Catchpole Brent: Building Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Catchpole Brent: Building Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:619;Page:14860] 
BRENT CATCHPOLE (NZ First) 
: 
 I have some serious concerns about this particular part and I would like to ask the Minister to take a call and give us an assurance. This bill dissolves the Building Industry Authority and transfers everything into the Ministry of Economic Development or the new ministry that is being formed—I cannot recall the full name for it now. But my concern is that I would hate to see the Building Industry Authority being dissolved like a phoenix company and having all its responsibilities dissolved also. I hope the Minister can assure the Committee that the authority’s responsibilities and liabilities will be transferred across to the new ministry and therefore anybody who has any outstanding claims that may involve the authority will be able to continue with those claims. 
I am mindful of the approach the Building Industry Authority took with the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service. That was a process whereby all the parties were to get together to sort out their differences under mediation or arbitration. Unfortunately the one party that should have been leading that charge—the Building Industry Authority—decided it would go to court regardless and forced a lot of the smaller operators involved in the process to accept a substantial sum but it was nowhere near the figures they were trying to claim. Put simply the might of the authority had the finances behind it but the smaller parties did not and they were unable to take on the authority head-on in the court case. 
I hope the Minister will take a call and assure the Committee that those liabilities will be transferred over and also that the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service will still have that recourse to mediation with the new entity that will come into force in place of the Building Industry Authority. The authority has responsibilities to people and there are a large number of problems concerning weathertight homes. I believe there are many that still have not come forward or to fruition yet because the timberwork in those properties has not started to rot or the rot has not been noticed yet. That recourse must continue right through to allow the owners to have the opportunity if necessary to take the equivalent of the Building Industry Authority to arbitration or mediation and also provide the funding so that they can even take the new ministry on. I hate to think that the big money behind the authority was responsible for quashing a lot of that responsibility and the subsequent payouts. It was a sad day for the whole weathertight homes resolution inquiry. 
The Weathertight Homes Resolution Service was put in place under the Construction Contracts Act which was ultimately split off into a separate Act of its own. So it was sad to see the Building Industry Authority being able to dodge its responsibility. I would like the Minister to take a call to assure us that that will not be the case when this bill comes into force and that the new ministry will take on the full responsibilities and liabilities of the Building Industry Authority.