Cosgrove Clayton: Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Bill — Third Reading 
Cosgrove Clayton: Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:636;Page:7176] 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Minister for Building and Construction) 
: 
 I move  
That the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Bill be now read a third time 
. Firstly—despite some of the rhetoric—I thank the House for expediting this bill. I know that those people listening who are affected by this issue will be grateful for that even though the content of some of the debate may have been less than it should have been. 
I thank the Social Services Committee chaired by my colleague Georgina Beyer. I will now do something that is rare in this House which is to thank all members on that committee from both the Opposition and the Government. Although we may disagree on the path forward hopefully we do agree on the objective being attained and I thank that committee again for its cooperation in expediting this bill back into the House. The bill as reported back from the select committee contains a number of amendments which we have debated in the last hour or so dealing with the operation or efficiency and effectiveness of the bill. The committee was under pressure and it had a shortened time frame and in order to get this legislation implemented by the stated time of 1 April it did a phenomenal job of getting it back here. 
I also thank the interest groups—the individuals and organisations—who made submissions on the bill. I am aware despite the hot air of some of the plight and heartbreak this issue causes and its impact on people’s lives. I visited many of these people. When I visited them I shut up and I listened to them rather than pontificate to them. During the review of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service we listened to organisations and individuals like Mr Gray and the many thousands of clients whom he represents who are ordinary people. We listened to what they believed the solutions should be and of course we listened to our officials—and I thank my department and the committee officials. We listened to them all and I believe we have come up with a bill that will work. 
A house is probably the biggest asset that most New Zealanders will ever have in their lives and maybe the car is the second biggest. When people have the Kiwi dream of building their dream home or of having it built for them and are then confronted by shonky workmanship shonky design and—in some cases but not in all—councils that have abrogated their responsibility in respect of inspection and when there is a systemic failure caused historically by having very few minimum standards and having a lack of proper trade training—which this Government has now remedied through putting 9000 people into trade training going up to 14000 next year—what does that all boil down to for the average Kiwi? It boils down to a tragedy. I acknowledge the guts of those Kiwis who have waited for a solution. 
As I have said the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service originally was set up as a call to arms. Yes there was a bit of a rush about it but it was done with a good motive to try to find solutions to fix these folks’ tragedies. When one does that I acknowledge that some things are missed. I acknowledge also that the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service as it sits today has not worked as it should have. That is why we have taken this opportunity in the House to remedy I believe this problem. 
This bill is central to the Government’s commitment to actively help resolve the problems of leaky-home owners. In the Committee stage one member asked how will we do that. Well it is quite simple. If we can get claimants into the system have the claims heard find the liable parties attach liability to the person who did not do the professional job—because of course the taxpayer did not build the house or hire the shonky professional—and get compensation for the homeowner then I would say to Ms Bennett that it is quite a simple thing to get those homes fixed. If people are provided with the money then they can get in a professional and we are licensing people to ensure that we do have building professionals. We can sort the wheat from the chaff the cowboys from the professionals in the trade. 
Hon Member 
: Deal with the reality. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: If people get their compensation faster then they will hire somebody to fix the problem. I would have thought that was self-evident; for that member obviously it is not. The primary objective is to get the cowboys out of the system. That is why we are licensing building professionals which is an add-on around this bill. 
I think that collectively these measures will assist people. I believe these measures will get more claims through the system faster they will drill into those liable parties and they will get compensation for people so that they can have their homes fixed up and can get on with their lives. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: How many? How many? 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: But I do note again just for the record—despite the twittering from the “grey warbler” across the way there—that it is not a solution proposed by an Opposition and it is the role of an Opposition to be critical of the Government. I would have hoped that members opposite might have provided a solution or their view on what they would do but sadly that has been lacking in this debate. 
In May this year I announced these enhancements. After a major review during which we listened to stakeholders we have now kept our promise of passing these measures before the end of the year. Although we have in the legislation a “go date” if you will of 1 May next year the stated objective of the Government—which I believe we will meet—is to have this system implemented and up and running by 1 April. 
I thank the Consumers Institute and David Russell. I thank John Gray and his troops. I thank those in the building industry: the master builders; Pieter Burghout and company the certified guys; and the local government representatives who collectively have all given their views. Yes we have disagreed on some issues; I accept that. I accept in respect of Mr Gray that we disagree on the 10-year limit. He has a different view on legal costs; I accept that. But I believe—and I acknowledge and respect him for his views—that collectively this bill will tackle the problems identified. This bill will assist those that it needs to. 
I challenge those who may throw mud at this legislation to get behind the proposal. We all have constituents. Probably every electorate in this country has constituents who have been impacted by shonky design by shonky building or by some cowboy dealing to them—not just with leaky buildings I might add but shonky building right across the board. I lay out a challenge to members of the House as a collective of 120-plus members to put politics aside for once and support this proposal. 
Paula Bennett 
: We voted for it. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: Yes Ms Bennett voted for the bill and opposed it at the same time which is a very interesting position and one that people will judge. 
I challenge every MP in this House to get behind this proposal and to go out and encourage their constituents to rock up to this new resolution service so that we can assist them. We know there are 15000 people out there. We also know that there are possibly a number of people out there who have not engaged with the service or a court because—as members on both sides have said—they do not have faith in the current resolution service and they do not have the money to go to court. I encourage members to go out into their communities say that assistance is available and ask people to give it a go because I believe it will work. The challenge of course will be whether certain individuals can put their political protestations aside and represent their constituents in an appropriate way. 
 I thank the department and the officials who have put a hell of a lot of time into this legislation. The Department of Building and Housing is criticised occasionally as all bureaucratic entities are and the boot goes in. But the team that has been working on this for many many months has some of the most passionate individuals that I have seen and they are passionate because they actually want to help people. Staff in my office have taken phone calls from people and one of the department’s officials said to me that occasionally people can be heard bursting into tears on the phone because this tragedy has impacted on their lives so much. I thank those officials because they have put heart and soul into this legislation. They believe in it and they believe that it can work. 
I say to those in the communities affected that I believe that this is a sound policy built around not just what the Government thinks what I as a politician think or even what the bureaucrats think but by working with stakeholders in the community like Mr Gray and his group and by listening to what they say what their needs are and what they would like—what they believe the solution should be. After all they are the ones standing in the houses or in many cases the ones living with their kids in the houses. I believe that we have listened. We have disagreed occasionally but we have listened. 
Overwhelmingly I believe we have put in place legislation that at its very base will assist those people and that will over time get them out of the situation they are in. I thank members on both sides of the House for their support of this bill besides the disagreements and I commend it to the House.