Smith NickClause 2 CommencementHon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson): This clause 2 on the commencement is even more remarkable than the title in its duplicity.Fletcher Tabuteau: You're remarkable!Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Well the member interjects. Let me just take him through it. The bill that was introduced by Andrew Little reads—this is the bill we have before us—that the provisions in this bill will come into effect 5 years after the date … the Act receives the Royal assent".Hon Member: Five years?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Five years. Righty-o. We passed a law that said that all homes that are tenanted need to be insulated by 1 July 2019—roughly 18 months away. Now how can members like Mr Little; the Minister in the chair Phil Twyford; and the members over the other side of the House—who want to trot round the Parliament and the country and say "We're the ones about healthy homes."—want in this bill to do it in five years rather than 18 months? Isn't that kind of bizarre? Doesn't that sort of contradict everything that members opposite stand for?And here's the funniest part. I've read through the Hansard from when my bill was introduced. I've got a speech—I've got the exact words from Mr Twyford. He said at that stage in response to a bill that requires all 180000 uninsulated tenanted homes to be done by 1 July 2019 "that is [excessively] far too long". He says it's a "massive loophole". He says it's disgraceful—disgraceful—that the Government is going to allow until 1 July 2019.I could quote the comments from Mr Kris Faafoi. I note he's in the House. He said at the time that 1 July 2019 was way too slow and that it was not nearly ambitious enough. Now I'm not sure what's changed Mr Faafoi.Hon Kris Faafoi: The Government.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Oh! Hey I've got the answer. Kris Faafoi has said what's changed is the Government. I'm reminded of that famous comment from Steve Maharey: "Well that's just what you say in Opposition." That is the integrity and the standard that this Government has set itself in week number two—week number 2. I have never—and I've been through a few Government changes—seen a Government—Hon Kris Faafoi: You're responsible for the last one.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Ah just been around a while mate. Won my seat a few times; been here a while. I've never seen a Government become so cynical and so duplicitous so early in its term.What's extraordinary: guess what date the Minister's Supplementary Order Paper chooses for the bill to come into effect—1 July 2019. That rings a bell—it rings a bell: it's the current law. The current law provides for the insulation of homes to be put in place by then. So I simply say: this bill doesn't do anything. It's like an emperor with no clothes. Mr Little says "Oh no the detail's not in the bill; the detail will be in the regulations." The problem with that is this: the existing law allows all those regulations to be passed.There are the Housing Improvement Regulations—if the Government wants to amend those and change the standards around what might be required in a heating device or for ventilation or any of those that's fine. He can do that. If the member wants to change the insulation standards the powers already exist to do that. So the nonsense of this bill is it adds absolutely nothing to what the Government could do right now. Here's the truth: you've got a new Government it hasn't done its homework and it hasn't got anything to do even in the second week of its Parliament and so we get nonsense bills of this sort which have got grandiose titles that do no more than choose a commencement date that is absolutely identical to what is already in the law of the land.Again I state on 1 July 2019 National's law will require every one of those 180000 homes to be insulated. What does this change? Absolutely nothing and I question why we are wasting the—[Time expired]"