Little Andrew: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLittle Andrew: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 26 August 2015. Volume:708;Page:6154. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]2.ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he have confidence in the Minister responsible for Housing New Zealand Corporation?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes.Andrew Little: Did the State house he grew up in have mould and leaks and is it OK for kids today to live in mouldy leaky cold State houses because of lack of maintenance?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No not from memory. Obviously the house would have been much more modern back then given it was so many decades ago. But also I will say that my mother took absolute pride in making sure that she kept the house clean tidy and ventilated. But what I can say is that this Government is proud of the fact that it is spending $300 million a year improving the mess we inherited from Labour. Its own house was never in order. It is not in order at the moment. No wonder we inherited—Mr SPEAKER: Order!Andrew Little: Given that it would take only $35 million to get every State house up to standard and he is taking nearly $100 million a year in dividends from Housing New Zealand why does he not let Housing New Zealand keep its dividends until it gets all of its houses fixed?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The Government may well take a dividend from Housing New Zealand—as it should in fact because it spends $300 million a year maintaining and upgrading. The Minister for Social Housing was on the radio very recently talking about just how many homes have had improvements over the last very short period of time.Andrew Little: Given that the average State house needs just $600 of repairs and he is pocketing $1500 in profit per State house each year will he promise here and now to suspend dividends and fix all the houses immediately?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The advice I have is that the average spend on repairs of a home is $10000 actually. In some cases it is $20000. The Government spends $300 million a year but indeed all that demonstrates is that the Leader of the Opposition is not very good with numbers—but maybe Jacinda Ardern is better with numbers these days.Mr SPEAKER: Order! That will not help the order of the House.Andrew Little: How many more kids in State houses in New Zealand have to wind up in hospital seriously ill before he takes their issues seriously and makes sure that they have the same right that he had to a safe warm dry State house?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: It would be easier to take the member seriously if what Labour did when in Government was actually maintain the houses. But in fact not only did it not do that it let them run down. Here are the facts: through Warm Up New Zealand we have insulated 280000 old cold damp homes that were never insulated under a Labour Government of which 48000 were State houses. We spent $30 million providing heating at about 10000 properties and we have installed thermal curtains in 17000 hot homes since February 2013. It is a joke for the Labour Party members to come here and talk about this. They ran the housing stock down. They should hang their heads in shame—that is what they should do.Andrew Little: I seek leave to table a document prepared by the Parliamentary Library showing that Labour took over its time in Government $281 million in dividends and spent $758 million in capital contributions compared with this Government’s $636 million in dividends and $132 million—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The document has been well and truly described. I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table that particular document prepared by the Parliamentary Library. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There is objection.Andrew Little: Where is the moral compass of his Government and how can he possibly justify continuing to profit off State houses while kids like Iriah Marama and Emma-Lita Bourne are getting sick and dying?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Where is the moral compass of an Opposition that just failed to upgrade and maintain houses? They were a mess under the Labour Government. They were a disgrace and this Government has actually had to fix them up. It is the same old story all the time with Labour: hopeless in Government; roaring like lions in Opposition.Andrew Little: How can a man who grew up in a State house be OK with making a profit off our poorest families while they live in conditions that are killing their kids and making them seriously ill?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The Government does not make a profit out of Housing New Zealand. It spends $700 million on income-related rents. It spends $300 million maintaining them. I am advised by the Minister responsible for HNZC that the previous Labour Government suspended the maintenance on those properties to build more properties. Labour let those houses run down it let those tenants get sick and now in Opposition it wants to pass the buck to someone else. It is a disgrace Mr Little. It is a disgrace.