Street Maryan: Address in Reply 
Street Maryan: Address in Reply 
[Volume:652;Page:1244] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 I would like to add my congratulations to you Mr Deputy Speaker and your colleagues on your elevation to the speakership role. In particular I congratulate the Hon Dr Lockwood Smith. 
It is increasingly obvious to all that the world is caught in the grip of a profound recession the like of which has not been seen since the 1930s or even in New Zealand’s history since perhaps the 1880s. But it is well known both at home and abroad that New Zealand goes into this period of economic uncertainty in better condition that almost any other developed country such is the legacy of the careful husbandry of Dr Cullen and the previous Labour administration. What the country needs at this point is bold and decisive leadership—boldness because unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures and decisiveness because there are and will continue to be hard decisions to make about how best to protect Kiwi workers and their families from the worst effects of the recession. 
We in the Labour team stand ready to support the Government when it takes such measures and makes such decisions in the best interests of all New Zealanders. We have said that from the start of our time in Opposition and it still holds true. For example we would be happy to participate constructively in the Government’s Job Summit at the end of the month but we have not been asked. We will resist attempting to score cheap and easy points against the National-led Government because of its ineptness and clumsiness but we will not stand by and let this National-led Government hoodwink the New Zealand public into thinking it is doing new innovative bold and decisive things when it is doing the opposite. This drip-feed approach to stemming job losses is neither bold nor decisive. It is meant to be gearing up production infrastructure and spending but it does none of those things. If we could have confidence that there was a bold plan and not a series of “just in time” decisions recycling money already appropriated then we could assess the merits of that plan and support the Government where there was merit. 
But so far we have had worse than a lack of boldness; we have had deception. Yesterday the Minister of Housing announced that 69 new State houses would be built in various locations around the country in addition to the 450 already planned for this financial year. Although the figure of 69 was pathetic enough the figure of 450 was even more alarming. The Housing New Zealand Corporation’s statement of intent for the 2008-09 year clearly states that the goal for housing acquisitions for that year is 650. In fact the Budget also demonstrates that the appropriation for acquisitions was tied to the goal of 650 new State houses to be added to the stock. The statement of intent actually states that the corporation would seek to revise the number downwards to a range of 530 to 550 but as the Minister of Housing I refused to do that because there was an outstanding and remarkable need to add to the State housing stock not deplete it. In fact the goal of 650 remains in the statement of intent as it appears on the Housing New Zealand Corporation website today. I have to add though—and it is the sort of thing one knows only because one has been the Minister—that the corporation’s concerns were not about the money appropriated; they were about consent processing times. 
But what have we seen with the plummeting of the housing market? Yesterday Kevin Mara from the Housing New Zealand Corporation came to a select committee and said that most local councils are now approving building consents in 20 days or fewer. So this is the optimal opportunity for the Housing New Zealand Corporation to use the appropriation that was there to buy houses at bargain prices and to flood councils with building consents knowing that they will be turned round in record time. There is still time in the financial year for the Housing New Zealand Corporation to snap up the bargains that are currently out there. But the truth of the Minister’s announcement yesterday is that he is in fact cutting by 200 the goal to increase Housing New Zealand Corporation stock by 650 then adding 69 new houses—a net reduction or “cut” in anybody’s language of 131 houses. As I have said money was appropriated for that purpose last year to achieve that goal of 650. The Minister has clearly shown that he is not prepared to compel his officials to stick by the statement of intent. So it has not taken that Minister long to be overriden by his officials. 
But this Government is in fact doing the opposite to what is required. It is calling the announcement yesterday an investment in jobs with additional spending. I would welcome the modest announcement of 69 additional houses if it were an increase over and above 650 but it is a cut of 131 houses. This figure does not go even anywhere near the 1500 houses that were planned for the Home Ownership on the Public Estate programme that my colleague Clayton Cosgrove mentioned earlier. It does not go anywhere near that so I am not being extravagant in my claims. The number of new houses to be built is a drop in the bucket. I ask whether the Government will bring forward the work on the 3000 houses to be built in Hobsonville or the up to 3000 houses to be renovated and reconfigured and added to the stock in Tamaki. Those were the plans of the Labour administration; it was talking in the order of thousands of new houses. This National Government comes up with 69 but it will cut 131 in the process. John Key has actually promised the people of Hobsonville that no State houses will be built there. So we can take 500 out of the mix. He promised them that and I have an audio recording—which I am willing to make available to members should they require it—to prove it. 
The previous Labour administration talked about and planned and budgeted for thousands of new houses and this Minister comes up with 69. Let us just see where these houses will go because that is a bit interesting as well. According to the Minister’s chart there will be 14 new houses in South Auckland but as at 31 January this year—not last year not the year before—there are 1441 people in serious significant or persistent housing need in South Auckland. This Minister seeks to address that with 14 houses. These are the families with the most serious housing need. It is hardly surprising that the Mayor of Manukau City Len Brown although welcoming 14 new houses—because who would not—says that does not go far enough. There will be seven new houses in west Auckland and North Auckland but there are 528 people there with a severe significant or persistent housing need. These are people in the A and B category on the waiting list. These numbers are new and larger than last year’s so new solutions are required. The Minister says there will be three new houses built in Auckland Central. This is meant to be a boost to the regional economy—three new houses! Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker.