Smith Nick: Building Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Smith Nick: Building Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:643;Page:13004] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 The Building Amendment Bill says everything about how out of touch the current Government is with ordinary New Zealanders. It is a bill that increases the costs of rates for councils all over New Zealand at a time when ratepayers are in revolt. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: How does it do that? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: We have just had the 10th Minister for building issues under this Government—10 Ministers in just 8 years—ask me how this bill increases the cost for the ratepayer. If he bothered to read the bill rather than simply read the speech that his department gave him to read he would note that the costs of accreditation are a substantive bill for ratepayers. I will tell the member just how significant it is. Yesterday the Dunedin City Council announced that it would have to employ another 16 staff in the building consent department at a cost to that council of $1.8 million a year and the Minister opposite has the cheek to ask where the increased cost is. 
Sue Moroney 
: It was because National screwed up on weathertight homes. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I ask the member opposite whether she supports an extra $1.8 million a year for the Dunedin City Council. 
Sue Moroney 
: What was the cost of the weathertight homes screw-up by National? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The member opposite does not want to answer the question. Let me tell members how stupid that $1.8 million is. Do members know how many leaky homes we have before the tribunal in Dunedin? 
Nathan Guy 
: How many? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Three; and we are going to impose with this bill a cost of an extra $1.8 million every year. It will be cheaper to write out a cheque for the three homeowners in Dunedin who are affected than have this mad bill that simply adds more and more costs. 
The second part of the bill that National objects to is that it is another round of petty over-regulation by this Labour Government. You see it does not matter what part of our lives it is Helen Clark and her cronies know best. They want to tell us how to live every little element of our lives. Let me give members an example. The Institution of Professional Engineers of which I am proud to be a member told the committee— 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Do they reciprocate? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Sorry? 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Do they reciprocate their pride? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I am very proud to be a member but let me tell— 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Are they proud of you? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: They gave me an award last year so I assume they are. But I ask the lawyer opposite why we have a stupid law before the House that is now going to require according to the Institution of Professional Engineers a building consent for people to putty their windows. A building consent to putty their windows—is that the loopiness that we now have from the Labour Government in its nonsense regulation? We heard earlier from Paula Bennett how we cannot have our kids at Sunday schools without an early childhood licence. Now we have this bill requiring us to go to our council to get a building consent to be able to putty our windows. The institute goes on to say that because this bill says that anything that changes the overall building systems of a house will require a consent if anyone wants to get out with the paintbrush and paint his or her house that person will also have to roll down to the council and get a building consent. National says that is nuts. 
 Labour is so out of touch not just with New Zealanders but with its own heritage. I remind members opposite of the celebrated Norm Kirk who built his own home in Kaiapoi. There was a time when the Labour Party celebrated that independence and do-it-yourself spirit of ordinary New Zealanders trying to get ahead in life and better themselves. Norm Kirk that former Labour Prime Minister would be rolling in his grave today to know that Shane Jones one who only sits but aspires to be leader of the Labour Party is today passing a law that would have made it illegal for Norm Kirk to build his own house in Kaiapoi as he did those many years ago. National says that that is wrong. 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: If you can’t tell the truth tell something that’s lies! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well Judith Tizard the snobby end of the Labour Party who never had any respect for the struggling workers—the Kiwi battlers who want to be able to build their own homes—is today part of the dying Labour Government that is making it illegal for New Zealanders to be able to get themselves ahead in that sort of way. 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: That’s rubbish. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well let me give the member the numbers. Let me just remind the member of Labour’s appalling record around home affordability. Since Labour has been the Government the cost of the average home has gone up from $173000 to over $380000. That is more than a doubling. Let us look at interest rates. When Labour became the Government interest rates came down from during National’s period in Government— 
Sue Moroney 
: Look what happened under the tax cuts to interest rates. Tell us about that. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I know the member opposite. Those members do not give a hoot about interest rates because they do not understand the struggle for ordinary New Zealand families out there who are trying to afford to pay their mortgages. Labour’s record on interest rates is this. Interest rates were 6.7 percent when Labour became the Government. Today they are 10.4 percent. What those figures mean is that whereas in 1999 the average New Zealander spent 41 percent of his or her income to pay the mortgage on the average home today the figure is 83 percent. It is little wonder that the decline in home ownership has occurred every single year that Labour has been in Government. 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: This has nothing to do with your speculators! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Judith Tizard says that it is all the speculators’ fault. Well let us ask the Registered Master Builders Federation of New Zealand. I wonder what it would say. I ask the member opposite to justify this. The Wellington City Council says that a typical house plan 4 years ago required three A3 plans and 30 supplementary pages of information. With these building laws which this busybody Labour Government is passing the Wellington City Council now says that 12 A3 plans and 300 supplementary pages of documentation are required. This is for a standard house. 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: Absolute rubbish. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Judith Tizard would know a lot about building would she not? Well this is a statement from the Wellington City Council. Let me tell the House what the Registered Master Builders Federation said. It tells us that the increased cost of unnecessary red tape is an extra $30000 on the average home. I say to Shane Jones Helen Clark and the screeching Judith Tizard that that extra $30000 of your red tape is making it harder for Kiwi battlers in this country to be able to afford their own homes. National says that is wrong. What members opposite do not understand is that when they pass these dopey red-tape laws all they do is add extra costs. What National wants is a system that will provide for good quality building without this sort of petty regulation which is only adding costs. I ask members opposite why home affordability has reduced to the second-lowest level in the Western world. That is their record. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Because of speculation by your mates! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Listen to it! Those members say that they are in Government but that it is those nasty speculators’ fault. Well that is what members opposite said when they increased the development levies. That increase was meant to go on to speculators but it went straight on to the price of a new home. That is why these figures are so awful. Members on this side of the House say that New Zealanders are sick of Labour messing up our building laws. It is a disgrace that there have been 10 Ministers for building issues in just 8 years. Can anybody in the House tell me how as many Ministers as that will provide any sort of leadership for this important— 
Darien Fenton 
: How many leaders has National had in that time? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: A lot fewer than that. I have to also say to the member opposite that when John Key is Prime Minister of New Zealand he will be more interested in home affordability and supporting Kiwi battlers than in cheap political shots. What those members opposite do not understand is that they have become so out of touch and desperate to hang on to power that they cannot see the wood for the trees. Legislation like this continues to undermine that Kiwi dream of being able to own one’s own home. Thank goodness National will soon be in Government to give people a fair chance and to get rid of stupid petty red tape which this bill represents.