Twyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 29 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:340. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū)to the Minister for Social Housing: What is the “exciting and sexy stuff” she has been considering for social housing?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Housing):In my desire to liven up an interview on Radio New Zealand I may have talked up the sexy stuff a little too much. I am not sure it is sexy but I am sure it is exciting. My statement this morning was around community housing providers and how they can partner with the Government with developers with other NGOs and with those in the private sector. That is exciting—how it can get to the stage of helping vulnerable New Zealanders with more New Zealanders being housed in better quality homes that suit their needs far better.Phil Twyford: Would it be exciting and sexy stuff to sell off a third of the social housing stock without building any replacement housing and how exciting and sexy will that be for the 5500 poor families on the waiting list and living in cars garages and caravans?Hon PAULA BENNETT: This is very much about vulnerable New Zealanders who need assistance to be in warm safe houses. What we have seen to date is actually poor quality State houses that are the wrong size and in the wrong place. That ain’t working for those New Zealanders who most need assistance. We will house more people in social housing. We just may not necessarily own all of those homes. It will be better for the people not necessarily better for Government.Phil Twyford: When she said that every day it gets better was she referring to the plight of families bringing up their kids in poverty and forced to live in caravans or was she referring to the routine denigration of poor people on her 6-year watch once she had pulled up the ladder?Hon PAULA BENNETT: No one was listening to you for the last 3 months and they ain’t listening to you now Phil. So the reality is—Mr SPEAKER: Order! It is not appropriate to attack the member who has asked the question at the start of the answer. If the Minister would simply answer the question that has been asked.Hon PAULA BENNETT: I was talking about—Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It was worse than that. She was attacking of all people you. She referred to you twice.Mr SPEAKER: If I could just take this opportunity to assist the member. When the word “you” is used it is inappropriate but it is for the Speaker alone to decide and that was reviewed in the Standing Orders in the previous Parliament. I would be grateful if all members would not use that as an excuse to interrupt debate or question time.Hon PAULA BENNETT: I was talking about the 127 people who were housed just last week including 10 with a community housing provider. I was talking about those people who actually are getting access to better services through Work and Income because that means that their assessments are more thorough they have got better options than just a State house and we are putting more money in to make sure more people get the assistance they need.Phil Twyford: Has she spoken to the member of Parliament who formerly represented the area that includes the Rānui campground; if so did she tell her that her department had been routinely referring people to live there in caravans and that she has been a Minister for only 6 years and doing exciting and sexy stuff takes a lot longer than that?Hon PAULA BENNETT: You are doing well. Actually we are the first ones who took that Rānui caravan park seriously. We have been in there and have been critical of the services and how they provide them. We have not been referring people to it. We actually have work that is under way now. We are serious about doing things differently. The same old stuff will not work so we need to work with community housing providers. We need to put people first. While that member counts houses we count people and care about them being in the right house with the right services and the right wraparound.Phil Twyford: I seek leave to table Housing New Zealand’s emergency housing provider list which contains dozens of campgrounds and caravan parks.Mr SPEAKER: I just need the source of the document.Phil Twyford: Housing New Zealand.Mr SPEAKER: From what? A website?Phil Twyford: I am not sure whether it is on the website. It is a hard-copy document. It is not readily available.Mr SPEAKER: I will accept the member’s word that it is not readily available. On that basis I will put the leave to table that document. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There is none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Phil Twyford: How does she reconcile her comment that poor families living in caravans are not there by choice with earlier comments that some homeless people are making a lifestyle choice or did she miss the advice that looking arrogant and conceited about poverty is not a good look for third-term Ministers?Hon PAULA BENNETT: The angrier you get with me the better my career seems to go so that is fine. What I will say is that I visited that caravan park and what I said was I do not think that it is the right place particularly for families to be in—for children to be growing up in. That is not where we want them to be. But what I will say is there are some people who choose to live there and enjoy living there and I see that as their choice. But I do not think that families and children in particular should be there.Phil Twyford: Do homeless families in west Auckland need exciting and sexy stuff or do they simply need a Government that invests in enough emergency accommodation for homeless people and why does she not use just some of the 520 empty State houses in Auckland?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Well we are actually housing more people in State houses and have a faster turn-round than we have certainly just about ever done. We are down to 28 days between tenancies and it—Phil Twyford: Talk talk talk for 6 yearsHon PAULA BENNETT: You have asked the question. I am just giving you your answer. We care about people. I know the member wants to count houses; we want to make sure that people have the quality housing that they can get which will actually mean that we are addressing some of those children in hardship. That is our priority and that is what we are working on.Sue Moroney: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I just want to raise an issue—which I think occurred yesterday as well—with the Minister who just gave a very rude hand gesture to me across the House. It has been reported to me that she did it on two occasions yesterday during question time and I think it is going to really disrupt the order of the House if that continues from the Hon Paula Bennett.Hon PAULA BENNETT: Speaking to the point of order I certainly did not do a rude gesture at all to that member and if she takes offence at a wave then there is something seriously wrong—Mr SPEAKER: Order! In regard to the point that has been raised by Sue Moroney the member’s word has been given and it will be taken. But I have got to say that throughout the questions that were asked by Mr Twyford he and the people sitting right next to him continued to give a barrage of interjection right through the answers which made it very difficult for me to hear the answer and I think would have made it near-impossible for the members asking the question to hear the answer.