Carter John: Affordable Housing: Enabling Territorial Authorities Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Carter John: Affordable Housing: Enabling Territorial Authorities Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:18469] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 Thank you for the timely warning Madam Chair. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: Good. Before I hear about your mother! 
JOHN CARTER 
: The gate is open but the stock is quiet! I want to specifically address Barbara Stewart Keith Locke and Te Ururoa Flavell—and any of the Labour members who may care to listen—and to talk about clause 6. I do so from the point of view of saying that although the intention of this bill is to provide more affordable housing to low-income people if we look specifically at clause 6 we see that it fails. It fails because all that clause 6 does—and the other clauses—is say that local government bodies will find out whether there is affordable housing in their districts provide a needs assessment etc. What that means is that local government bodies will end up having to employ people to go through the steps of producing the reports required. They will probably come out with a report that says there is not enough affordable housing in their districts. 
That is the nub and the problem of this legislation. The sad fact is that this bill merely provides for local government bodies to write reports. It actually requires local government bodies to go out and make assessments. What it does not do—and what I thought was the intent of the bill—is ensure that we end up with more affordable housing. Nowhere in this bill as members will see if they read it carefully does it say that the end result of the local authorities’ endeavours of their assessments will be that we have more affordable housing. 
I say to the representatives of those three parties here tonight that National members oppose this bill because it is back to front in addressing housing need. The sad and unfortunate fact in this country at the moment is that the expectation of the starting step for house ownership is too high. We would have done better to work with the building industry and with local authorities together to ensure that there are lower-level homes—still of good quality still secure still safe and still watertight—at a lesser cost that people on lower incomes can afford. That is the dilemma we face in this country today. For most people the price of a first home is out of their reach. Yet we have the ability in this country to provide lower-cost homes. I am not saying they are cheap homes; I am not suggesting that for a minute. What I am suggesting is lower-cost homes. 
When the likes of Trevor Mallard and I were starting off in this country as young men we had expectations of stepping into a home that was of a smaller size but still adequate for us to start our families. Unfortunately today all of us have an expectation of being able to step into a more expansive home. Quite honestly we need to change that attitude. We need to accept that a first home can be a small 3-bedroomed home that does not necessarily have all the bells and whistles but is adequate. It can house our children— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Some of them have two bedrooms. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Maybe it has only two bedrooms. The point is that the home does not have to be a great big expansive palace. It can be a first-step house. It can be something we can turn into a home. It might have only two bedrooms one for mum and dad and one for the first child maybe. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I can remember when kids shared bedrooms. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Of course; we all did that. The point I am making is that our expectations are now above the level that we should reasonably expect. 
I say to the members of the smaller parties here and indeed to the Government members that we should have said we will work with local government and we will work with industry and the whole focus will be on ensuring that we have an adequate supply of lower-priced homes of good standard that allow families in New Zealand to get a start. That is where this bill fails. In fact it actually adds to the cost. I say to the Government and I say to this Parliament tonight that what disappoints me about the smaller parties which I know genuinely want affordable housing—as do we—is that their supporting this bill in the manner in which it has been put forward will make it harder for young people to reach that first step. That is most unfortunate and I say that genuinely. This is one of the times in this House when we really need to reflect on what we are doing. We are not achieving what we set out to do as a Parliament. This body has a responsibility to the people of this country and tonight I say that unfortunately rather than achieve what we set out to achieve which is a laudable goal we will push it further out. I say to Parliament that it is sad and unfortunate that we are doing that this evening. Thank you.