Shanks Katrina: Building Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Shanks Katrina: Building Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:643;Page:13258] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 I stand to oppose this Building Amendment Bill. Why would that be? I see the Minister Shane Jones is sitting in the chair there with a smile on his face because he knows that he will not be sitting there for very long. This Government has no commitment at all to the building industry. In fact it has an absolutely appalling track record in doing the right thing by builders. I had a piece of paper here which I am trying to shuffle around and find that told me how many Ministers have been responsible for the building industry in the last 8 years. I cannot find that bit of paper but I am surprised because the list is very long. How many Ministers have there been in 8 years? Eleven Ministers have sat in that chair and ripped off the building industry. The building industry deserves better; it deserves a Minister who has commitment to it. But the Minister sits there with a smile on his face knowing that in 6 months’ time most probably he will not be sitting there. He will have moved on and there will be a new Minister again facing the building industry—an industry that has struggled and struggled to come to terms with the changes in this legislation. 
It is not just this piece of legislation. If I were to put together all the pieces of building legislation that have had changes in the last 8 years the pile would stand very high. Why is that? It is because the Government has had to go back to amend the legislation time after time. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: And what changes did you recommend in the select committee—zilch nothing. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: The chair of the Social Services Committee who chaired the committee on this bill is on the other side of the Chamber. Yes another amendment has gone through that select committee to correct a piece of legislation for the building industry—yet again. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Very elegantly put through too. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: Very elegantly indeed! And how much input did the building industry really have into this legislation? Did the public get to have a real say on this legislation? Or shall we go back to the weathertight homes amendment legislation. Let me think what happened there. It was the same type of legislation. Oh no—why do I not go back a little further to 2002 when we started with the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service. Then in 2004 we had the Building Act. In 2006 we had the Weathertight Homes Tribunal— 
Russell Fairbrother 
: What’s this got to do with this bill? 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: It is the building industry so it has a lot to do with it. All these people reading this part of the bill will be confused because Labour has put through seven legislative changes for the building industry. [ 
Interruption 
] That member cannot sit there and deny that because it is a fact. There were no submissions on the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill 2007 before his select committee I do believe. In fact the bill was rushed through his select committee and the public did not even know about it until it got into Parliament. Then what happened? Is the member proud of this? Let me guess. The Government suspended the Standing Orders for that legislation—for the first time in 10 years. I hope that the legislation in Part 1 “Amendments to principal Act” does not face the same consequences as the legislation before your select committee that you put through as well. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: When the member uses the word “you” she is referring to the Chair. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: My apologies Mr Chairperson; thank you. Not only that but I think the building industry deserves better. What does this Building Amendment Bill actually do? Does it make homes more affordable? Does it? 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Yes. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: I ask the member how it will make homes more affordable. The member cannot tell me that this legislation is addressing the issues in our society today—because it is not. It is another poorly drafted bit of legislation. Does it do anything to address the bureaucratic problems of the original Building Act—does it? 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Absolutely; it does. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: There are a few bits here and there. But it has created more uncertainty— 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Thank you. That’s a concession no one else has made—a few bits here and there. That’s good. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: It is a teensy concession. It has created more problems than it has fixed. Does Part 1 do anything even to reduce the rate increases that are facing— 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Yes it does. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: It does not at all I tell Mr Fairbrother and he knows it. Was that matter even raised in his select committee—was it? Did the committee consider that when looking at this legislation? I doubt very much that it did. And this legislation restricts DIYers. I know that the Minister—not of course this current Minister because he was not the Minister then. Or was it two Ministers before? Was it Clayton Cosgrove or was it the Minister before that? 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: No it was Margaret Wilson. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: Margaret Wilson? Was that not like 1999? If I could find that massive list of Ministers—