King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 23 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4719. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
8. 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Labour—Rongotai) 
 to the  
Minister of Housing 
: Does he stand by all his answers to parliamentary questions; if not why not? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY (Minister of Housing) 
: 
 Yes as long as they are taken in context. 
Hon Annette King 
: Does he stand by his statement made recently in Parliament that Housing New Zealand Corporation tenancy managers “will have a laptop. They will no longer be stuck behind a desk in an office using a whiteboard. We are moving to modern technology”; if so when was he informed that tenancy officers have never had laptops will not be getting laptops and the so-called modern technology they have got is a cellphone that is not fit for purpose? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY 
: I am surprised that the member has got it wrong again. First of all for the first part of the question the  
Hansard 
 will say “the changes we are making” the “tenancy managers will spend” “They will have” “They will no longer be stuck behind a desk” and “We are moving to” new technology. So clearly it is fairly future-focused. That is the first thing. The second thing the member says is that tenancy managers have never used laptops. Actually in Christchurch after the earthquakes tenancy managers when they were out and about did use laptops. But can I say to the member if she could just stop making things up— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon Annette King 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Would it be appropriate for the Minister to table what he was quoting from because he missed out the fact that he used the word— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! [ 
Interruption 
] No no. Order! The member must resume her seat. The member if I understood him correctly was quoting from his  
Hansard 
 and that is already available. So it is all available for members anyhow so we will not be tabling that. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Can you confirm that the uncorrected  
Hansard  
is also available to members because there could well be a difference here between what the member said and what he said he said? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! [ 
Interruption 
] Order! Since when did members not understand this is a point of order. Both the uncorrected and the corrected are available. And I must say to the member asking the question that if the Minister’s answer missed out a bit she believed should have been in it that is obviously the next supplementary question. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Can the Speaker further confirm from I think the  
Prebble 
 case dealt with by a Speaker that it is a breach of privilege to significantly change one’s  
Hansard  
to take out a vital fact? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY 
: What the member’s allegations are—and I think journalists and members can test this by looking at the  
Hansard 
—is that I would have had to have changed these words: “are making”— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No. Order! [ 
Interruption 
] Order! The member will resume his seat. None of this stuff should be being dealt with by way of point of order. The Minister has the chance to answer further questions the member has the chance to ask further questions and that is the way this matter should be dealt with. The member asked a question. The Minister answered it. The member believed that he had left a bit out that in her view should have been in the answer. That is an opportunity for further supplementary questions to chase that up to see whether that was the matter. So I invite the Hon Annette King to do that. 
Hon Annette King 
: Does he consider after the promises he made in Opposition and his undivided attention to the housing portfolio to improve the quality of State houses that some State houses are now just “in a serious state of repair” as he claimed on 2 August this year; or is the Government the biggest slum landlord in the country? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY 
: I have made it clear in Opposition and certainly coming into Government since I got the briefing as incoming Minister twice—actually three times—and other documents that there is a large amount of the State housing stock that is in a serious state of disrepair. The most immediate thing we can do clearly is to insulate all State houses. I do not know why they were not done historically in the last 10 years but we will be insulating every State house by the end of next year. But there is still an awful lot of work to do to get State housing up to a decent standard. We think we should not just look at those on the waiting list and be concerned about them but also those who are in State houses should be living in decent conditions and we are working on that. 
Hon Annette King 
: What was his reaction to the Minister of Finance Bill English calling the Government “the biggest slum landlord in the country by a long-shot” just yesterday therefore making him as the Minister of State housing the principal slum landlord; and how does this label stack up against his claim that he has “always suspected” that he was “a very effective member”? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY 
: I have said ad infinitum for 4 years that the State housing stock is in a serious state of disrepair that in fact you know it took a decade to deteriorate and we are repairing it. But can I just say this. You know the easiest thing you could do is insulate the State houses. They were not insulated in a decade. We are going to finish insulating by the end of next year and that is a great thing. I am not denying it is in a state of serious disrepair. We have got to get on and do it. One more thing: every time we bowl a State house to rebuild kick out a gang member or whatever those opposite complain. 
Hon Annette King 
: When Bill English said yesterday the Government was looking for “viable capital recycling models” to deliver more efficient State housing is he indicating floating Housing New Zealand Corporation on the stock market so that we can all become slum landlord millionaires? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY 
: That is a very complicated way of looking at what Bill English meant. What I think he meant though on the face of it is this: he thinks it would be a really good idea if we sold and bowled the old crappy ones and built some new ones for our tenants. Personally I think that is a really good idea.