O'Rourke DenisDENIS O'ROURKE (NZ First): New Zealand First will be very pleased indeed to support this new Part 8. In fact when you think about it it is surprising that the Government itself has not done something about this because it is actually fundamental if the Government is genuine about improving the ability of people in this country to find a home if they cannot actually afford to buy one. If you cannot afford to buy one you still have to afford to rent one. So this part is extremely important. I note also that quite recently in the last few weeks Minister Bill English was asked a question in Parliament in answer to which he stated that the Housing New Zealand Corporation would add an additional 1700 State house places this year. That was what he said the corporation would be doing. But not long before that during the Budget debate he actually said that the Government would be selling 2000 State houses. So at the same time that the Government is going to provide 1700 new State houses it is going to be selling 2000. If you were to believe those figures—and they came from Government Ministers—then there would be a deficit of 300 houses in the current year. That is very strange when you consider the magnitude of the waiting list that already occurs in New Zealand. I have just been reading an article in Hawke's Bay Today that talks about the number of people—I think it refers to 1400—in Hawke's Bay who are homeless and more than that a huge proportion of them are children. There is actually a photograph as part of that showing two children sitting on the footpath with a notice saying Please help." What they are saying is that they do not have a home—two children no home nowhere to go. What kind of a country are we turning into where children cannot find a home—not just a few but by the dozens by the hundreds? What kind of a country are we turning into when that happens? I am very grateful to the news media for bringing all of these examples to light. They are doing a great job on that. Now it is our job—most particularly it is the Government's job—to do something about it and yet it is opposing this very sensible new addition to this bill. That is why I began my speech by saying that I am surprised that the Government is not doing this itself because the most important part of this new Part 8 that I can see is actually on the first page. The addition of new section 72A would require the Government to do exactly what I am talking about. Once it finds that there are more people who require housing than is available through Housing New Zealand it would then be required to provide the funding necessary so that the corporation could increase its supply by 1000 per year. What on earth is wrong with that? Mr English in particular tried to persuade this House only a couple of weeks ago that the Housing New Zealand Corporation's programme would be sufficient to meet demand. That was the nature of the questions put to him during question time and that was when he said that there would be 1700 more places available in the current year—at the same time of course as selling 2000. That does not make sense but nevertheless that is what he said. If he is serious about meeting demand then the National Government will be voting for clause 12 which inserts new section 72A. But of course very few of us on this side of the Chamber actually credit the Government with a genuine desire to use Housing New Zealand Corporation in any way whatsoever to actually solve the awful housing crisis in this country where children have to sit on footpaths with notices saying "Please help me." Ignored by this Government and fought for by the parties on this side of the Chamber. It is not good enough. Government: you need to improve."