1. Housing—Affordability and AvailabilityANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSHousing—Affordability and Availability1. ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all of his and his Ministers' statements in relation to housing?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes I do stand by my statements. In terms of my Ministers' statements yes but I would need to see the full context in which they were made.Andrew Little: Does he stand by his statement that We are building 40 houses every working day in Auckland." given that under his Government only 23 homes on average have been consented in Auckland per working day compared with 35 under the previous Labour Government?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Yes I stand by my statement.Andrew Little: I seek leave to table a document prepared by the Parliamentary Library that sets out the building consents issued under the previous Labour Government and the present Government and shows the very figures that I have just quoted—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Leave is sought to table that particular information. Is there any objection? There is objection. [Interruption] Order! I have put the leave. The leave has been denied.Andrew Little: Does he stand by his statement that "All roads lead back to supply."; if so why have the policies that his Government has implemented over the last 8 years failed to deliver an adequate supply?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Broadly yes I think that is right—that all roads do lead to supply. If you have a look at the demand-side things that have been applied you would not say that they have had a massive impact and of course interest rates could do but they have been falling under a National-led Government and supporting. But the simple facts of life are that we have a construction boom taking place now in Auckland. We have more people working in construction in New Zealand I think than ever before and more houses being built—considerably more houses than by the previous Labour Government which was a complete and utter failure in this area. Andrew Little: If it is all about supply why is housing Minister Nick Smith going around saying that plummeting Māori and Pasifika homeownership levels are the fault of poor education?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: As is always the case with an Andrew Little question one needs to check the fine print. The point the Minister was making—[Interruption] I actually happen to have in front of me his exact quote if the member wants me to embarrass him and read it back to him but the simple facts of life are that the Minister was making the point that there is a correlation between income and people's capacity to own a house. He was simply making the point that Māori and Pasifika by definition at the moment have a lower level of income. Andrew Little: If it is all about supply why are four of New Zealand's major banks banning loans to offshore speculators while housing Minister Nick Smith says: "The impact of offshore speculator is diddly-squat."?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The member would have to ask the banks about their motivations—I simply do not know. But I stand by the view that the most accurate information that we have is not whether someone's name is Chinese in the phone book but whether they actually fit the criteria under the Land Information New Zealand information. Certainly talking to the banks myself I have not ever picked up from them that they consider this to be a terribly significant issue. But interestingly enough the member seems to be telling the House this afternoon that it is not about supply when it comes to housing and yet the only two things that Labour has announced in relation to housing are that it wants to build a lot of houses—who knows where and how—and that it has adopted the National-led Government's policy of metropolitan urban limits.Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is a very long answer. Andrew Little: If it is all about supply and the homes are not there does he now accept that his housing policy has failed and the buck stops with him?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I stand by the view that the Government has a comprehensive plan when it comes to housing and that plan is working. That is why we are now building 40 houses a day and under the previous Government we were building 10. That is why there are vastly increased numbers of consents for new houses in Auckland and why the Government has taken the steps it has.Andrew Little: Does he stand by his statement blaming falling homeownership on people buying houses later getting married later and having children later given that homeownership fell for every age cohort from 20 to 85 in the last census?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Yes. Unlike the member I do not just make things up. In the interests of an informed debate let us not worry about the advice I get. Let us go to the 2008 advice from Statistics New Zealand presented to the previous Labour Government when it goes on to talk about "Possible causes [of reducing homeownership] include increasing participation in alternative forms of long-term investment a high level of student debt higher house prices relative to incomes and people forming families later in life." [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I apologise to the Prime Minister. There is little point in carrying on with the barrage coming from my left. [Interruption] Order!Andrew Little: Will he listen when I tell him it is not too late to adopt Labour's policies to shut out the foreign speculators remove Auckland's growth limit and build affordable homes for families to buy so that once again we can restore the Kiwi Dream of homeownership?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I will listen to the facts which are that homeownership rates fell under the previous Labour Government. Going back to my answer to the last question here is the incoming briefing to the previous housing Minister in 2008 under the Labour Government. The advice here is that changes in lifestyle—[Interruption]—these people do not want to hear the answer because they know we are right. They know we are right. [Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: Order! Again we are in the situation where Mr Little has asked a question but it appears that Mr Little's colleagues are not that interested in the answer.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I seek leave to table the briefing to the incoming housing Minister that quite clearly points out that changes in lifestyle—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That information has already been put on the net and is available to all members. Hon Members: Eight long years.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I do not need reminding about the term of this Government."