O'Connor Greg; Rurawhe AdrianGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Tonight in the previous bill we've seen the Criminal Records (Expungement of Convictions for Homosexual Offences) Bill passed with the consensus of the House. As we reflected on that we saw it was a bill—we shouldn't condemn those who put that bill in in the first place or those who enforced it. It was a time when that was relevant.As we consider the Residential Tenancies (Prohibiting Letting Fees) Amendment Bill we should perhaps consider that we are at another time now in history where we need to start looking at the way we protect those in our society who are more vulnerable and less advantaged. What we are seeing is a change to Generation Rent. We only have to look at the statistics to just see how many more—over half of New Zealanders now are renters. With the trends that are continuing we can expect to see that continue.What that means is that as parliamentarians as legislators we have to ensure that any laws we pass now are cognisant of the times that we are in. The time we are in is a time when we have to look at protecting those who we are here to protect—the most vulnerable. A bill like the Residential Tenancies (Prohibiting Letting Fees) Amendment Bill is just one of those things that we consider; one of those pieces of legislation. It means that people who are forced to rent for the rest of their lives or even those who are renting while they're trying to save are not subject to a continual drain on their finances.It's easy to sit here and say Well they rent. It's only a week's rent." But just consider what it's like to try to find—how much cash you've actually got to find now when you move into a property. You've got to find your bond. That's cash you've got to have. You've got to find generally two weeks' rent up front and then you've got to find this tenancy fee.For those who are on a low hourly wage or a low salary that's quite an imposition. There's all those other costs associated with moving. Usually there's a mover. If you're at that end of the market usually you're going to have to pay someone to move your property if you can't get lucky enough to find a mate who's got a trailer or a van. So these are all very real costs.I reflect back on a very good friend of mine who lived in a place in Switzerland a place called Unterwasser. My friend's mother had lived in a house for 60 years as a tenant. She had quite incredible rights as a tenant. It was essentially her home—her house that she stayed in until she needed to go into care. So she had real rights. They're the sorts of rights that renters in New Zealand simply don't have. I'm not sure why we ended up with such an insecure tenancy for those who rent in New Zealand. I don't know what the history of it was. But the reality of it is that I look at so many particularly European countries so many other countries where renters have rights.So going back to my initial proposition this is a time when we really do have to look at what life is going to be like for our children our grandchildren those that come after us and certainly those who we are tasked to look after. This is one provision just one provision of many that we need now to make sure we keep up with the changing trends in society.So while the implementation of this will have its issues I don't personally believe that rents will go up.David Seymour: Does the member believe in gravity?GREG O'CONNOR: This is something that—many people who actually rent houses out now don't charge this as direct particularly if you look at those in Dunedin. Many of the private tenants there don't charge it now; many do. It tends to be those that go through the bigger agencies that do.So I'd ask those who are considering this bill—and the reason why I'll be supporting it is that it makes us cognisant of the change in society we have reached and we're going to be protecting our future which is Generation Rent. I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): I call Simeon Brown—five minutes."