Upston Louise: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeUpston Louise: General Debate[Sitting date: 11 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10983. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Land Information): I am waiting. I am waiting for the apology from the Labour members. I do expect that I will be waiting quite a long time because never before in the 8 years that I have been a member of this House have I seen such a despicable display as when a party in this Parliament has singled out one ethnicity—one ethnicity—and absolutely trashed them.So as we have seen the real facts come out. And no not the figure of 39.4 percent of Chinese buyers in Auckland which one of the Labour members so recklessly and shamelessly put out in the public domain; we are talking 2 to 3 percent—2 to 3 percent of all property transactions over a 6-month period and of that 2 to 3 percent a very small number 1 percent in total were from China. Mr Speaker I do not know about you but it is absolutely disgraceful and the members of the Opposition party should be embarrassed for using and singling out one ethnicity in the country of New Zealand where we have over 200 ethnicities. We are a country rich in our multicultural values and our country embraces our place in the world.Unlike the Green member who spoke previously Dr Kennedy Graham we actually believe that taking our place in international trade is an important part of that and brings benefits for New Zealand businesses and New Zealand employers because at the end of the day the Trans-Pacific Partnership is about those who benefited by it. And if you think about hard-working New Zealanders of whatever ethnicity actually they are interested in a job that pays well where they continue to have security and to have a growing economy. Although this side of the House has an outward view that embraces our place in the world we are seeing more and more examples of Labour members who are focused on their own navels and who are becoming completely insulated and losing touch with New Zealanders.Let us have a look at some of the facts because clearly the members on the other side do not want to talk about facts. They want to make up some fiction. So if we look at the first 6 months of the data—and I want to put on the record that yes it is the first 6 months; it is too early to make definitive statements about it so we will watch to see how the data continues—we have seen that 2 to 3 percent of the total property purchases were by those who are non-resident for tax purposes. But the second part of the information and the data that is collected by Land Information New Zealand goes further than that is the information that is useful for us in informing housing policy. The first part of that asks of the property transaction: is there a house on this land? Ninety percent said yes. And then of those who said yes the next question was around their connection to New Zealand. Only 3 percent were not New Zealand citizens residents or here on a work permit or student visa.Unfortunately on this side of the House we are focused on the issues that matter. When it comes to housing is housing affordability a concern for New Zealanders? Yes. So actually we are doing things to tackle it. We are looking at land supply we are looking at building materials we are looking at lowering compliance costs we are looking at speeding up local government processes we are looking at reform of the Resource Management Act and we are looking at practical things that make a difference in the space of housing. All the Opposition can do is make wild accusations that offend a huge number of hard-working New Zealanders and offend them terribly.This is a Government that is focused on the issues that matter. We are not focusing on desperate measures like the Opposition. This side of the House uses facts to support our policy whether it is about growing jobs through trade improving education keeping people safe having greater access to medicines or assisting them into their very first home.