Ross Jami-Lee: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRoss Jami-Lee: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 26 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2672. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany): We are now on the third day of debate on the Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill. It has been debated on Tuesday debated on Wednesday and here we are on Thursday for the third reading. I remain concerned and actually saddened by the condescending and insulting approach that the Labour Party has to the desire of young Kiwis to be able to bring together a deposit to be able to buy a home because that is exactly what the Government’s policy is with the HomeStart policy. It is exactly what this bill supports—the policy that will enable New Zealanders to get more of a deposit together—and the condescending and insulting approach from the Labour Party is rather saddening. Mr Twyford called the bill inconsequential. Well we estimate that over the next 5 years 90000 New Zealanders will benefit from the changes that we are putting in place. For a couple who are each earning $50000 a year and have been in KiwiSaver for 5 years they will be able to withdraw a significant amount of money—$35000. Add on to that the doubling of the grants that we are putting in place which would allow that same couple to have $20000 in grants over that 5-year period from the Government then it is a $55000 deposit.I challenge any member in this House to stand up and say that for first-home buyers young homebuyers wanting to buy their first home a $55000 deposit for their first home is inconsequential. That is insulting that is condescending and that is absolutely wrong. The 90000 New Zealanders who will benefit from this HomeStart scheme will be much better off than they would have been had we done nothing. Yes an argument can be made that this bill tackles only part of the HomeStart scheme but the legislation needed to be changed for only part of the HomeStart scheme. The wider changes we are putting in place around the doubling of the HomeStart grants are also important and can be done through other methods. But to say that the bill is inconsequential is absolutely insulting and I am saddened by that. I remember just as I am sure many other members in this House remember that when we all went to buy our first home getting that first deposit together was one of the most challenging things. Once you get on the ladder it is a whole lot easier but the Government changes that we are putting in place with HomeStart will help those people by a long way and they will be better off because of it.I do want to counter some of the arguments that the Opposition has been running this week not just today in the House around housing. Opposition members have a holier-than-thou approach to housing. They believe that they had all the solutions in the 2000s and we are doing it all wrong now. Well let us just remind New Zealanders listening today that when Labour was in office house prices doubled. House prices went up 96 percent in the 9 years that it was in office. Young New Zealanders wanting to buy homes were seeing house prices skyrocketing going through the roof when Labour was in office. In the time we have been in office average house prices have increased by 27 percent. Contrast that with Labour’s record. If Labour members want to come into the House and say they had all the solutions over their 9 years in Government when house prices doubled—they went up by 96 percent—I would like to know the solutions they believe they have now. If that is what they were doing when they were in office 9 years ago—doubling house prices—what on earth would they want to do to New Zealanders now?I do concur with many members of this House who talk about the fact that we have supply issues in New Zealand. That is absolutely what we are addressing with many of our solutions in the housing framework. Take for example the special housing areas. That policy has led to huge amounts of development taking off in parts of Auckland and in other parts of the country where the special housing areas are taking place. I challenge Mr Twyford and I challenge David Clark to come to the Botany electorate to come to the Hunua electorate and to come to the East Coast Bays electorate. Those are electorates where we are seeing development taking off through the special housing areas. You cannot drive down some streets very easily in my electorate because there are cones everywhere that development is taking place. When you stand on some of the hills in my electorate and look over the Flat Bush area all you can see past the initial house roofs is dirt where dirt is being converted into more housing. You can see thousands of houses being built in our electorate. We are getting houses built. Twenty-four thousand consents were issued last year for construction in Auckland. The number of consents is up by 20 percent. Houses are being built and that is absolutely what we need.But the concern I have around housing and supply is the types of policies pursued by the left in New Zealand—the types of policies advocated by the Labour parties and the Green parties of the world—where they would like to see what they would like to call smart growth take place. I am talking about the compact cities they like to envisage when they sit with their planning documents. One of the biggest problems we have with housing in New Zealand particularly in Auckland is that for year after year decade after decade local government assisted by left-wing planning ideology has seen land supply being constrained through the district planning process. There simply has not been enough land opened up for development so that those houses can be built. It is a simple supply and demand equation. We have demand up here where people are wanting to buy houses. We need to build 13000 a year. We simply have not been keeping up with that demand. One of the reasons is that the supply of land has not been opened up sufficiently. The special housing areas legislation was put in place to try to override some of those planning constraints and that is leading to more housing. But I remain concerned as many of my constituents remain concerned that some of the policies that are pursued by local government in the housing space when it comes to land supply will not necessarily lead to the solutions we need in Auckland. More land needs to be opened up and I am hoping that the proposed Auckland Unitary Plan process which is being followed by independent commissioners will lead to more land being opened up because that is what we need in Auckland.When that new land is opened up and the 90000 New Zealanders who will benefit from the HomeStart policy are able to go to the bank with their doubled grant from the Government through the KiwiSaver scheme and with their funds withdrawn from the KiwiSaver scheme—with their $55000 deposit which the Opposition calls inconsequential—and are able to purchase new homes that are being built we will see more New Zealanders getting access to housing. Young New Zealanders want to live the Kiwi dream. Many of the members in this House know what it is like to own property. It is important for New Zealanders. It is part of our Kiwi dream part of the psyche we have as New Zealanders. This bill is all about trying to make it easier for New Zealanders to get together the money to put a deposit on a house. Other policies we are pursuing will lead to more houses being built and we are seeing development and progress being made.I also remain fearful of some of the policies our friends in the Opposition wish to pursue. A capital gains tax will not lead to more development taking place. It will lead to less investment taking place which will lead to fewer houses being built. I also do not trust Labour if it was ever in Government to build the 100000 houses it was promising. It was promising houses would be built and sold for $300000 when the average cost of a section in Auckland was $325000. The mathematics simply did not add up and I can see why people like Mr David Clark are no longer on the Finance and Expenditure Committee—they simply did not have what it took to be able to put through housing policies that will benefit New Zealanders.This bill is only part of the solution we have for housing. It is important that we build more houses but we also have to help those young New Zealanders. That is what the HomeStart policy is about. It is the primary mechanism being put in place through this bill and as an Auckland member as a member of the National Party on this side of the House I am pleased to see it progressing through the House.