Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Ā e Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe e ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. I am pleased to take a call on the Housing Legislation Amendment Bill. When I got word from our whips that we were having urgency I was quite excited. I thought I would come down and hear that this Government is finally listening to the cries of Labour and many of the people we represent and introducing a bill that addresses KiwiBuild for example; building a 100000 affordable homes. I thought: Jeez I will be coming down and standing up in support of that or a bill that would eliminate speculation in our housing market maybe"—that would have been a good idea—"or what about extending the brightline test for another 5 years so we can take the pressure out of the housing market?". I thought I was coming to the Chamber to stand up and support that. But alas when I came to the Chamber and read the bill I thought: "This is unfortunate." Generally when we get to the second reading of a bill we have had the privilege of taking the bill to a select committee. There are areas of this particular bill—and others have covered them; we have got two areas—where it would have been advantageous to the Government to hear from people who are most affected by this bill. This Government the Minister himself has denied those very people the opportunity to present and there could have been an improvement on the bill like many submitters actually do. But we will never know because we are hearing this bill under urgency. So when I look at the information we have got in front of us I want to reference my contribution to Minister's Nick Smith's own Q and A on the Beehive website. Under "Housing Legislation Amendment Bill—Q and A September 2016" a question he answers is: "Why has the Act been extended by three years?". Of course we want to ensure there is transition coverage for those who have started the process but I thought that if you were going to extend it you would actually take the time to understand the extent of the problem that we are trying to fix. Under the Minister's own question: "What happens to SHAs that have not lodged consents for qualifying developments before 16 September 2016?" it says that those that have been gazetted before 16 September 2015 and have yet to get consents will be disestablished. Those that have been lodged after 16 September 2015 have 12 months to lodge. That sounds all very good but when you get down to the end of the Minister's answer it says this: "I have discretion to extend this time limit for new SHAs if I believe best endeavours have been made…". That for me undermines the decision that councils have around giving those consents. Then I looked at: "Will other Housing Accords be established?". Of course I am a proud member of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and we have housing issues that are real in the regions. That was the other reason why I got excited about this bill. I thought: "Finally—finally—this Government was going to deal with the issues in the regions where we are struggling to house our people." By way of example 377 homes in the Hawke's Bay have been flogged off—377. How many have been built since National has been in Government? Seven—seven homes. There is an absolute need in our regions and when I look at this bill it does not even address the opportunities that are real in the regions. I wanted to come to this House to fly the regional flag because this Government seems to forget about our regions. Finally in the minute that I have left I want to make a short contribution about Part 2 of this bill. I support the calls from this side of the Chamber that it is too important not to go to select committee. There is only a very short explanation from the Minister's very own question and answer around why we need to change the Housing Act. I have read the clauses in the bill. It talks about the fact that existing Treaty settlements will be protected but what about the future ones? I listen intently to all members on that side of the Chamber to hear how we are going to safeguard future Treaty settlements under this piece of legislation. So that is why I stand in support of Labour on this particular bill. It goes well short of addressing the housing shortages we have throughout this country and if the Government was listening it would separate the bill and we could address it appropriately. Kia ora."