Little AndrewANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition): I want to credit Paula Bennett for something. There is a proposition she made in her speech that I agree with which is that New Zealand is a beautiful country. We have great natural assets and great natural beauty and that is a reason why a lot of people love living here and it is why a lot of people come here. We are a great country. We are part of the developed world and we are not poor and we can celebrate that and we should. This should be a great country for everyone who lives here. Whether they have been born here or whether they come here to chase their hopes and dreams this should be a great country for everyone.But the truth is of course that for many for a growing number of people who are here no matter how hard they work no matter how hard they try and no matter how long they save they cannot get ahead. They cannot live a decent life and they cannot realise their hopes and dreams. That is the lot of far too many New Zealanders today and it is not good enough for the Prime Minister to stand here and say 8 years into the Government: We have prospects." "We have prospects." Really? That is as good as it gets? "We might have prospects."—those members have been saying that for 8 years.This Government has lost touch. Those members do not know what is going on. That is why their priority is to track down lost luggage. That is what they care about. As New Zealanders struggle to own their own home and as New Zealanders struggle to get a pay increase and get ahead in life members opposite are worried about lost luggage. The housing crisis is out of control. We had a nationwide average increase in the house price last year of 26 percent. That is ridiculous when the Consumers Price Index—Hon Dr Nick Smith: That's not true.ANDREW LITTLE: —is running at below 2 percent. Nick Smith of course objects—because he objects to everything—because he does not know what he is doing because he is the world's worst Minister of housing. Once upon a time I would have said "the worst in the Commonwealth" but I have to say he has now surpassed that. When it comes to the Olympics of Government he is the world's worst housing Minister.We now have the average Auckland house price at a fraction below a million dollars. Houses under $600000 in Auckland have gone from being 78 percent of the market when that Government took office to now just 21 percent of the market and the Government's answer to that is of course special housing areas. This was the panacea—this was going to fix everything. Affordable houses would be available within years and they do not—[Interruption] You see they do not care. They do not care. So with the special housing areas it was: "Well we've blown the lid off that." Three years into special housing areas 154 of them have been created only a third have got to consenting stages and only 24 have actually got completed houses on them—154 special housing areas and only 24 with completed housing because the truth is it has become a recipe for the land bankers. It has become a recipe for the land bankers. There are only 340 affordable homes amongst all the houses built in the 154 special housing areas in the last 3 years.Those members crow about "Oh there's 1300 houses built"—or 1268 built to be precise—but only 340 of them are affordable. The truth is we know what happens when there is a lack of houses built: more people rely on renting and rents go up. We now have overcrowded housing and we have poor-quality rentals. That is why we now have to regulate the rentals and the Government's feeble attempt to do that is a complete waste of time.That is why it was so encouraging today to hear more submissions on my Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No 2). It was so encouraging to see the Mayor of Porirua Nick Leggett supporting the legislation and making some constructive suggestions. Nick Leggett had very positive suggestions from Porirua but what was even more heart-warming—[Interruption] You see the problem with this Government is it is so out of touch it does not think New Zealanders care about other New Zealanders. And what was very heart-warming was to see the submitters from Paraparaumu College making their submission. Esmay Goodman Sophie Joines Braidey Woodham Elysia Hartley and Luc van Kradenburg made their submission because they care about New Zealanders in a way that the members opposite never ever will."