SpeechFLETCHER TABUTEAU (Deputy Leader—NZ First): Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak on this fantastic piece of legislation. I say that despite the contributions from those opposite. They seem to be in a really kind of moody psyche at the moment. It's not good on the other side of the House—it's just kind of nasty—and with your patience Mr Speaker I'll just point out some of the flaws in their arguments that they have put to the House this afternoon. Darroch Ball: You haven't got time mate. FLETCHER TABUTEAU: It's true—I will run out of time. I'll be concise. Mr Bishop very succinctly outlined the fact that he saw the only way for our economies to get better was for the populations to continuously grow. At some point we have to ask the National Party—because they did it for nine years. That was the second part of their solution for economic growth. It was unfettered immigration into New Zealand. At what point do you say We have to manage this."? I put that question to the opposite side of the House despite their guarded support this afternoon and I ask those members opposite: at what point did they go out to local councils in their nine years that they were last in Government and say "We have an unfettered immigration policy so you might want to look at investing in infrastructure roading schooling and housing in your communities."? I'll give you the answer: nobody from the National Party ever went to a council anywhere in New Zealand and told them that that's what would happen. How do I know? Because in Tauranga and Rotorua I spoke to the mayors and their councillors—and in Auckland actually—and was told point blank "I'll tell you what Mr Tabuteau if only National had told us what was coming we could have planned for it worked towards it and maybe just maybe we might have been able to get ahead of the curve." So what we see here today represents an amazing opportunity for this country. Mr Bishop spoke of his community of Lower Hutt. I can use Rotorua as the example of the issues that we have been facing in our time of growth in population in Rotorua. Just recently we were able to announce a $55 million investment in the Te Ngae Road upgrade for example. What that did was unlock an investment by Ngāti Whakauē land development of more than 1000 properties to be developed in Rotorua—something we have been achingly desperately wanting for so long—and what was necessary? Actually before this legislation it meant the Government had to come along and co-invest in the infrastructure upgrades. That meant storm water and that meant safely re-contouring the road so that people could safely move off into what will be this new housing development—$55 million to make that happen. So what we see here today is what I genuinely—I genuinely—believe is an answer on top of all that this Government is doing to address the housing crisis in New Zealand. It's been so difficult trying to catch up with the kind of non-attempt from the National Opposition in their time in Government. Nothing was done we went nowhere and a housing crisis ensued. What we have now is the ability to unfurl councils' constraints on investment in infrastructure so that housing can be undertaken in our towns and cities. The obligation as members know was that councils are legally required to take responsibility for these infrastructure upgrades. Unfortunately everyone is all too well aware of the fact that councils do not have this money. Post-COVID this is even more of concern for our councils when trying to manage their debt structure and the last thing we want to do is encourage councils to increase rates. We need to help them to alleviate the burden of these costs. So what this legislation does is it says to councils "Actually what you now have is an opportunity through the special vehicles"—or investment vehicles as they were—"to work with the developers perhaps who can now spend the money themselves directly on infrastructure upgrades in order to unlock that housing potential that we so desperately desperately need." In doing that we—I mean it's kind of so basic but so fundamentally important. It simply means more houses for New Zealanders and actually I'll give Mr Bishop credit. He articulated the argument and the spillover benefits of this legislation in an articulate manner. It's not just about the ability to build houses; it's the question of what that means to society. Actually I'd put it to the House that the ability to offset these costs through these special purpose vehicles means that more houses can be built now and I note to the House that this is on top of the national policy statement on urban development which will require councils to zone more land for housing and will allow for more apartments and town houses. The Resource Management Act reform led by Minister David Parker will change the way we plan for urban growth in New Zealand. The Urban Development Bill will cut through the red tape and will lead large-scale master-plan urban development projects that are too complex risky or uncertain for the private sector to undertake alone. Fundamentally that means cost savings. That means massive cost savings. That means New Zealanders can buy houses at a cheaper cost than they can today. This is exciting for New Zealanders struggling right now. It's exciting for the next generation of New Zealanders wondering how on earth they are going to buy their first home. This will fundamentally change the way New Zealand moves forward and the way that we can look at homeownership in this country. Homeownership for me defines wealth equality in this country. We used to be the home-owning democracy of the world. We can be again and it is legislation like this that takes us down that pathway in an accelerated and an exciting way. So for me to be able to stand up in the House today and commend this bill to the House is an honour and I thank you very much for it."