Barclay ToddTODD BARCLAY (National—Clutha-Southland): It is a privilege to be able to speak in this general debate. As a country we have got a lot to be proud of and a lot to be positive about. It is great to be part of a Government that is taking the issue around homeownership very seriously. We have got a wide suite of reforms targeted at getting people into their first home—on the first rung of the property ladder. We have got a suite of policies as part of our agenda and in my electorate we have benefitted from many of those as well. There are plenty more to come. We are creating special housing areas across the country in high demand areas across New Zealand to help fast track people into their first homes and the building of first homes. We are reforming the Resource Management Act. This is a very important piece of legislation that we have been campaigning on reforming since we came into Government. We hope to get greater support across the House to get that through. We are introducing the brightline test as well which is assisting in the property tax base. We are looking at a number of different initiatives to try to broaden the opportunities for people to get into their first home. We are releasing a national policy statement requiring councils to ensure land supply for housing keeps up with the pace of growth. It is very important. Land supply—opening up land for building for housing development—is one of the critical things we can do to help councils. Just on the weekend we announced a $1 billion infrastructure fund to accelerate new housing infrastructure in areas of high growth. Part of my electorate is Queenstown and that is an area of high growth. It is interesting. Only about a year ago when Nick Smith was down in Queenstown announcing the housing accord down there Phil Twyford said: Oh you don't need to worry about going down there. The housing problems are only in Auckland." How far from the truth could he have been? We are experiencing challenging growth across the country largely in my electorate actually off the back of the success of the tourism industry. It is another platform that the Government is supporting hugely through the investment that we are doing in terms of attracting high-value tourists to this country. But Queenstown nevertheless does have a housing affordability issue. For Phil Twyford to go down there just a couple of months ago—he completely changed his tune saying: "Oh yes. The Government needs to be doing more." Had he spent more than a day there he would have realised the Government is doing a significant amount. On top of those initiatives that I have talked about we have got a wide-ranging suite of initiatives. The KiwiSaver HomeStart initiative has made a significant contribution to allowing young families to get into their first home. Labour Party policy on the other hand—its silver bullet to this issue is to ban people with Chinese-sounding names from entering the housing market. Well I am not sure where Phil Twyford has been but there are a significant number of voters who have Chinese-sounding names and they are making a significant contribution to our economy. Many of them have been here for a long period of time. I look forward to the Labour Party's announcement over the weekend. Hopefully it is not a regurgitation of the same old things. The flip-flopping of the Labour Party over housing has been astounding. Labour members said they would scrap the HomeStart initiative one of the key pillars for supporting young families into their first home. Phil Twyford said he had been in favour of selling State housing to social housing providers. Now he is opposed to it. How ridiculous is that? One of the things that we are proud of in Queenstown is the announcing of seven special housing areas into the area dating right back to December 2014 when Bridesdale Farm was brought online bringing on board an additional 140 houses. All sections have been sold. The second special housing area was Onslow Road bringing on an additional 20 homes. Over the last month we have had five further special housing areas announced: Arthurs Point bringing on 70 new homes; Gorge Road bringing on 150 new homes; and Arrowtown Retirement Village accommodating 175 elderly along with a 100-bed aged-care facility. It is a significant issue that we do not have retirement capacity in Queenstown at the moment. This is just one initiative that the Government has supported to come into our region. Shotover Country is bringing on 95 new homes; our seventh new housing area announced just yesterday is at Ladies Mile—our second retirement village coming into the district. Over the last couple of years under the Government's special housing areas initiative alone we have introduced seven special housing areas with 1000 new homes into the district. We are a Government that is tackling this issue we have got a lot in train and we are seeing great results. Thank you very much for the opportunity."