Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): I want to talk about a grave and serious challenge facing New Zealand that was not addressed in anywhere near the substance New Zealanders have a right to expect in the Speech from the Throne and that issue is housing. In a time of crisis with some of the most unaffordable house prices in the world rapidly reducing rates of homeownership and more than 20000 New Zealanders waiting in urgent need of a State house with an average waiting time of more than 240 days what did the Government have to say about its plans for housing in this term of Government? Well I'm afraid to tell you there was an absence of fresh thinking and it is instructive to compare the Speech from the Throne from this Parliament with that from the 2017 Parliament. In 2017 housing was described by the Labour-led Government as a top priority. Well I'm afraid to let you know that it's now just a priority. In 2017 12 specific commitments were made to address the housing crisis; in this year's speech just nine and let me tell you what was absolutely missing from that Speech from the Throne: a mention of KiwiBuild. Is it any wonder because Labour came into Government saying that KiwiBuild would be the solution to New Zealand's housing woes and as I stand here today only just over 600 KiwiBuild houses have been built. That's less than 4 percent of the 16000 that were promised—a demonstrable and disgraceful failure. Labour said that a capital gains tax would be a solution to New Zealand's housing woes and that of course didn't even get off the ground. So what have we had instead of new ideas about housing? Well this week we have had the shameful spectacle of the Prime Minister playing the blame game. First it's National's fault then it's foreigners—because foreigners were investing too much in the housing market apparently—then it's people with Chinese-sounding names and actually this week we've learnt that the public should bear responsibility for the housing crisis because they didn't like Labour's tax plan. Well this is not the attitude that the people I speak to want to see in a newly elected Government. What they want to see from a newly elected Government is fresh thinking a sense of responsibility for constructively addressing this major challenge and what they don't want to see is a Government that whenever faced with the question of housing thinks this is an excuse for another sneaky new tax. That is absolutely not what Labour were elected to do. The scale of the challenge is immense. In the three years since Labour were first elected to Government the median house has earned more than the median earner—that is median house prices have gone up by $200000 and those who own those houses have earned more from them than workers on the median wage earned. We have seen houses get more and more out of reach so what I commit to do is to help the Government out because what they need are constructive ideas not just recycling old plans for new taxes. The Government should be pursuing innovative ideas to encourage a surge in new house building: strengthening the national policy statement on urban development to bring urgent rezoning in our major urban cities forward; removing the Auckland urban boundary as promised in the Speech from the Throne in 2017 but conspicuously absent this time around; making Kāinga Ora capital available to community housing providers—because it is not just the State that can build and supply social housing; why not partner with proven providers such as the Salvation Army to get those shovel-ready plans under way right now? Establish a housing infrastructure fund: let's help local government finance the pipes and roads needed to get new subdivisions under way straight away and let's be creative and implement new finance models. We are spending literally billions on the accommodation supplement and income-related rents. Let's repurpose them to drive new housing developments. You want ideas? Come see National. They were absent in the Address in Reply debate.