8. Question No. 8—FinanceHon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 8—FinanceSPEAKER: Question No. 8 the Hon Julie Anne Genter. [Interruption] Order! Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Finance—SPEAKER: Last warning Mr Bishop for the day. 8. Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green) to the Minister of Finance: What advice if any has he received from the Treasury about the economic impact of home ownership hitting a 70-year low and rents continuing to rise faster than incomes in Auckland and Wellington? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): With respect to the Statistics New Zealand report that contained the statistic in the first part of the question that was only released yesterday morning so no I have not received advice on that from Treasury. More generally the Government has a wide-ranging housing programme on which Treasury provides advice and as I have stated in the House we have recently asked Treasury for further advice on the existing settings and measures to address the demand side of housing and Minister Woods through her portfolio is continuing work on the supply side. Hon Julie Anne Genter: Has he received any advice from Treasury since the election on tax-based interventions in the housing market especially those targeted at residential property investors? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As I just said in the primary answer that material is coming through from Treasury. As I've stated publicly the Government will consider that and make announcements and decisions on what we do early in the new year. Hon Julie Anne Genter: Will his Government now reconsider options for broadening our tax base through a capital gains tax or an asset tax as has been previously recommended by the International Monetary Fund the OECD Treasury—SPEAKER: Order! Hon Julie Anne Genter: —previously itself and the last Government's own Tax Working Group? SPEAKER: Order! The member's now given up five questions. Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No—no as has already been ruled out by the Prime Minister. Hon Julie Anne Genter: Is the fact that 75 percent of New Zealanders—as reported last night—now want the Government to take action to lower house prices a reason to reconsider policies that have been recommended by experts and ruled out in the past? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As I said in answer to earlier questions we are asking Treasury to look at what is possible in terms of areas around demand side management. We are not comfortable with 15 and 20 percent house price escalation and that is why we've asked for that work. Hon Julie Anne Genter: Does he agree with the 75 percent of New Zealanders who want the Government to take action to lower house prices? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As I've said the very reason the Government has asked for the work is because we are not comfortable with that level of unsustainable house price escalation. Andrew Bayly: Does he also agree with other policies—particularly from the Reserve Bank Governor—that fiscal policies which are in his control are the key lever to increasing the supply of houses and reducing the cost for rents over time? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Well on this side of the House we have indeed used fiscal policy to do that. In fact we were just traversing that matter in the last question where on this side of the House we're very proud of the 6000-odd State houses we've built and the 8000 that we're about to build which stands in contrast with the thousand sold by that member's party. Andrew Bayly: So why does the Reserve Bank Governor still continue to say that? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The Reserve Bank Governor is reflecting that both fiscal and monetary policy have a role to play. On this side of the House we understand that and we've used it. It's a pity that the member's Government didn't do the same thing.