Catchpole Brent: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Catchpole Brent: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:627;Page:21999] 
BRENT CATCHPOLE (NZ First) 
: 
 I would like to pick up on a subject that is dear to my heart and I must note that the previous speaker failed to mention it. In 5 minutes he failed to mention anything about leaky homes. That just shows that this Government does not care about them. The member does not give a damn about it. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: It’s the wrong programme. 
BRENT CATCHPOLE 
: Mr Gosche says that it is the wrong part of the estimates. Well I would remind the member that it is definitely part of the Department of Building and Housing and that very little money is being put aside to compensate people who own leaky homes for the problem. During question time I listened to the Minister for Building Issues Mr Carter talking about weathertight homes and he made a joke of it. Once again this Government made a joke of the leaky homes debacle. The Minister made a complete joke of the whole situation. He does not have the ability to really comprehend what a travesty this problem is for those people who have it. They face a serious crisis. Their homes are rotting and falling down around them. The value of their houses has gone through the floor along with some of their furniture. It has reached the point where those people are devastated because all their life savings were tied up in their properties. 
Dail Jones 
: And what’s New Zealand First going to do? 
BRENT CATCHPOLE 
: What are we going to do about it? New Zealand First wants to make sure that those people have an opportunity to have their properties repaired quickly. Then we will worry about going through the long slow Weathertight Homes Resolution Service process because the longer people leave it the worse the problem becomes in the home. People’s homes rot around them while they are waiting. Those people have seen some of the $18 million appropriated in this particular vote for the 2005-06 year being spent on—wait for it—Sound of Music and Cowboys and Indians ventures around the country. That is not solving the problem; the Government is just sitting there thumbing its nose at those people and saying: “We are having a good time. We hope you get off the planet and do not worry about it.” 
Over 3 years the Government has allocated $53 million for the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service. There are 3500 claims before the service of which only 10 percent have been resolved. That is about 120 claims being resolved per year and that is not good enough. Today the Minister stated clearly that the average settlement is $46000. That is absolutely ridiculous! For most of those property owners most of the money they have received has gone into the cost of removing the cladding and of inspections and into having lawyers—and they do need lawyers—and experts front up to the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service to make sure that they get a fair deal. Most of the money they have received has gone in costs. It is an absolute disgrace and this Government is sitting there thumbing its nose at those people. 
Let us look at one of the things that has been blamed for this situation. Everybody has been blaming everybody else. They are pointing their fingers and saying: “It’s not me. It’s others who are at fault.” The Building Industry Authority was one of the parties to this situation. The Department of Building and Housing which absorbed the Building Industry Authority is being protected in every possible way from any legal proceedings. It is blaming untreated timber for the problem. If we think about what timber is we know that it rots. It is a natural product and it rots naturally. So if we expose it to the natural elements it will rot. Clearly by putting it into a house after treating it with untested systems it will rot. During 1995-98 the Building Industry Authority actually approved kiln-dried untreated timber for housing.