Heatley Phil: Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Heatley Phil: Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:641;Page:11096] 
PHIL HEATLEY (National—Whangarei) 
: 
 I would like to carry on from where Nick Smith left off. He has made some very poignant points in his calls over the course of this debate with none being so poignant I guess as when he pointed out the number of times that the Minister for Building and Construction has been into this debating chamber with legislation saying he will fix the leaky homes crisis. 
I was impressed that the Minister for Building and Construction ever got into this debating chamber to fix the leaky homes crisis because—as colleagues will recall and perhaps the Hon Dr Nick Smith will support me in this—the Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark said there was not a leaky homes crisis that the National Party was blowing it all out of proportion and that only a handful of homes in Auckland were affected. Then the  
New Zealand Herald 
 through quite a campaign was able to establish that a lot of homeowners across the country and particularly in Auckland were affected by the issues being addressed in the provisions in this legislation that we are discussing tonight. 
So the Minister has come into this debating chamber not once in 2002 not twice in 2004 not three times including when this legislation was first debated but four times. We are here tonight discussing the fact that we now have to split the bill and discuss not only the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service legislation but also the Building Act. Four times we have been in this debating chamber since 2002 to discuss provisions related to the Building Act in order to see this leaky homes crisis fixed—a crisis that the Prime Minister originally denied was a crisis at all. 
So does National support the ability to split the bill and to discuss the amendments to both the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill and the Building Act tonight? We say quite simply that the Minister has run roughshod over Parliament’s normal processes. Listeners may not be aware of this but normally when legislation is drafted there is wide consultation within an industry—in this case within local government and councils—to see whether there is a need. Legislation is then worked on by officials and it is tabled in the House. There is a first reading. 
The legislation is then sent to a select committee where it is discussed amongst 12 members of Parliament from across parties. They consult the public who come to Wellington or perhaps the committee travels across the country to take submissions and there is wide-ranging discussion with affected parties out in the public. That part of this legislation is not happening at all. This legislation is being rushed through this Parliament tonight and on ensuing days. We think that is appalling. 
Then of course normally legislation would come back to the House have its second reading the Committee stage and the third reading and hopefully we would see good legislation passed into law. Unfortunately history speaks for itself with regard to this legislation. 
The Building Act came in in 2002. It was fixed again in 2004 fixed again after that and now we see these amendments here before us again tonight. What confidence can this Committee and the public have that the Minister has got it right again this evening? He did not get it right on those other three occasions and I think that is a lesson to this Minister and the Labour Government that we must follow good process. Only by following good process will we have good scrutiny of legislation and ever have even a hope of getting it right. 
This legislation affects leaky homeowners—thousands of them across the country—who are under tremendous financial burden and pressure. Many of them are at the latter end of their lives they are affected by this legislation and the Minister should get it right.