Goudie Sandra: Affordable Housing: Enabling Territorial Authorities Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Goudie Sandra: Affordable Housing: Enabling Territorial Authorities Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:18466] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 I am absolutely delighted to speak on behalf of National in opposing the Affordable Housing: Enabling Territorial Authorities Bill. This is another piece of very very poor legislation. It follows on from a litany of poor legislation put through the House by this Government. It asked the first question: “What’s the problem we’re trying to fix?” and yes there is a problem around affordable housing. But did it do any rigorous analysis about what the cause of that problem was? Of course it did not because those members opposite are too jolly lazy as a Government to take even one look at the real causes relating to affordable housing. 
SANDRA GOUDIE 
: Let us consider one of the first problems faced which is the resource consent process under the Resource Management Act. Did Government members even take a look at that process? Did they put any effort at all into looking at what it means for anybody wanting to build a subdivision and provide housing for our people? No they did not. Did they even look at the Building Act? Well yes they did and what did they do? They made it worse because when they identify a problem they have absolutely no idea about the rigorous analysis needed to understand the causes of it. That happens time and time again in every piece of legislation. This Government has passed a litany of legislation that is a burden on the people of New Zealand and this is another example. 
What a burden this legislation will be on the people of New Zealand. If Government members think this bill will do one single thing towards achieving affordable housing they are seriously mistaken. We heard the previous speaker say that local authorities will need to have an affordable housing scheme. That is another step in the direction of a bloated bureaucracy; everything this Government does that has an effect on local authorities does nothing but add cost and bureaucracy to them. The local authorities have to find the wherewithal to fund the staff to do the investigation and analysis needed to put in place all of the rubbish—this absolute garbage—put upon them by the current Government. It all comes at a price that local councils have to pay. 
But hold on who funds the local councils? Well it is the ratepayers who have to pay that price and they are sick of it. Time and time again they are burdened with costs imposed by this Government and this bill is another classic example. 
Let us consider affordable housing schemes. For a start local authorities have to draft a scheme. Do they get any funding from the Government for that? No. Once they have drafted a scheme—and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on staff to do that—they have to go out for public consultation. Hello there is a few more hundred thousand dollars gone. As we heard from previous speakers all sorts of community groups want to put their finger in the pie because they all think they know how best to do things. They all want to put in their 10c worth. They drag the process out just like they do when people put in resource consent applications. Everybody wants a finger in the pie. 
Why do members think that the cost of housing is so great? If they had listened to John Carter they would have heard the answer: it costs at least $50000 for a start. I know of a guy who requested resource consent for eight motel units. Before he even started he was being asked for $150000. That was before he even put a peg in the ground. Why would he bother? This bill will absolutely cripple any initiative that people take or any enthusiasm they have to enter into business or to create businesses in this country so they can improve their wealth their take-home wages and as one of the previous speakers said their ability to afford to pay for housing. There are costs and costs one after another. 
One council has become the first in the country to say that it will take 50 percent of the development contribution on the first building inspection. That is before the developer has even used any of the facilities being charged for. Then the developer will need to pay the rest of that development contribution before he or she can get a certificate of title at the time of the last building inspection. Give me a break! If this Government cannot understand the basic costs of building a house then that is an absolute indictment on its representation of the people of this country. 
If anybody is failing the people of New Zealand it is the members of this Government who do not properly understand the problem and are not addressing the compliance costs. They are doing nothing to reduce the cost to people wanting to build houses. They are doing nothing to reduce the costs to ratepayers. It is no wonder that housing is becoming unaffordable even if one does own a home because rates are going up at the rate of knots just to meet all the costs being imposed by this Government. 
This Government keeps saying that it cares but it puts through more bills because it wants to control things. It does not understand that people in the private sector can work together with public sector entities such as local government and make arrangements that suit them without needing to get tied up in knots by legislation that just adds more costs. Does the Government not understand the simple idea of contracts and agreements? No it does not. It cannot stand not being able to put its finger in the pie and interfere in the process. It cannot leave it alone. Queenstown did it and what did Government members do? They wanted to capture it and make it theirs so they ring-fenced it put a whole lot of words around it and turned it into an utter shambles. That is what this bill is—an utter shambles. It is a disgrace. It just reinforces my already strongly held view that this Government is completely fiscally irresponsible. There is absolutely no way I would want any one of those people managing my household budget. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: Could I have a bit of order please the noise is getting too high. 
SANDRA GOUDIE 
: Oh gosh let them go. For goodness’ sake let them go and send them out. 
There is absolutely no way I would let any member of this Government manage my household budget. When we look at the way they are managing the taxpayers’ budget we are absolutely horrified. The number of bureaucrats has grown by 10000 in the last 9 years—do we want our money spent on more bureaucrats? This bill provides for more bureaucrats at the local government level just to deal with the sorts of rules and requirements that the Government is imposing through this legislation. 
Let us look at some of the submissions to the Local Government and Environment Committee. Business New Zealand said that any basic understanding of the economic principle—[ 
Interruption 
] The Government hates business. It is the businesses of New Zealand that give our people jobs so that they have the income to pay for their survival—to buy food pay rent or buy houses. But Government members cannot stand that; they cannot stand the idea that somebody might make a bit of profit while providing income for others. That is a total anathema to them. We can tell by the immediate reaction we heard when I said “Business New Zealand”—shock horror! Well hello newsflash! We actually need businesses in this country so that people have employment. Do Government members not understand that equation? They just do not understand that we have to have business to provide employment. The two go hand in hand. If one does not have a job one cannot afford to own a home. It is simple but it is obviously lost on the current Government. 
So what did Business New Zealand say in its submission? It said: “Any basic understanding of the economic principle of supply and demand would acknowledge that artificially lowering prices leads to reduced supply and or increased costs for other householders as developers seek to cover their costs and make a normal profit. This is borne out by overseas studies…”. Once again I say that this Government has let down the people of New Zealand. If we think that homes are unaffordable now this bill will only make matters worse. This bill is an absolute indictment on the ability of this Government to do anything rational or that actually supports the people of New Zealand.