Clarkson Bob: Building Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Clarkson Bob: Building Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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BOB CLARKSON (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 I would like to mention the people on the Government side of the Chamber who need to learn that they have two ears and one mouth. That is because God allowed them to listen twice as much as they talk so they should shut up a bit. At any rate that is a good start. 
In talking about the Building Amendment Bill let us start with restricted building work. Clause 16 states that such work must be carried out by a licensed building practitioner. What a lot of rubbish that is! Some of the best building work I have seen has been done by DIY builders. Basically a DIY builder can now build only a simple building. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: That’s not right. 
BOB CLARKSON 
: Hang on—in the Social Services Committee we were told what a simple building was: for example a hayshed. We were also told the NZS 3604 standard for building a wooden-framed house was deemed to be a simple specification. “Does that mean that a house can be built by a DIY builder?” I asked in the select committee. The Department of Building and Housing’s chief executive agreed that that was so. That puts the cat among the pigeons. This bill is a mess. 
Let us move to clause 27 “Buildings with specified intended lives” which states: “Section 113(1)”—gosh there are a lot of numbers here; anyone would think I was a lawyer—“is amended by omitting ‘50 years or less’ ”— 
Hon Member 
: No we don’t think that. 
BOB CLARKSON 
: —I earn more than you—“and substituting ‘less than 50 years’.” What a joke that is! If people check most building materials that have a guarantee they will see that most are guaranteed for only 15 years. In fact builders sign a permit that says the life of the building will be 50 years but the materials have only a 15-year guarantee. That clause needs a bit of explaining and I may ask the Minister to explain it later. Why are we talking about 50 years? I cannot remember any construction material that is guaranteed for 50 years. If any material is guaranteed for 50 years we could have an interesting situation. The timber frames could last 50 years—if they did not suffer from leaky home problems—but people may end up sitting in their house with no cladding on it because the cladding is guaranteed for only 15 years. But people should not worry because the Labour Government is going to bring in double glazing so they will be able to sit behind double-glazed windows. It may be a bit windy but it will be reasonably warm. 
I want now to talk a little about dams but not too much. I believe that most dams are pretty safe. I would like to mention the dams at Mangakino. They are definitely safe. My uncle was one of the bosses on those dams when they were built and members can believe this or not but I actually helped to pour the concrete on those dams 60 years ago. So I know they are built properly. 
Hon Member 
: Child labour! 
BOB CLARKSON 
: Ha ha! I helped my father. But I will get away from that. 
Let us get into “Purposes of licensing building practitioners” the heading of new section 282A inserted by clause 56 which are: “(a) to assess and record building practitioners as having certain skills and knowledge relevant to building work;”. Man that is a long sentence! Why do we not just record what the tradesperson learnt when he or she trained for the trade? I thought that when people trained for a trade— 
Russell Fairbrother 
: You abolished tradespeople. 
BOB CLARKSON 
: —the member should keep quiet and learn—and passed the exams they effectively had a licence to build or construct a building. Why do we continue to blame tradesperson builders by licensing them? I can tell members right now that the licensing of tradespeople will not fix leaky homes—no ifs or buts. 
I move on to clause 75 “Registrar must contact licensed building practitioners”—those are big words for me—“on annual basis”. That sounds like a bureaucratic mess. The Government will have to start another department. The Labour Government will love that—more control of people. It is as simple as that. 
Let us kick this bill into touch. I say this again: let us license inspectors. They have caused a lot of the problems in the past. Let us make inspectors the best and most capable people on the site. I will make a prediction: builders will refuse to join the licensing system. I tell members that at the moment about 3 percent of our builders are DIY builders. In Australia when a form of licensing was brought in builders refused to join it and now 30 percent of the builders there are DIY builders. I think the Minister should rise now and deal with all these concerns.