Carter Chris: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Carter Chris: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:637;Page:7376] 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Conservation) 
: 
Xinniankuai le Madam Assistant Speaker—happy Chinese New Year. I have just come from the Grand Hall here at Parliament. As Minister for Ethnic Affairs I have chaired the seventh celebration of Chinese New Year here at Parliament. 
The Prime Minister in her comprehensive speech to Parliament 2 days ago talked about New Zealand’s growing diversity which was recorded very graphically in last year’s census where one New Zealander in five is now born overseas. She stated that our Labour Government has a commitment to social cohesion and the willingness to be inclusive across ethnicity culture and faith is more important than ever before. That is about real leadership; it is about a Prime Minister who looks at New Zealand in its totality and states that this is an amazingly diverse country now that it is an exciting country to live in and that it is really important that the Government as the political leadership of this country sends a message out to the people of New Zealand that diversity is a positive thing. 
We made a commitment when we came into Government in 1999 that Parliament—the place that belongs to all New Zealanders—would be a place where we would celebrate that diversity. And for the seventh time we have celebrated Chinese New Year. Hundreds of people from not just the Chinese community but also the much wider community have come along to Parliament tonight to celebrate this festival that has been celebrated in China for 5000 years and is now part of the fabric of New Zealand society—the culture of our country. 
We also celebrate here at Parliament the festival of Diwali which is very important for the Hindu community and the festival of Eid which is important for the Muslim community. That is about showing the rest of New Zealand that these festivals which are traditionally part of Asia the Indian subcontinent or the Middle East are now part of this ethnic mix in New Zealand and that all New Zealanders should be respected and that their cultural heritages—whatever they are—are now part of the heritage and culture of all New Zealanders. I am really proud to belong to a Government that utterly believes in celebrating our diversity and in affirming all New Zealanders. 
One of the other jobs I have besides being Minister for Ethnic Affairs is Minister of Housing. The Prime Minister in her speech to the House 2 days ago stated that in housing we would be continuing our commitment to income-related and fair rents for State housing and it remains fundamental to the Labour Party’s philosophy: “This year will see big moves to upgrade the social housing stock moves to increase the supply of affordable housing—including through the integrated development of Hobsonville …”. We have also brought in a variety of different opportunities for New Zealanders to buy their own homes such as the Welcome Home Loan scheme which has twice been adjusted to allow New Zealanders who cannot raise a deposit but could service a mortgage to purchase their own home. The KiwiSaver also will be an opportunity for young couples and first home buyers to use their savings to purchase a home. 
The Prime Minister has signalled that later we will be introducing a shared equity scheme so that in those areas of very high cost for housing such as Auckland for example people will be able to purchase a home with Government assistance. When that house is sold the equity and increase in value will be shared between the Government and the purchaser. 
Those policies contrast very strongly with the policies of the National Party. Dr Brash as we know was to the hard right. The spin from his media minders was that he was actually moved to the centre but of course he was not. Now of course Mr Key has not presented us with any policies at all. He says “Yes” and smiles at everybody but eventually he will have to front up. I was reading  
The Hollow Men  
over the Christmas period as many MPs did—and I do hope that every single National MP has read it because the only way to fix up and root out corruption like that is to actually address it and say that they will not do that any more. 
I found it interesting that in  
The Hollow Men 
 Dr Brash was recorded as having given a speech to the Property Institute that promised industry-friendly policies. He said the institute represents people involved in the Property Institute including professional landlords. Dr Brash told them that he supported reviewing the tenancy laws which were too heavily weighed towards tenants at the expense of landlords. He said that National would renew its 1990s programme of selling off State houses to promote homeownership. Of course the 13000 houses that National sold mostly went to speculators; fewer than 3000 went to tenants. The speech to the Property Institute finished with the question of a capital gains tax and he said that New Zealand was unusual in the developed world for not having a capital gains tax. But he did affirm the policy of selling off State houses. 
We on the other hand in the Labour Government are committed to fair income-related rents and to not selling off State houses. When we came to power in 1999 the Housing New Zealand Corporation managed 59312 properties. As of 31 January 2007 we now manage 66183 properties. We also have community housing properties provided by the Housing New Zealand Corporation—for community groups such as Women’s Refuge and so on—and they have increased from about 1251 to 1593. So we are addressing not just the needs of tenants but also those very important social areas of support for battered wives and community groups that are working on health promotion and so on. Income-related rents are expensive. They cost the taxpayer a billion dollars a year. But what they do is to provide support to the poorest people in our community. 
One of the things that the Opposition loves to spin is that somehow we are not providing sufficient support for Maori for example. Well one-third of our tenants—one-third of the 66000-plus tenants we have—are iwi and another third are Pacific Island peoples. We have had so much talk about an underclass but besides the whole area of the incredible support that has gone into education and into health by this Government we also have this commitment of $2 billion going into housing—$1 billion is going into acquiring new stock and upgrading existing stock and $1 billion is going into supporting income-related rents. That is really important. 
Besides that very practical personal support for individuals and families we are also renewing communities. We have six community renewal programmes going. I remember listening to a speech made last night by my colleague Lianne Dalziel the MP for Christchurch East who talked about the renewal programme taking place in Aranui. A very poor community in Christchurch has been transformed by this renewal programme. We have the same thing happening in Talbot Park in Glen Innes in Clendon in Auckland and on the North Shore in Northcote. We also have work going on in Rotorua and in Porirua. 
That work is about transforming communities. It is not just about renovating repairing and building new State houses; it is also about working at the grassroots building strong communities working with agencies like the health and social development ministries and so on to absolutely revitalise those communities. I know Madam Assistant Speaker that you came with me to visit the Northcote project and I am sure that you were as impressed as I was with what we saw going on there. Living healthily in housing is really important. From January 2001 to 31 January 2007 the Healthy Housing programme in State houses has completed over 7000 interventions at a cost of $80 million so as to make those houses better and healthier places to live in. 
Energy efficiency is very important. We have heard the Opposition using slogans—of course we have yet to see some policies. Those members talk a lot about energy but I have to say that we have had 13000 conversions to make State houses energy efficient. We are continuing to do over 2000 retrofits a year. 
Working with local government is very important. I see in the Chamber tonight a number of people who have been involved in local government before they became central government politicians. Lots of councils around New Zealand own particularly pensioner housing. I see the member for the Levin area—the member for Otaki—is here. He has been to see me recently advocating for support for his council to renovate the pensioner housing there and I think that we have given over $5 million to that council. The council matches us dollar for dollar and that old housing stock is renovated. That has been happening all over New Zealand and is very important. 
I talked earlier about the Welcome Home Loans. We also have a homeownership education programme going around the country whereby people come in and they find out whether they can afford to have mortgage repayments the best way to get a loan and the safest way to service it. That is a completely free programme; that is really important about education. 
Those are some of the things that are happening. Perhaps the most exciting project of all is in the Tamaki area—between Glen Innes and Panmure; where I grew up—in the eastern suburbs of Auckland. The Housing New Zealand Corporation owns over 60 percent of the housing stock in the area. We are planning to completely revitalise that suburb. There will be new State housing put in there will be private housing inserted amongst it and that entire community will be transformed. If we are successful that will be an amazing project—great for the Labour Government a Government that is about delivering.