1. Question No. 1—Prime MinisterHon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition—National) to the Prime MinisterTUESDAY 4 DECEMBER 2018The Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.Prayers.ORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Prime Minister1. Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition—National) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes. Hon Simon Bridges: Is it a new fashion for the Prime Minister to neither do morning media nor come to Parliament? SPEAKER: Order! Order! Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I can answer that question. I'm an expert on it. SPEAKER: Well the—Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I am—I know. SPEAKER: The Prime Minister might want to answer the question; I'm just trying to work through in my head whether there is ministerial responsibility to the House for it. I'm going to rule that there is but I'm watching the tone very carefully. Hon James Shaw: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I understood that it is out of order to be questioning the presence of members in or out of the Chamber. SPEAKER: There is a convention to that effect. The fact that it's been breached is something that I'm not going to haul the Leader of the Opposition up on at the moment. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: On behalf of the Prime Minister the facts are that the Prime Minister was required to have a meeting in Auckland with the President of Korea. By the way because of a lightning break there she was delayed by 45 minutes and just made it and of course the circumstances would have also had an effect at the end of the function which as the member should know—Hon Simon Bridges: She didn't come last week either. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —was followed by a lunch with respect to the Prime Minister. Hon Simon Bridges: Why couldn't she be here? Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Now that said—Hon Grant Robertson: No he doesn't care about our relationship with Korea. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: That said the difference is—Hon Simon Bridges: She didn't—she almost didn't go. SPEAKER: Order! Order! Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —there are—SPEAKER: No no. The Deputy Prime Minister will sit down and the Minister of Finance will just be quiet as will the Leader of the Opposition. [Interruption] No frankly it's very hard to take questions seriously when there's a barrage of interjection going back and forward. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: The fact is that the Prime Minister has been so impressive in her first year in that role that all of the world leaders are calling her—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member's answering—Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: And what went wrong with that? SPEAKER: —for the Prime Minister. He will resume his seat. She would never say anything like that. Hon Simon Bridges: Does she stand by her statement in relation to whether banning letting fees will see landlords increase rents to cover the costs that she hopes that won't be the case? Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: On behalf of the Prime Minister the reality is anyone who knows the commercial market knows that rents—their decline or rise—are dependent on a thing called supply. Supply-side economics is what the National Party used to know about before this new breed turned up.Hon Simon Bridges: Does she still have hope her policy will not lead to higher rents when there are property companies emailing their clients telling them to increase rents by $6 a week to cover the letting fee?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: On behalf of the Prime Minister having to answer this question weekly is getting tedious but the reality of the market will not change. The reality is this Government is delivering the supply side of economics where housing is concerned and they're doing a thoroughly planned smart job about it. Hon Simon Bridges: Why does she think one property management company wrote to their clients in response to her saying she hoped rents wouldn't increase as a result of letting fee costs being passed on to landlords saying Well that may be the case on Mars Prime Minister but here in little old New Zealand with all the additional costs that have been heaped on to landlords in the last year you can't expect property management companies and landlords to just absorb the added costs and not pass them on to tenants by way of increased rents."?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: On behalf of the Prime Minister the day where this country becomes a property developer's and rack-renting landlord's paradise is over—is over—because we intend to supply tens and tens of thousands of houses both in the private and public sector at the greatest speed possible and we can't turn around three terms of Government neglect overnight but turn it around we will. Hon Simon Bridges: On the issue of housing supply why is the Government building KiwiBuild houses in the Marfell suburb of New Plymouth that have a price tag of $450000 when CoreLogic figures show the median house price in the area is just $326000 and homes.co.nz says it's just $271000?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: On behalf of the Prime Minister because this Government does not intend to govern just for north of the Bombay Hills. All over this country there are regional cities definitely needing housing as well and no one will go unattended.Hon Simon Bridges: Does she expect KiwiBuild houses in Marfell to fill a gap in the market for first-home buyers when they are more than $100000 above the median price in that exact area?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Anyone who understands the provincial market place will know that New Plymouth and Taranaki is one of the highest growth areas and one of the highest income areas in the country. That will have some possibility of influencing house prices. Now if you were from the provinces and understood that you would then do something about it. SPEAKER: Order! Well I might have been but it was some time ago.Hon Simon Bridges: Does she agree with the Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford who acknowledged that a price tag of $450000 for a KiwiBuild house in Marfell would be out of reach of many residents?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: On behalf of the Prime Minister I've heard the words of Phil Twyford who seems to have an enormous amount of presence of mind experience and vision when it comes to housing in this country and if he made a comment like that I'd pay serious attention to it.Hon Simon Bridges: Why is the Government building $450000 KiwiBuild houses in Marfell New Plymouth when a proposal had been received by Housing New Zealand to build 57 social houses on the same site for around $100000 less per house and include a rent-to-buy scheme aimed at low-income earners instead of a ballot process?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: On behalf of the Prime Minister the reality here is that there is a huge difference between private house ownership and social housing. I know that social housing was dramatically run down under the previous administration and we are making a sizeable investment in that as well but they are two different propositions. That would be obvious to any lawyer that had anything to do with property in their past experience.Hon Simon Bridges: What does it say about the KiwiBuild scheme that of the first 10 KiwiBuild houses in Wānaka of which ballots opened almost two months ago there has been only one unconditional sale so far and of the first 10 KiwiBuild houses in Te Kauwhata of which ballots opened in October no houses have been sold so far?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Supplementary—sorry. On behalf of the Prime Minister—ha ha! Well it occurred to me I could do a far better job asking myself the question myself right? On behalf of the Prime Minister the record laid out of purchases in both Wānaka and Te Kauwhata is not what the Leader of the Opposition said. That's precisely wrong."