Carter David: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Carter David: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:617;Page:13240] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
: 
 My questions relate to Housing New Zealand and its recent financial review. I want the Minister to explain the rationale for the 12635 people who are now waiting for a State house. I would like the Minister Mr Maharey to take the opportunity whilst he is in the chair to acknowledge that his policy around income-related rents has been an unmitigated disaster. 
Jill Pettis 
: Under a National Government there wouldn’t be any State houses. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Jill Pettis is interjecting and it is the normal rubbish we get from her about the National Government selling State houses to people who have lived in them for a long long time. I will take the opportunity to ask the Minister another question. Why does he not allow people who are living in a State house who like their State house and in some cases have an income of $140000 to buy their State house? Why does he then not use that money to reinvest in houses that thousands of people are waiting for. 
Little has been done for housing in New Zealand as acknowledged by the only good work that Minister has done and that is the release a fortnight ago of the housing strategy. Anybody who reads the housing strategy will acknowledge that the previous policies put in place by the National Government which Jill Pettis bothers to object to are reinforced by the housing strategy and that is the policy of an accommodation supplement. 
 No Government will ever be in a position to buy the stock of housing required for low-income New Zealanders. There will always be a requirement for the State to provide some houses and for the private sector to provide the majority of them. That will never change. If the Minister wants an equitable housing policy that will work and will not have 12500 people waiting for a State house then he must provide a system that is clear concise and equitable between both the State sector and the private sector. The housing strategy recently released by the Minister states exactly that. 
The housing strategy states that the policy must be delivered via the accommodation supplement. Mr Maharey Graham Kelly formerly a Labour Opposition spokesperson and one Helen Clark now Prime Minister are repeatedly in the media criticising the accommodation supplement throughout the 1990s but now the Minister himself acknowledges that it is the only credible logical way to deliver housing assistance. 
I ask the Minister to explain why he has 12500 people on a waiting list and why nearly half of those people are in absolutely urgent situations. He should explain why he came to the House a fortnight ago and tried to tell members that Housing New Zealand is building 4000 new houses when any Minister who is on top of his or her own portfolio will know that the number of houses being built is in the hundreds not the thousands. The Minister is actually doing long-term rental arrangements with the private sector putting those houses into Housing New Zealand stock and then claiming that he is building up the housing stock. That is not happening. 
The Minister needs to provide housing in areas of high demand such as Auckland. There is no demand in areas like Wanganui. Jill Pettis criticised the previous National Government for selling Housing New Zealand stock in areas like Wanganui. That was probably the best thing that was ever done because that money is now available and has been available to Housing New Zealand to reinvest into housing stock in areas where it is demanded. Unless the Minister is prepared to acknowledge that he uses the accommodation supplement he will not have a solution to the housing needs of New Zealand. The Minister also needs to look at ways of encouraging people who are living in a State house on an income of $140000 a year to stop being dependent on the State. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Name one! 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I am not allowed to name one because of the privacy laws. However the Minister’s answers confirm that there is one such family on $140000 a year.