Williams Poto: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Poto: General Debate[Sitting date: 18 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18630. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]POTO WILLIAMS (Labour—Christchurch East):Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Goodness it is a lively general debate today. I just want to say Dr Hutchison that I think quite highly of you but even I was a little taken aback at that speech and the swipe that you took at us. Perhaps you were getting a little out of your depth when you talked about the Labour caucus’s relationship with its leader.I want to bring us back to things that actually matter—things that matter to ordinary New Zealanders. I want to bring us back to some basic principles and talk about housing. It is a basic human right to have housing—the right to shelter. Housing in the primitive sense is about protection. It is about having protection from those things that could do us harm. It permits you to establish yourself and to have a base where you can gather those things around you that are important to you. It provides also a base for us as humans to flourish to restore and to recover. But when we talk about housing it is not just the structure we are talking about. We are talking about decent housing that is warm and dry and affordable.How does warm dry affordable housing benefit our people? Well there are several ways. Let us just look at the health benefits of warm dry affordable homes. It is well documented that a home that is in a decent condition—a place that is warm and dry—contributes to the good health outcomes of the population. So with Labour’s healthy homes guarantee for example homes will have insulation and heating for those who rent and you will have a decent standard of accommodation that will help to combat the really high rates of respiratory conditions that our children suffer.There is also something about the affordability to heat your homes. With NZ Power we are looking at making the affordability to heat your home a reality for New Zealanders because having a warm dry home is a source of well-being for young children and for older citizens alike. Preventing poor health outcomes in our population has a positive impact on the cost of health to our population not only for the country but also for the overall well-being of individuals and families—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am sorry to interrupt the member but it is not acceptable for a member to be making a call on a cellphone while in the Chamber.POTO WILLIAMS: It is well to remember that good housing is essential for a good community. John A Lee said that back in the 1930s and it is as pertinent today as it was back then. Being able to put down roots and develop links and connections in the community and to take advantage of that community capital—that social capital—takes time and people need to have time to do that regardless of whether they own their home or they rent. There should not be barriers to long-term residency in a community simply because of your inability to purchase a home to rent a home or to have the support from social providers into housing. Homeownership should be available to all Kiwis who want it.These are not just individual benefits either. It benefits the community to have well-networked residents who are aware of their neighbours and the situations that their neighbours live in and who are supportive of them. Difficult times such as a natural disaster are times when those connections are most apparent and recovery in communities would not be possible without there being strong connections in place. So—soon.Finally I want to talk about taking a responsible approach to housing one that considers a person’s ability to pay for housing which means not only the affordability and availability of that housing but also having the income available to pay for that housing which for most of us is really the biggest take out of our pay packets each week. I just want to finalise by saying that we want to provide an environment that encourages saving through compulsory KiwiSaver contributions which means we will save for our retirement but we will also have deposits for our first home and we will have a tool to manage inflationary pressures as well. Above all we will make it possible for Kiwi families to put down roots and fully participate in community life. Thank you.