides 1300 new homes for low-income families many of them—whom she ignores—in her electorate. The previous National Government sold 13000 houses to fund the tax cuts of the 1990s. When we took over hundreds of millions of dollars were built into the Budget from the sale of houses. Our biggest spend in our first year in Government back in 2000 was not selling those houses. That is what cost our Government the most in the first year—we had to forgo all that revenue. 
That is how National funds tax cuts. It attacks the lowest paid the weakest and the most vulnerable and it sells their houses. Its mates on the Auckland City Council thought that that was a good lark and they sold the pensioners’ houses as well. That forced this Government to come up with $80 million to buy those houses so that the elderly were not tipped out on the street by those Tories. Thankfully the people of Auckland decided that that was no good and they tipped those Tories out of the council just as they will reject that horrible lot over there who say: “We’ll give you $13 a week or $6 if you’re low paid but by the way we’ll sell your State houses to do it.”—just as they did in the 1990s. 
What does the National Party care about people in rural areas who have been living in sub-standard housing for far too long? This Budget puts an extra $22.6 million into that area over the next 3 years. We have State housing areas that have been run down and are not up to the standards of modern living and we have allocated another $7.4 million for community renewal programmes in about five or six areas of New Zealand. 
 Healthy Housing is a wonderful project that deals with overcrowding. I heard the Maori Party slagging that and saying that we should be doing more of it. Well I do not know where the Maori Party has been but we started the Healthy Housing programme 5 years ago in my electorate which has had the worst rate of meningococcal disease in the country and we are making those houses better and healthier for Maori and Pacific Island families in particular. I expect the Maori Party to support that not to slag it and vote against it. I expect National Party members to applaud it but no we will not hear that from them.