Twyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 13 October 2015. Volume:709;Page:7120. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]12.PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Building and Housing: Does he stand by his statement “I want to do things as Housing Minister that are going to make a material difference to my kids and their generation having access to more affordable homes”; if so is he still confident he can do that under the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for Building and Housing): Absolutely. The Trans-Pacific Partnership will help housing affordability in three ways. The measures of housing affordability use three components: incomes interest rates and house prices. The Trans-Pacific Partnership will grow the incomes of New Zealanders by giving Kiwi businesses access to markets of 800 million people representing 36 percent of the world’s economy. As John Key and former Prime Minister Helen Clark said we are not going to grow incomes by selling stuff to ourselves with a population of just 4.5 million. Secondly the Trans-Pacific Partnership helps the competitiveness of the materials and technologies that build homes. I welcome the entry of alternative technologies from countries like those in the Trans-Pacific Partnership that will actually help us build more affordable homes. Thirdly open markets help keep interest rates and inflation low. Members opposite need to recognise that interest rates are at the lowest level in 40 years. That is a big help to the affordability for young families wanting to own their own home.Phil Twyford: Do the provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement mean New Zealand will not be able to ban non-resident foreigner buyers from buying existing homes?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Yes but we do not believe that will make any difference to the price that New Zealanders pay for homes. That certainly is the experience in Australia. I do find the Opposition party’s position very confusing. Its members say they are quite happy to have Aussies buying New Zealand homes but if they happen to be Canadians Americans—Hon Steven Joyce: Or anybody with a Chinese name.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: —or maybe those with Chinese-sounding names they have a different position although there are so many different positions that the Opposition party has had on the Trans-Pacific Partnership—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister can resume his seat.Phil Twyford: Is he aware that last year Australia’s restrictions on existing homes being purchased by non-resident foreigners drove nearly $30 billion of foreign investment into residential property development more than the total value of residential construction in New Zealand in the same period and does he really consider that to be ineffective?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Absolutely. The Australian policy has not worked because the prices of homes in Australia have gone up by more and are less affordable than what they are in New Zealand. If the Labour Party believes that Australia is the answer to housing affordability it needs to explain why the housing price in Melbourne and Sydney is significantly greater than what it is in Auckland. It actually just shows what a nonsense Labour’s Chinese-sounding name policy is in respect of housing.Phil Twyford: Can he confirm that some of the countries that are members in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations successfully protected future lawmaking on issues like housing ownership; if so why did not his Government?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The Trans-Pacific Partnership—on which I think this House should be tremendously proud of the work Tim Groser did—specifically enables the Government if it wishes to put on a stamp duty or other measure. That is an option that might be effective if we were concerned about foreign ownership. Our Government’s position though is that we are going to make the decision on the basis of facts not Chinese-sounding names. That is why we have passed legislation that will give us those facts.Phil Twyford: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It was a very specific question about future lawmaking protection.Mr SPEAKER: I think the member has got a reasonable point. Can I invite him to repeat the question for the benefit of the Minister.Phil Twyford: Can he confirm that some of the countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiated protections for future lawmaking on issues like housing ownership; if so why did not his Government?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Because we did. The Minister responsible Tim Groser specifically included provisions that might be used by our Government such as a stamp duty that could be imposed on overseas owners because it is our view that the instrument of a ban which that member has advocated is inconsistent because it would not apply even under his policy to Australia would be inconsistent with the free-trade agreement that his Government negotiated with China and would not make any material difference to the core issue of improving housing affordability for Kiwi families.