Smith Nick: Standing Orders—Suspension 
Smith Nick: Standing Orders—Suspension 
[Volume:641;Page:10941] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 Nowhere in that speech from the Minister Clayton Cosgrove did we hear justification for throwing out the rule book of Parliament for him to do his business and the reason is that there is no justification. What we have from the Minister is a mess—an absolute mess—in our building laws and now he wants to cheat on the rules of this Parliament to prevent the proper scrutiny of Government legislation. 
I just want to explain the scale of the botch-up we are talking about. In 2002—surprise surprise under urgency—in a mad rush the Government passed legislation to set up the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service. It was a botch-up. It was a mess. In 2005 again under urgency and breaking the normal rules of the House we then came along and tried to patch it up. Then after botching it up a second time earlier this year the Government—again breaking the normal process—had to truncate the process and introduce a third bill to try to fix up the mistake on the fix-up that was a mistake on the fix-up. 
Now we have the Government saying it wants to throw out the normal process for advancing legislation. It wants to not have a first reading or a second reading but to simply introduce a Supplementary Order Paper at the last stage of a bill—a bill that has already had its first reading its second reading and its select committee stage. It is on to its third reading and the Minister wants to slip in a Supplementary Order Paper. He says: “Trust us we’ve got it right.” Well I have to say to the Minister that he botched it the first time he botched it the second time and he botched it the third time so why on earth would this Parliament trust that he may have it right for a fourth time? 
I say that this is just so symptomatic of the absolute mess that we have in our building laws. Let us just remind ourselves of how serious this problem is. Since Labour has been the Government we have seen a decline of 1 percent for every year it has been in office in the level of homeownership in New Zealand. We now have the worst level of homeownership at any time in the last 50 years. In the preceding 5 years of census data homeownership levels were stable. They have gone backwards. 
 I have just received a letter today from one of my constituents who because of the economic and housing policies of this Government is being forced into a mortgagee sale of a home. I put this figure in the hands of the Minister and the Government: in 1999 a person with a house of average value with a 75 percent mortgage would have been paying $166 a week. But because of house prices going through the roof and high interest rates that rate has now gone up from $166 a week to $533 a week. The problems that we have in the Building Act are part of what causes this. 
Darren Hughes 
: What’s that got to do with the motion? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I have heard Darren Hughes ask what that has to do with the Government. Well the Building Act mess is causing record increases in housing prices—a 20 percent increase. We have seen the Government—under the Building Act that it has now botched up and is trying to fix by breaking Parliament’s rules—treble the building levy. Well hello hello: if the building levy is trebled from $6 million a year to $18 million a year surprise surprise house prices will go up. 
This Parliament has not suspended its Standing Orders for more than 4 years. Members of this House— 
Lesley Soper 
: Calm down! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The member—I cannot remember her name; she is the temporary member from down south somewhere—says that this is no big deal. It is a big deal. The Government is saying that it does not want to follow the rules that govern this Parliament and that it wants to cheat those rules. It is a bit like the Government’s electoral bill. It cannot win an election next year under the ordinary rules so it wants to cheat and change the rules to suit itself. The Minister Clayton Cosgrove cannot manage his building laws under the normal rules of Parliament so today he proposes to cheat and throw the rule book in the bin. On this side of the House we say that is not good enough. 
I have to challenge the Minister. His problem is that he put a stupid law in place that said building consent authorities needed to be accredited by 30 November. That is a long way away; that is 4 months away. Why can we not have a bill put in for its first reading and put through the proper process? I ask the Minister why we cannot do it properly. Why has he not simply introduced a bill rather than breaking the rules of this House? 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: The House determines the rules Nick. You should know that. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The member says that the Government just makes up the rules as it goes. That is what the Minister says. That is not quite what I thought Geoffrey Palmer was asking for when he wrote about unbridled power. This Minister says that if he does not like the rules of our House of Representatives he will just pass a majority motion to throw the rule book out. His botch-up does not come into effect until 30 November and there is ample time for him to introduce a bill and send it to a select committee. We members of this side of the House would properly scrutinise that bill and we might save him from another one of his botch-ups. 
The further point I have for the Minister is that Local Government New Zealand told me last November that councils would not be able to meet this deadline. The Minister has known this for months. There is no good reason to throw out the Standing Orders of this House—he has known of this problem for months. He knew of this problem even before the bill that we are attempting to amend was to come into effect. I say to the Minister that he should not expect this Parliament to change its rules to fix up his and his department’s botch-ups. It is not right. 
I further have to say to the Minister that this was a stupid policy in the first place. In 2004 the Government said that the way in which it would get better quality processes in building consent authorities was to threaten them with non-accreditation. What does that mean? It means that if a council is not accredited there can be no building consents issued in that area. That would be a disaster for any community. It was a stupid provision. The reminder I give the member is that one does not make threats to one’s children that one cannot carry out. Here the Government has broken that golden rule. It threatened councils and said that if they did not get accredited they would not be able to issue any building permits. But of course it cannot carry out that threat because of the damage it would do to the community. It would not punish the council; it would simply punish the people in that community who wanted to get a building consent. It was a stupid provision then it is a stupid provision now and the reason that the Minister wants the House to suspend its rules is that he has locked himself into this stupid corner. 
This is a true sign of a tired Government that is on the way out. When else would a Government want to throw the rules of Parliament to one side? This is not something that a Government does willy-nilly. A Government using a simple majority in the House to throw out our Standing Orders and the proper process for legislation is the sort of thing that Geoffrey Palmer wrote of in  
Unbridled Power 
. 
I challenge the members of minor parties. They justify their existence by saying they will keep the Government honest. We have not heard one argument from the Minister as to why we should suspend the Standing Orders of the House. I have outlined perfectly how the Minister can introduce a bill to the House and meet that deadline of 30 November. He simply wants to cheat. I say that a Government that wants to cheat on the rules of this House is a Government that has had its day. It has made an absolute botch-up of the building laws in New Zealand. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: What’s that got to do with the motion? Come back to the motion. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I say to Mr Fairbrother that this is the fourth bill that we have had to try to implement changes in the Building Act. The Government has had to continually defer the introduction of those provisions. New Zealand builders and Local Government New Zealand right across the board have had enough of this Minister and his Government botching up these building laws. I say to the House that this Parliament should not suspend its normal rules to bail out a Minister who is not on top of his portfolio and not doing his job.