Mark RonHon RON MARK (Minister of Defence): Thank you Madam Speaker. Well it is my duty and privilege to take a call on behalf of New Zealand First to speak on the Kāinga Ora—Homes and Communities Bill and I do so gladly. I think—just having a bit of a chat with my colleague here the Minister of Finance and jokingly saying to him Well I am speaking but someone might ask what does the Minister of Defence know about housing?" I will just start by saying that I am actually the New Zealand First spokesperson on housing as well and building and construction although I tend to play—Matt Doocey: Bring back Denis.Hon RON MARK: I'm glad "Mr Juicy" raised the question.Hon Member: Doocey not juicy.Hon RON MARK: Juicy Doocey from Rangiora—my brother from another mother as we often refer to each other—raised Denis O'Rourke's name in the House here tonight because I think when—Rt Hon David Carter: He was a good member.Hon RON MARK: A great member from Christchurch and the Hon David Carter's quite right.I recall working alongside of the Hon David Carter's brother Philip Carter and Denis O'Rourke when they were both city councillors of Christchurch. Both those gentlemen displayed one thing when it came to housing: a great understanding of the need for social housing—both of them. In fact I know how committed Mr Philip Carter was and the Carter family were to providing social good because as an MP down there I actually went to the trust which they run and gained assistance for some of my constituents on occasion whom I could not otherwise get assistance for. I thank David Carter and his family for that sense of community and that commitment to community that they've always displayed in Christchurch over the 30-odd years that I lived down there and was privileged to be a list MP for New Zealand First. I'm going to go back to that because Mr Doocey actually has triggered something that I think we need to talk about particularly when we address the comments made by the Opposition speakers around the need for Resource Management Act reform.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Could we just relate that to the bill.Hon RON MARK: Well we will come to back to that.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Relate it to the bill. We are on the third reading.Hon RON MARK: So the bill so right now well this is housing and this is—I'm going to bring my comments to the contribution by the Minister Minister Twyford when he spoke right at the commencement of the second reading. He reflected on certain matters. I want to discuss those matters that he reflected on with a view to better understanding the rationale and the thinking behind the creation of this bill.Minister Twyford said that public and affordable housing are at the heart of the coalition Government's agenda. I'd say yes but I'd go one step further and say it's at the heart of our social wellbeing agenda. It's at the heart of our more holistic social wellbeing agenda. Minister Twyford's comments that public and affordable housing creates a space and place where young families and otherwise homeless people can be able to reside is very true but it goes beyond that. It actually I think creates a space where these people can thrive—more than survive; thrive—and where they can raise their children in safety and security. When I reflect on those parts of his speech it reminds me of another person a great Prime Minister as far as I'm concerned who probably summed all this up very well. His name was Norm Kirk and I quoted him in my maiden speech in the House in 1996. If I look at what the Government's trying to do here—cater for vulnerable New Zealanders who are homeless—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Look I'm sorry to interrupt the member but this is actually a third reading. Second reading is quite different from a third reading. A second reading is concerned with the principles of the bill but this is a third reading and—Hon Grant Robertson: Point of order.Hon RON MARK: Well it's the second.DEPUTY SPEAKER: —I'm speaking—you must address yourself to the principles of the bill before the House. You've been quite esoteric. We actually have a piece of legislation in front of us here. Oh beg your pardon. Oh God—it's one of those nights isn't it! Beg your pardon. I'll put it all away—and carry on.Hon RON MARK: Thank you Madam Speaker. So this is the second reading. In Mr Twyford's second reading speech he spoke about these matters about social wellbeing—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is that what you were going to say? Hon Grant Robertson: Yeah it was.Hon RON MARK: —and catering for the House which brought back memories of my speech in reference to Norm Kirk. Now Norm Kirk probably put it better than Minister Twyford did—and better than we are—because when you look at the social housing problem that this bill seeks to address it does the one thing that Norm Kirk spoke of. He said "Kiwis don't want for much they simply want someone to love somewhere to live somewhere to work and something to hope for." It is the acceptance of this by the Labour New Zealand First and Green parties when we were in Opposition last term that drove us to this point. That's the thinking and the rationale that is behind the creation of this piece of legislation.But of course to believe that you need to do this we have to accept that there is a problem that needs addressing. Now we quite openly said last term there was a—there is a—housing crisis. It seemed clear to us with so many reports of people living in cars. We're not talking about one homeless man living in a car; we're talking about families in a van.Kieran McAnulty: What did they say?Hon RON MARK: Well there was no housing crisis in their eyes Mr McAnulty. The question is: if one believes there is a housing crisis then one has a choice. One does something about it or one doesn't. This coalition Government has decided to move on this problem through this legislation. I'm proud that we have done this.Of course if one disagrees with it as the previous National Government did one doesn't move—which I find somewhat ironic in a way because I do remember reading many articles where the former Prime Minister openly talked about the privilege he experienced of growing up in a State house. So there we have one man who's a clear example of what can happen—of a young boy raised in a State house becoming successful wealthy and a role model for other people who likewise started in circumstances like that—not seeing the value of the very type of home that he was privileged to have.I'm from a background which is a bit different. I am one of those people who see huge value in the State picking up its responsibility and housing people in an affordable manner. It is only by doing that that one gives those children the chance to grow and thrive so that they might also arrive at a place such as this—the same way that your Rt Hon John Key did and the same way that I have. Mind you I didn't live in a State house. My foster parents couldn't afford one. There's another story. But I think there's more depth to this legislation as outlined by Minister Twyford that I'm very pleased to be able to endorse from the New Zealand First perspective.The Government policy statement is probably an area in my closing minute that is worthy of mention. I think that will lay down some ground rules and ensure that the conditions that the community expects that the Government expects that developers and councils adhere to are those which provide for sustainable housing and which will also mitigate environmental concerns that may exist in those particular locales.There was one other thing that does worth mention: mana whenua. Pleased to see at the heart of these developments we have the opportunity for Māori providers to enter into the stream. I'd just like to remind the House that this is actually not new. If we go back to the 2005-2008 Government it was the Rt Hon Winston Peters who initiated the papakāinga funding which the Hon Parekura Horomia advanced and which I was privileged as a member of Parliament to turn the first sod on a papakāinga development at Hurinui o Rangi in Carterton a year or so ago and unfortunately I missed the opening of those houses but they are there for everybody to see. The success is there being enjoyed right now by our kaumātua and kuia and for that I thank the visionary politicians in Government who can actually see the need for underpinning the social wellbeing of our communities."