Curran ClareCLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): I speak in support of Part 8 tabled in the Chamber by my colleague Phil Twyford who has done a sterling job with his amendments to this bill. I also want to make reference to the good points that were made by Denis O'Rourke about the relevance of this part given that there has been a challenge as to the scope of this part of this bill. He made the very good point that if people cannot afford to buy a home then they must rent and if they cannot afford to rent then what are their options? It is our contention that it is a fundamental responsibility of the State to ensure that if there are people in our society who cannot afford to rent a home then there should be provision made for them. I want to ask the Minister in the chair tonight the Hon Michael Woodhouse whether or not he agrees with that concept; and if not why not? If he does then why was he objecting to this part of the bill which is ensuring—new section 72A inserted by clause 12 has a provision that joint Ministers must ensure that there is sufficient funding available for income-related rent places in Housing New Zealand in any year. If there is not then what are the options for people if they cannot afford to rent? We have had a lot of discussion about different parts of the country. I want to take the discussion that is relevant to this part to the part that I represent which is Dunedin—which also happens to be the part where the Minister in the chair lives—to talk about the impact on people who are not able to afford to rent are in State housing and currently have their rents in State housing under review even though their income has not changed. What is happening is that those people are being rung and threatened with being moved out of their State housing and no new State housing is being made available. In fact quite the contrary—State housing is being sold in Dunedin. The people who are in State housing who still have the same low incomes are being told that they may have to move out of State housing into a private rental market where much of it is not safe and they will meet the definition of homelessness as put forward by Statistics New Zealand and is mentioned in this part of the bill because the housing is uninhabitable—in other words slum housing unsafe housing housing where there are children who are getting sick and ending up in hospital with respiratory issues. The Minister knows this well. It has been said that 40 percent of Dunedin's housing is not warm not dry and needs work.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! The same as before—please keep the debate narrow on this amendment.CLARE CURRAN: The relevance of this to this part of the bill is that if people cannot afford to live in housing that is habitable they are then forced into unsafe uninhabitable housing that meets the definition of homelessness. In places like Dunedin where it is cold and damp and children are ending up in hospital and adults are ending up in hospital what are the options? That is why this part is so important and is so critical to ensure that there is that income-related rent as the back stop in State housing which enables more people who should not be in the private rental market in this kind of housing but should be staying in State housing to do so. Today I received a phone call from one of my constituents begging me to intervene with Housing New Zealand because her roof leaks there is mould there is toxic mould in the walls and her heating does not work because the water has run down and has affected her heating. What will Housing New Zealand do about it? Nothing. It has lost its soul but it lost its soul because this Government has no soul. That Minister should get up—[Interruption]The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I just want to remind the Committee that the Chair is the sole judge of time. Actually I decide when there is a point of order taken or if I make a ruling how much time is added on if any. To have members rudely interrupt other members—both sides—while they are speaking is just not going to be accepted.Hon Christopher Finlayson: It wasn't me.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): No I know it was not. But the member was looking at me down his nose in such an outrageous manner.