Bennett David: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 26 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2667. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): It is always a pleasure to follow from that member David Clark although it is quite unusual that he is speaking first-off in a housing debate when Phil Twyford is the housing spokesperson for the Labour Party—Dr David Clark: It’s a taxation bill.DAVID BENNETT: It is a taxation bill but Labour has made it into a housing debate. That really is a signal I think for Phil that perhaps his position is under threat as well. Sue Moroney is chomping at your feet. The next housing spokesperson I am sure will be Sue Moroney and that will be a reflection of Phil’s great achievements in the area as housing spokesperson for the Labour Party.But on a more serious note the Labour Party members will talk about KiwiBuild and they will talk about it until they are blue in the face. KiwiBuild is their flagship policy. It is the only policy they have kept from the election that they have not thrown out. It is the only policy they still say they want to carry through.Dr Megan Woods: Tell the truth.DAVID BENNETT: Oh there are others are there? Capital gains tax—have you still kept that policy? I do not think so. Have you kept it? Maybe not. But I know they kept KiwiBuild. They believe in KiwiBuild. Let us think what KiwiBuild will look like. What will KiwiBuild actually look like? You will have streets named after Grant Robertson. There will be Robertson Avenue there will be Robertson Street there will be Robertson Crescent and if you are lucky you might actually get Robertson Drive—so all the streets will have the same name. Then all the houses will be the same. All these houses will look the same. They will all look the same. They will all be built the same way. They will all have the same colours. They will all have the same letterbox. In fact New Zealand First might need two letterboxes on some of those but they will have letterboxes that are the same. If you are lucky you might get a garage. But the Green Party will not let you have a garage because it thinks you should be on public transport so you will not need a garage.Under the Labour Party Green and New Zealand First housing policy it will be State run. The State knows best. There are 60 members in this room who have been elected—some of them have not actually even won a seat—and who know better than the rest of the New Zealand public. They know better than the New Zealand market they know better than all—[Interruption]Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat. I remind members on my left that when they are making interjections they should be—from their own party’s previous speaker—rare reasonable and if possible hopefully witty. To maintain a barrage against a member who has the call is not in keeping with good order in this House.DAVID BENNETT: That is a reflection of the great Deputy Speaker we have in the House today who understands that this is just a tactic from the members on the left who realise they have lost the debate and so try to barrage the speakers at this time.But let us go back to KiwiBuild. You are going to have the same house. Everybody is going to be the same. They might as well all have the same job. And that is the way the Labour Party operates because the State knows best. These people who are union-dominated know better than the individuals they know better than the market—Phil Twyford: It’s communism.DAVID BENNETT: It is communism and that is exactly what Phil Twyford wants. It is actually better than communism. Under the New Zealand First housing policy they would actually buy the land off the developers and then develop it so it is actually better than communism under the New Zealand First approach.Pita Paraone: But we wouldn’t have red lights.DAVID BENNETT: You will have red lights?Pita Paraone: No we wouldn’t.DAVID BENNETT: You would not have red lights.Pita Paraone: Because we don’t want you there.DAVID BENNETT: Oh no red lights under New Zealand First. This is the same party that does not want to build the Pūhoi to Wellsford road. I hope you mention that. They are the same party members who stood up in the election campaign and were not looking after the people in Northland.Phil Twyford: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. We are all in favour of a broad-ranging debate but this member has not actually mentioned the bill and I think he is halfway through his speaking time.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well of course the Speaker is the judge of that and is monitoring closely as I am sure you are aware. Mr Bennett no doubt will take your point of order to heart as well. Please continue.DAVID BENNETT: Yes this is the Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill and a big part of that is the ability for first home owners to be able to get those tax credits. That is why we have been talking about housing in this debate. That is a big part of the bill.But going back to that housing policy because this is the debate that Labour has made it into with KiwiBuild it is somehow going to find a way to build these 30000 houses in a very short period of time. Somehow on top of what the private market is doing—well there will be no private market under Labour policy—Phil Twyford: You didn’t keep that up for a very long time.DAVID BENNETT: Are you going to be out there Mr Twyford building a home? I would like to see that.Phil Twyford: I bet I could swing a hammer better than John Key.DAVID BENNETT: I am sure that “Mr Stoner” could swing a hammer better. But seriously the choice that you have in the market is that on one side there is the Labour Green and New Zealand First policy which is a State-dominated State-built State-delivered and State-failed policy around housing and on the other side we have a range of options available. We have our State houses and we have our private market. We encourage people to save and get ahead. We are creating an economy that enables New Zealanders to have the lowest interest rates they have had for 50 years: 6 percent interest rates compared with 11 percent interest rates. Even if you got a free house under the Labour Party policy it would still make you pay 11 percent interest rates because the economy would be in a shambles under that side. Under this side we have a strong economic base which enables New Zealanders to pay low interest rates to get on the homeownership ladder and to actually take advantage of their opportunities. That is a solid economic base from which to go forward.This bill is a small bill; there is no doubt about that. It is a small bill. But it has become a debate that is wider around housing policy. On one side the Labour Party has not given up its State-owned State-run State-built State-delivered housing policy. On the other side of the debate New Zealanders have a choice between an operation that is a mix of State is a mix of private is a mix of development and is a mix where New Zealanders have the ability to pay for their own housing which is what they want in the long term because that is all that New Zealanders have ever wanted—to be able to get ahead under their own steam and not have it given to them by somebody else.Dr David Clark: Lowest homeownership rate in 60 years under this Government.DAVID BENNETT: Did you say something?Dr David Clark: Lowest homeownership rate in 60 years under this Government.DAVID BENNETT: Lowest homeownership rate in 60 years. Well that member would like to see the interest rate under Labour which was 11 percent compared with 6 percent now and housing prices went up 96 percent under the 9 years of Labour. It was 96 percent in Auckland under Labour. They went up about 20-odd percent in the years to 2014 under National. It was 96 percent under Labour. Remember those figures.Dr David Clark: Remember when they were 11—those were the days of economic growth.DAVID BENNETT: Those were the days of economic growth. Oh that is right! Labour put us in recession before the rest of the world. Remember that? Remember those days?Dr David Clark: 25 percent real economic growth under the last Labour Government.DAVID BENNETT: Oh 25 percent real economic growth. No way—New Zealand was in recession before the rest of the world. That is the Labour Party because that is what happens when you do State-dominated State building State construction of State housing for everybody.The Labour Party members do not want to see New Zealanders succeed. They do not want to see people get ahead and buy their own home. They do not want to see New Zealanders pay off their own mortgages. They do not want to see New Zealanders be able to show the next generation of New Zealanders that you can actually make a go of it and you can actually deliver. That is what this bill has now become about: it has become a debate between housing policies. On one side you have got a housing policy that 60 people think they can deliver. On the other side you have got a housing policy that is a mix of the market a mix of the State and a mix of delivery. This bill enables New Zealanders to take their share in that process by giving them a tax credit so that they can use it for purchasing their first home.I know from my constituents in Hamilton that we are seeing a large amount of growth in new housing and that is a testament to the great investment in our city by this Government. It also shows the hard work and dedication our people have for wanting to get ahead. They understand what a low interest rate environment means they understand what it means to have a good job and they are getting that under this Government. They understand what it means to have strong economic management that enables them to take advantage of their opportunities to get on that homeownership ladder and to be successful.This is a bill that we anticipate will have support amongst members of the House but this has become a debate around housing supply and housing policy. It is very sad to see the Labour Party stick to its very strict communist ways of how to deliver that housing when everybody knows that those days are gone—well and truly gone and buried. Thank you.