Lees-Galloway Iain: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLees-Galloway Iain: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3653. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North): I am very pleased to be able to speak to Part 2 of the Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill. The title of Part 2 is “Remedial and other matters” which may suggest to people who are reading this bill at home that there are just a few little rats and mice bits and pieces in Part 2. But actually clauses 20 and 21 in particular have some very important changes to the way housing policy is developed in New Zealand and to the way the Government takes advice on housing policy. Clause 20 actually says that Housing New Zealand no longer has the purpose of providing policy advice. You know this is Housing New Zealand—the clue is in the name about who is best positioned to provide housing advice to the Government. It might be at a guess the organisation called Housing New Zealand but apparently that is not good enough for this Government. So I would like to knowwhere the documentation is since we are passing this bill under urgency and since there has been no select committee process. Where is the evidence where is the consultation process that the Government went through that led it to the conclusion that Housing New Zealand is not the best Government agency to provide adviceon housing? Minister please—or maybe Chris Bishop; he has got a lot to say. Maybe he could actually get up and tell us where the idea came from that Housing New Zealand is not the Government agency to provide housing advice. I want to know.If this bill went through the normal processes where the public actually got to come and have their say where this was properly consulted on and considered and we got to see the evidence we might not agree with the position that the Government got to but we would have an idea of how it got there. It is absolutely the most important thing that the Government members get up and explain to us where this idea comes from because at the moment on this side of the House in the absence of that explanation it looks like a pretty hare-brained scheme to us—that Housing New Zealand is not the organisation that will provide housing. Maybe the Government has lost confidence in Housing New Zealand. I do not know—maybe that is the reason why.I have absolute confidence in my local branch of Housing New Zealand. The people who work there are amazing. They would not say this they would never say this but my observation is thatthey suffer under absolutely appalling policy settings from this Government and they have to do things that they just do not believe in. They are committed public servants. They implement Government policy but they do it in a way that is as constructive as possible and they know what the needs of their community are. They know the housing needs of their community and maybe that is the exact reason why this Government does not want to get advice from them—because the advice that they would give this Government is not what it wants to hear. I think that is the reason and in the absence of any better explanation from the Government I think we have to all assume that is the reason.I hope the next call from the National Party is not a closure motion. I hope that it is actually an explanation of clause 20—why it is necessary and what led the Government to that decision. Clause 21 provides that research and monitoring by Housing New Zealand does not include research and monitoring to advise on policy issues. I am actually at a bit of a loss to know what research and monitoring function is actually going to remain required of Housing New Zealand because it is no longer giving policy advice it is no longer managing the waiting lists and it is no longer interacting with the tenants. What research and monitoring does Housing New Zealand actually have to do if it no longer has a policy function either? What will be done with that research and monitoring? Again is this the kind of information that the Government does not want to listen to because it knows its policies are wrong and it knows that if there is any consideration or sunlight applied to its policy at all it will be found out for being full of holes? Is that why this Government wants to remove the monitoring function from Housing New Zealand?