Salesa JennyJENNY SALESA (Labour—Manukau East): Thank you for this opportunity to speak on Andrew Little's Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No 2). This bill is vitally important for thousands and thousands of New Zealanders. We are here to debate the principles of this bill. The basic approach of Andrew Little's bill is simple and clear Jono Naylor. It will bring into law a bottom line that we in this House should defend on behalf of the people who brought us here to Parliament. We are here to represent and be the voice of the people who elect us to be here. For those members on the opposite side of this House I say that no New Zealand adult or child should have to live in a house that makes them sick or makes their children sick.But can I just address the member Jono Naylor because he said that this bill is unclear. Well this Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No 2) will amend the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 and has the purpose of ensuring that every rental home in Aotearoa New Zealand meets minimum standards of heating and insulation. At the moment landlords already have obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act—that is true—but there is no guidance about the specific standards that they must meet to ensure that every house is warm and dry. This bill—Andrew Little's bill—will amend the Residential Tenancies Act to require the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment to ensure that there are minimum standards that are set for heating and insulation within 6 months. This bill also amends the Act to require that all landlords must meet those standards.It is very clear that most New Zealanders do not think it is acceptable that our children continue to be sick and that in some instances some of our children die as a result of poor housing. Too many of our children are dying and I want to just remind this House that one of those kids—a toddler who was just over 2 years old—was from Ōtara in my electorate of Manukau East in South Auckland. The mother of this child went to the landlord many many times asking and begging the landlord to maintain the house that they lived in. This was a house that was cold freezing and mouldy and it was not healthy. It was not just this child who was a toddler who was sick many times and who was in hospital for various conditions. Her older brother who was 6 years old had previously been diagnosed with rheumatic fever. So you would think that if the system actually worked those two combined—and in this instance the landlord was the Government: Housing New Zealand—should have actually done something to ensure that this family lived in a healthy condition. But it was not until this child had passed away—and we know from the coroner that one of the main reasons why she died was the poor condition of the house that they lived in.It is not good enough that this continues to happen. We know from doctors and the statistics they have quoted that they have told us to date that we have at least up to 15 children die from respiratory conditions and it is mainly to do with the poor condition of the houses that they live in. We also know from statistics that the hospital admissions for children across Aotearoa New Zealand—over 40000 people are admitted to hospital. We will not only save lives when we pass a bill like this that Andrew Little has put through to the House but we will also be saving taxpayers' money because as people are admitted to hospital many times over especially during the winter it is us—all of us as taxpayers—who actually pay for that.There are many reasons but one of them is that New Zealand is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Pursuant to article 27 of the UN convention every child—every single child—has the right to an adequate standard of living. This includes housing. This National Government has an obligation to uphold its commitment to this convention. It should take this obligation seriously. When we see the effects of poor quality housing on our children on our tamariki—and it includes our children dying—we should for legislation like this which could save lives put aside our political differences and actually agree that it is important to save people's lives.According to the submission from the Office of the Children's Commissioner on Andrew Little's bill more than half of all New Zealand children—especially those living in poverty—are living in private rental houses. We know that one of the reasons why the Children's Commissioner supports this bill is that it actually goes further than the current standards for insulation. This bill—Andrew Little's bill—includes rigorous standards for heating and ventilation.The Government as I said earlier on is obligated under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and various other conventions. Meeting the health and safety obligations is actually considered a normal cost of doing business in most industries. Why is it that we are not providing a place that is healthy for tenants for people to live in? Why is it that we are not ensuring that the normal cost of doing business for property owners is also something that we should consider that we should pass into legislation?New Zealand is currently facing a housing crisis and this housing crisis is most acutely felt and experienced especially by those who are low income and especially those who live in Auckland. We know that there are many families who are living in substandard conditions and one of the things that the honourable Minister Nick Smith said earlier on is that currently the Government's regulations are already dealing with some of these issues and that there is a compliance obligation and a department at the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment that is already enforcing standards.But why is it that there are so many boarding houses why is it that there are so many rental houses in my electorate in South Auckland and Manukau East where these regulations are not actually enforced? Why is it that when we go visiting some of these boarding houses there are so many houses that do not even have glass in the windows and so many houses where it is actually more freezing inside the house than it is outside the house? So the question is this—it is not whether the current obligation is being adhered to. The question is whether this National Government actually cares enough to ensure that we are saving people's lives that we are making sure that the current regulations are being complied with?Just yesterday the Leader of the Opposition Andrew Little received a petition from medical students and from those who are working in the medical profession. These are people who are seeing on the front line our children and our families who are coming to seek assistance. One of the things they stated in their submission—over a thousand people signed this—is that together we can make a difference in ensuring that New Zealand homes are warm and insulated—that they improve the health of our children and families." As I said earlier on this is one bill that will save lives.Another submission was from a resident here in Wellington Jenny Ritchie "that New Zealand has had a proud history of caring for its children." but it is now "an embarrassment to find … the differential between rich and poor is so extreme and that there are many families who are struggling to house and nourish their children." We need to make a stand. We need to make a commitment to do everything that we can as a nation to ensure the well-being of our young children. We in this House as members of Parliament can make this stand and I urge members of the opposite side of this House to agree with us to pass this bill and to make sure that we are saving as many lives as possible. Thank you."