Ardern Shane: Building Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Ardern Shane: Building Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:619;Page:14838] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki-King Country) 
: 
 I take a further call in the Part 2 debate to bring the Minister’s attention to clause 47 “Territorial authority must undertake research” which states: “A territorial authority must gather any information and undertake or commission any research that is necessary for the territorial authority to carry out effectively its functions under this Act.” I say to the Minister that that sounds interesting but in this country— 
Brent Catchpole 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I would like you to consider that the clause the member is mentioning has been struck out. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I thank the member. The member on his feet may like to consider changing the issue. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: I challenge the member to go and look at the page I am looking at in the Building Bill. I have it in front of me and I am prepared to bring it over and show it to the Chair or to the Minister if he likes. But he should have a look at it and if he does he will see that as I have quoted it it is still there. It has not been struck out. So I say to the Minister in the chair that he should take a call and explain to members how the 76 local authorities in New Zealand that I know of are to carry that out. In my own electorate there are seven territorial authorities—seven—and the whole lot will have to go through this process. What cost will that place on those territorial authorities if they have to do what is proposed? The Minister may like to take a call and clarify that for the Committee because it is certainly a huge compliance cost. 
I also say to the Minister that clause 48(1)—and this clause certainly has not been struck out either; I suggest to members that they look at this—provides that a territorial authority will have to consider any building consent granted under the application. I invite the Minister to take a call and explain why the Minister for Small Business believes that a territorial authority is the only authority in New Zealand that can carry out that function. Once this bill is passed there are private certifiers out there who will inevitably have to go out of business. It was submitted to the Government Administration Committee that it would be hugely difficult for them to meet the regulation requirements placed on them by this bill. The argument was primarily around insurance. I know that the Minister knows the argument well but I ask him why he believes that those 11—I do not know the exact figure; I think it is 11—private certifiers in New Zealand are the villains in this process. No evidence at all was submitted to the select committee that any particular private certifier had a record of bad performance that the leaky house problem came about as a result of their work or that for some reason they should not be allowed to carry out the work they have always carried out. I ask the Minister to take a call and clear up that point. 
I know that the member Murray Smith from United Future had a particular interest in this issue and he raised it on numerous occasions in the select committee. As members said earlier he is from a party that campaigned on common sense and that says it stands up for small business yet it feels the need to run small-business people out of business through heavy-handed regulation. I ask the Minister to take a call and explain to members why that is so. Further I want the Minister to tell us why he believes that this piece of regulation will fix the problems with the leaky house syndrome. They are known as the four D’s: deflection which is the ability to deflect or shield water into gutters or other such structures; drainage which is the ability for water lodged behind cladding to drain back outside; drying which is the ability for residual moisture to evaporate through ventilation; and durability which is the ability of materials to stand up to all the conditions they are expected to stand up to in New Zealand such as untreated timber or treated timber. 
Maybe the Minister will explain how he believes that this bill will fix those problems because nobody else out there knows. Certainly those who submitted to the select committee had no idea how the bill would do it. They asked why if there is a problem with building the Government does not get some builders to look at how to fix it.