Hereora Dave: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Hereora Dave: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:646;Page:15494] 
11.  
DAVE HEREORA (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister for Building and Construction 
: Has he received any reports on the Government’s initiatives to streamline the building consent process? 
Hon SHANE JONES (Minister for Building and Construction) 
: 
 Yes I have received a number of reports from a host of sources including industry and local government. The feedback has been by and large very positive. 
Dave Hereora 
: What are some of the details of the work the Government is undertaking? 
Hon SHANE JONES 
: I shall abridge the answer because of the comprehensiveness of the work. We are increasing flexibility and reducing cost in the building sector by streamlining the process for certain buildings reducing the times that a project information memo will be needed enabling work of a building nature obviously to be done without a consent below a certain threshold preparing a package to simplify the design and approval of simple starter homes and providing for group builders to be able to have designs approved once for multi-use consents. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Why has this Labour Government spent 9 years increasing the bureaucracy of getting a building consent with the passing of the 2004 Building Act and over 18 sets of regulations that have seen the paperwork required to get a building consent quadrupled and spent 9 years dismissing concerns from builders engineers architects and National and is it not a bit cynical a few months out from an election to do a backward flip and announce changes without any time line without any details or without even a bill as to how the Government will now fix the mess it created? 
Hon SHANE JONES 
: From that very discursive attempt at a question I point out that the building and construction sector is a very dynamic one. The refinements that I have advanced build on the fundamental reforms that were put in place by my predecessors to deal with the delinquency that was a consequence of the Government during the 1990s—namely the Opposition. 
Gordon Copeland 
: Is the Minister aware that the Commerce Committee heard evidence from the Registered Master Builders Federation that although its members need just four or five pages of plans to build a new home they must prepare 12 or 13 pages of plans to obtain a building consent; if so what are his plans to bring this madness to an end? 
Hon SHANE JONES 
: For the member’s information I will make available to him a copy of a statement issued by the organisation he refers to. Its members are very keen and enthusiastic to work with me because they agree that the pathway is very very positive. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Further to the Minister’s answer to the primary question could he give further detail as to the reports he has seen from local government? 
Hon SHANE JONES 
: Yes. The President of Local Government New Zealand Mr Basil Morrison has dispatched people to work with the officials. They are very positive about the steps that we are taking. That is also reinforced by correspondence and media reports in Nelson where they are finally moving away from an Opposition member’s constant negativity and are congratulating the work programme. They are also echoed in the far north by Stan Semenoff who has lectured Mr Heatley to be more positive.