Williams Poto: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Poto: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 04 December 2014. Volume:702;Page:1191. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]POTO WILLIAMS (Labour—Christchurch East):I am pleased to rise to take a call on the first reading of this bill because I am angry. I am angry at this Government for continually sitting on its hands around the issue of affordability for people who want to buy homes. I am angry that this Government refuses time and time and time again to do something appropriate around affordability accessibility and homeownership particularly for our young people.I have a 23-year-old daughter. Will she ever be able to own a home? She saves she is part of KiwiSaver she works hard. I want to know that my daughter and my grandchildren will actually be able to own their own homes because—do you know what? Do you know what? Homeownership leads to a whole lot of benefits later in life. If you have an asset in a home then you have set yourself up for life. We all know that. So why is this Government wanting to restrict our young people from homeownership? [Interruption] You tell me. Mr Bishop you can get up and answer that question. That would be really great.Will this small multifaceted measure do anything to improve homeownership? Well my dear colleague over here has said no. And do you know what? The Cabinet paper said no as well.Meka Whaitiri: Everyone says no.POTO WILLIAMS: Everyone says no except for the National Government.Meka Whaitiri: Election sweetener.POTO WILLIAMS: That is right. Will this small multifaceted bill do anything about affordability?Meka Whaitiri: No.POTO WILLIAMS: No. Let us have a look at the facts shall we? Here is what the experts tell us: these schemes are intended to assist people to buy moderate homes that they can afford. Although the price caps should adjust for inflation increasing them excessively encourages people to buy homes they cannot afford the mortgage on and it pushes up house prices making first-home buyers worse off. Oh my goodness—it makes first-home buyers worse off.Do you know what I heard the other day? I think it was actually said in the House. I heard that the average house in Auckland earned more than the average wage. If you have a home in Auckland the equity built up on it is more than the average wage of a worker. I think that is extraordinary do you not? So you can own a home and have that passive income but if you go out to work every single day—Meka Whaitiri: At no tax.POTO WILLIAMS: —at no tax—as a hard worker a decent worker in this country and you get taxed like billy-o—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order! You are bringing me into the debate.POTO WILLIAMS: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker I will—Chris Hipkins: But you do work.POTO WILLIAMS: But you do.So how can we achieve affordability? That is the question and we have the answer of course with KiwiBuild. Affordability is around supply. If you increase supply you increase affordability. And you can build decent homes. The Government has the ability to use its capital its extensive contacts across the country its connections with building supply companies and construction companies and its ability to legislate around development costs and around land accessibility—Chris Bishop: We’re doing that.POTO WILLIAMS: Well we would like to. We think you should do it because it is a great bill. It is a great bill. I am sorry Mr Assistant Speaker; I am really passionate about this. I believe in home affordability for all people.What are the changes that this Government has made? Let us look at them. Loan-to-value ratios—have loan-to-value ratios made a difference to affordability? Has it made a difference to the ability for young people to get into a home? I see that side of the House has gone quiet now when we bring up loan-to-value ratios. What has been the impact of loan-to-value ratios on first-home buyers? I would like to hear that from you. Do you know what has happened? The loan-to-value ratios have restricted the market so much that they have provided a haven for overseas investors and they have provided a haven for people who want to land bank—people who buy tracts of land and wait for the price of land to go up because they know that the developers are standing by the gates waiting for that land to be freed up. These Government members have the cheek to say that it is local government’s fault for not releasing land. They have the nerve to say that when it is really the developers holding on to the land knowing that the price is going up—that is the issue here.With regard to the overseas investors we hear today that the Australian Government is looking at registering overseas investors who want to purchase property in Australia. What is the Government doing about that?Meka Whaitiri: Soft touch—we’re a soft touch.POTO WILLIAMS: Absolutely. We have pooh-poohed that idea for long enough. Why does this Government not want to look at registering overseas investors? Why not? What would that do? It would give us information with which to base policy on certainly. We would know exactly how many overseas investors were looking to purchase homes in this country. Why can we not preserve homeownership for New Zealand residents and people who actually want to live here—New Zealand citizens? Why is that such a bad deal?I am concerned for people like my daughter who eventually will want to buy a home and who will be priced out of the market. Most of you know that I come from Christchurch. We have a real issue with affordability in Christchurch. We also have an issue with the land that is available to be used for the building of homes. When Government members responded to the housing issue or the housing challenge as it is known by this Government they said at the time that they supported the opening up of land developments on the edge of the city and that homes in the region of $500000 were going to be what affordability is for the people of Christchurch.Factor into that the fact that most people have to travel significant distances now to get to their places of work and you have cut any gains out. You have increased the ability to—sorry Mr Assistant Speaker. I am sorry Mr Assistant Speaker. I am very passionate about this topic and I sometimes lose my direction so I thank you very much for bringing me back to this. I want to explain that in Christchurch we have a huge issue with supply because let us face it when you take out 11000 homes in one fell swoop over several massive earthquakes we look to the Government to provide leadership in terms of supporting us to open up land that is cheap and supporting us to build a significant number of houses to restore people into homes. You know there are still people who are living in damaged homes 4 years on.We look to the Government to provide some leadership around supporting our construction industry. I know that the Government feels it has done a lot but it has not done enough. One of the issues that the Government has not really looked at is providing support for those people who have to travel significant distances to get to work—people who are very much doing what they can do to get by.I want to get back to the point around affordability and the fact that this bill will allow people to take the Government contributions out of their KiwiSaver accounts. What happens with my 23-year-old daughter if she takes advantage of that? That $1000 in 40 or 45 years’ time will have built quite a nice little nest egg. I take the view that superannuation should be about saving for our retirement because let us face it this Government is wanting to make the future of our young people very difficult. I thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. It is the end of the sitting day and I thank you very much for allowing me to take the call.