6. Question No. 6—HousingHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of HousingQuestion No. 6—Housing6. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing: Does she agree with the former Minister of Housing and Urban Development who said Our urban land and housing is literally some of the most expensive in the world" and "It's largely the fault of land use planning"; if so what is this Government doing that will address the cost of urban land and housing?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): In answer to the first part of the question yes in the contexts in which they were made and this Government has been willing to admit that solving the housing crisis is complex. That's why we're taking a cross-Government approach to these issues with work under way across the housing urban development building and construction and environment portfolios. In the housing portfolio we are progressing the delivery of large-scale developments across Auckland and Wellington. We are working with developers and iwi to ensure affordable houses are delivered and we're looking to expand the use of offsite manufacturing. In the urban development portfolio my colleague is working on the establishment of an urban development authority and the development of a national policy statement on urban development. In the building and construction portfolio my colleague is working on reform of the Building Act. In the environment portfolio of course my colleague is working on the Resource Management Act (RMA) review.Hon Judith Collins: If she agrees that land-use planning is largely to blame for house prices then why is the Government not progressing planning reform in a time frame that will result in changes to rules during this term of Parliament?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: As the member and I discussed yesterday actually this Government is quite proud of the fact that we have got the RMA reforms under way in our first term of Government. I note that that party when it was in Government spent nine years delivered nothing and indeed their leader Simon Bridges has labelled it as one of their failures in Government to deliver on RMA reform.Hon Judith Collins: Does she agree with the Deputy Prime Minister the Rt Hon Winston Peters who when asked if the Greens could get on the same page as the Government on reform answered "No … I cannot agree with their race-based approach"?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: All parties in our coalition Government have approved the start of David Parker's work on resource management reform. That party when it was leading a Government may not have been able to pull together its coalition partners to get resource management reform across the line but we have started that work and we are proud of the fact that we have begun that work where that party failed in Government.Hon Judith Collins: So why is the Government not willing to try and achieve consensus with the National Party on land-use planning reform since it is "largely at fault" for urban land and housing prices being so high?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: If the member feels left out I suggest she put that question to the Minister who is responsible for that piece of work.Hon Judith Collins: So what is this Minister doing about it?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: As I've outlined both in the primary and in subsequent supplementary questions we recognise housing is a complex set of issues. The Hon David Parker is leading the work around the RMA reforms. Obviously all Ministers that have an interest in housing are kept informed of this but we intend to actually get this across the line unlike the previous Government."