Little AndrewHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): Thank you Madam Speaker. I thank the member who has resumed his seat—the newly gracious member who has resumed his seat—and he calls in aid for his case the COVID pandemic and the outbreaks. I call in aid that as well because one thing that we have seen with the COVID pandemic is just the extraordinary inequity in our communities and our society. One of the indicators of that inequity is housing and we're seeing that playing out right now in the current outbreak: the fact that those people who are suffering the greatest risk of infection right now are those who are in overcrowded housing and housing estates where a lot of people are jammed together. That is the reason why there is real urgency to getting on with this legislation and having it examined in a meaningful even if brief way so that this House can get on and do the job of creating the basis on which we can get houses built. So it is important that the motion moved by my colleague the Hon Megan Woods is approved by this House so that we can get on with the examination. This is a piece of policy work that has been well consulted with with others in this House and with the community generally in the housing sector because everybody is saying that we need the rules to be rewritten. We need the rules to change to help us break through and get the modern 21st century housing built at a pace that we know we can house New Zealanders. That's what the bill is about and we can take six months and we can pull apart sentences and clauses and the grammar and what have you but actually there are tens of thousands of New Zealanders who are going without adequate housing right now who are desperate to get into good housing. We have developers who are desperate to get the opportunity with good planning laws driven by good guidelines to actually get building under way so that we can address that very serious crisis. This Government came in four years ago pledging to do whatever it took and be serious about our housing crisis. This legislation is part of that but the urgency with which we approached housing four years ago remains today. There's been a lot of construction and a lot of housing but there needs to be a lot more and it's a category of housing that we have struggled through current planning laws and through current resource management provisions to actually get enough of. We've now got an opportunity to do something about it. Four years into the recognition of this crisis we actually have a chance to tweak some rules and get on and get those houses built that are desperately needed right now. So the member who has resumed his seat—David Seymour—quite rightly draws attention to the procedural requirements we expect to be observed when legislation is passing through the House and it is right that the culture of this House and in fact the rules written for its conduct are typically to allow deliberate measured consideration of legislation because in the end it invariably cuts across rights and interests right throughout the community. Indeed when we provide for these new provisions there will be those who will say Well what about my right to that stream of sunlight that cuts across my property? What about my right to live with less dense housing in my neighbourhood and in my street?" Well actually time has moved on and the need for housing construction is greater than it has ever been. The need to alleviate the poverty of housing is greater than it has ever been. The need to give people a chance—more New Zealanders a chance—to get a place where they can live in comfort and in a healthy way has never been greater. So we need this law. We need it in place because we need local authorities local government to do their work to prepare their plan changes in time for August next year. So there is an urgency to it and we should not call on urgency frivolously or wantonly because it is convenient to do so. But in the face of an obvious need and an urgent need then it is appropriate for this House to suspend its usual rules. Not to avoid consultation altogether and not to avoid the possibility of citizens having their right to have a say but to accept that sometimes there are laws that have to move more rapidly than others and to enable us as a country and as a Parliament to seriously address the very difficult problems and challenges that we have. So on that basis I support the motion of my colleague the Hon Megan Woods and invite this House to continue to support a process that allows us to get moving on this legislation sooner rather than later."