Davidson MaramaMARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader—Green): So what we've got at the moment and have had for far too long are unjust structures. What this Government is trying to do is rebalance that and bring more justice into these structures which have been hammering particular groups of people for far too long. So that's essentially what this bill is picking up on tonight where it's going to make it illegal to charge a letting fee so that people who are looking for a home to rent will not have to meet that sometimes incredibly harrowing upfront and often unjustified cost borne by people looking to rent or trying to find a home.We've had recent studies talking about as many as 150000 Kiwis as vulnerable transients. This is an example of what we are trying to correct with a series of legislation and bills going through this House talking about renting in particular. Around 5.6 percent of the population or 212000 of us are transient of which a population the size of Tauranga are vulnerable. An Auckland University of Technology study revealed this recently. If we're having a think about transience it's defined as moving at least three times in three years. How many letting fees—how much money is that for those letting fees? So 150000 Kiwis classified as vulnerable transients moved three or more times to or within an already highly deprived area. This is a small glimpse of part of the unjust structure that we are trying to correct.I want to pause for a minute and have a think about how much faith New Zealanders should actually have in a political system which is in reality stacked against people who are vulnerable or have restricted choices around living choices. Out of 120-odd MPs in this House at the moment I believe there are probably six or seven—literally a handful—of us who do not yet own our own home but just as worrying for me is that collectively 120-odd MPs own around over 300 homes. It's about two and a bit—2½ each in this House. So it's actually stacked and has been for a very long time against groups who really are the ones being harmed the groups who have little and less choice.So I am proud therefore that at least this Government can actually put movements in train and actually reject that we are in this House politically stacked in theory against people who don't own a home. So that's something that I think needs to be noted. It's all well and good if we are going to have MPs and an overrepresentation of investment properties in this House—that's as it may be—but let's at least then proactively acknowledge the stacking and proactively put justice back into the structures which have continued to harm people actually for generations.So of course the Greens are going to be supporting this. Removing letting fees in particular was part of a suite of changes that we have long proposed when it comes to rebalancing the power. We've had a bit of discussion and a bit of to and fro tonight about who are really going to lose out from this and I do quite regret the fact that whenever the discussion is raised and focuses on Oh those poor homeowners and landlords which are having to sell." I really regret that we are just brushing over the generations of people who have really been harmed through this unjust structure who have really had detrimental accumulative lifelong and often generational struggles and challenges because of the unjust structures that are happening. So this is one part. Now we've heard a lot about how it is going to have unintended consequences by raising rents and that is actually why the Greens will continue to be wanting to have discussions about rent controls and I'm glad that the Minister is actually undertaking a review on the entire residential tenancy. Sorry I'll bring it back yes but I only raise that as part of how we can address this false trade-off argument that we will actually increase rents and that we will need to have complementary solutions alongside this bill. Actually Minister Salesa clearly outlined as well addressing the supply problem—absolutely and we're on that. So using the rent increase as an excuse to vote against this rebalance of power and re-correcting this unjust structure is simply by the wayside. So I wanted to put that very clearly.I think you know this is part of us understanding that people who rent and are in that hardship and facing those lesser choices need to be seen as equal citizens because what has been happening for far too long is dehumanising. We have had ongoing dehumanising and smearing of people who need to rent a home and we have set up in a sense a two-tier citizenship system for people who own a home against people who rent a home. This is where we are starting again with this bill removing letting fees to try and correct not just the structure but also the narrative around Kiwis who also have less choice. So again I wanted to bring that into the debate tonight.I wanted to pick up on—I think it's worth hammering actually—those groups who we're talking about who haven't fared well in the current structure. I'm going to have a look—just bear with me; there's a few of the submissions. This is the Anglican Diocese of Auckland the social justice group who spoke particularly about seeing this bill as a fair and just one that reduces the significant cost borne by tenants and given our insecure tenure rental arrangements the costs of moving home are borne by the most vulnerable in our society. Of New Zealanders 53.55 percent rent their properties but for Pasifika and Māori it's far more and also people with a disability are more likely to rent mums and children are more likely to rent women and children are more likely to rent people on low incomes of course are more likely to rent. Those are some of the groups who continue to be harangued by this unjust structure and absolutely by arbitrary and unjust letting fees so I'm really glad that we are taking this step.It's a relatively straightforward and simple bill in and of itself. It speaks quite directly quite briefly and clearly to the letting fee part of the process and making it unlawful and that's why I appreciate that the Social Services and Community Committee report was also quite brief and to the point. I did want to pick up that the select committee report urged the Government to consider introducing a regulatory regime for this industry and the Greens absolutely support that sentiment: looking at tighter enforcement controls for really really upholding these principles of correcting the unjust structure.So there are ways around this I think to finish off saying. This is part of the journey to re-correct the unjust structures. There are ways around the concerns that have been raised by some submitters and some here in the House particularly in terms of increasing rental costs. I really commend Minister Hon Ron Mark's comments about identifying that those landlords and homeowners with rental properties who are doing well can continue to do that and will as we've seen around the world. But what we will actually start to see as we implement all these changes are more and more people being able to live lives with dignity including those who rent. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker."