Logie Jan: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3620. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green): I rise to take a brief call in the Committee stage of the Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill. I would just like to acknowledge that it is Pink Shirt Day today and I am hoping that this House will take a break from bullying. It would be a really nice thing to have a day without any personal abuse within this House.I want now to speak specifically to the Minister in the chair the Hon Simon Bridges and to ask him some questions because we have just heard from the Minister about flexibility and innovation. That was pretty much the entire content of his speech—that I heard. It seemed to echo the speeches that we heard in the first and second readings last night in the 20-second speeches from members of the Government. I would say that was probably the average length of the speeches in which they said that this legislation provides flexibility and innovation. Where is the detail people? This is a bill going through under urgency with no public scrutiny and with no Treasury input on the financial consequences of this bill. We are being told that it provides flexibility and innovation. Where? In what situations? Why? What is the problem that this legislation is trying to solve? We are not even being told that amount of detail.The documents that I am looking at in front of me are saying that it will give the agency a new ability to negotiate prices with providers in order to cover diverse situations including but not limited to tenants’ needs resulting in higher or lower tenancy management costs. Tell us what that means in practice because we also heard from the Minister last night in one tiny snippet of detail that this is about say if the tenants have disability needs; that this will enable contracts that are able to help housing providers deal with their wider needs—this wraparound service that we hear so much about. Well that is something I would like to support but my understanding is that there is the ability to do that through other contracting provisions. Why are the needs around disability needs being provided through housing? Please explain it to us. If you have got a good reason for it then we may support it but explain it. At least give the public credit by explaining what this is even about and the reason for it.I would also like to say that the Minister said last night in another tiny snippet of detail that may help us to understand this legislation that it also provides Housing New Zealand with more flexibility in contracting and the ability to fund Housing New Zealand. I do not have the housing portfolio for the Greens but I have got a little bit of an understanding of housing and of some of the ways that the system works—possibly more than your average New Zealander. I still do not understand that. I am not sure why we need Housing New Zealand to be able to get more flexible arrangements for the funding of its services. Could you explain that to us?Minister could you also please explain to us why we are separating out and preventing Housing New Zealand from providing policy advice to the Minister. Why are we stopping the ministry which has the experience and the relationship with the people in the community from feeding any learning it has back to the Minister in order to inform policy making? Why? I would like some reasons. I would like the public to be able to at least make an informed decision about their view of this bill more than just the rhetoric of telling us that it is about flexibility and innovation. They are words and without any substance they have very little meaning.