Cosgrove Clayton: Building Bill — In Committee 
Cosgrove Clayton: Building Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:619;Page:14785] 
CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
 I rise to speak in support of the bill. This bill is a most important bill and we are speaking to Part 1A. Most MPs on both sides in Parliament would acknowledge that a Kiwi has no greater asset than the family home so I think we should keep politics out of this bill. I know that some landed gentry over on that side of the Chamber have multi-home ownership and multi-ranch ownership and they do not like it when we point that out. However as we refer to Part 1A we know that the average Kiwi man and woman in this country— 
Dianne Yates 
: All their life savings. 
CLAYTON COSGROVE 
:—have all their life savings invested in the family home as my colleague said. The next biggest asset is probably the family car. Unlike Mr Carter the average Kiwi family does not have four four-wheel drives three BMWs a couple of Porsches—or a tractor; they have the family home. 
I commend the Minister in the chair Mr Tamihere who has inherited this bill. It is a clarion call to the DIY’er and the Kiwi battler who wants high standards in building practice. A builder in my electorate who was a builder of 30 years’ experience and a tradesperson brought up under the old apprenticeship laws—which of course that mob over there abolished thanks to Lockwood Smith but which we reintroduced so now have 9000 young apprentices on the go—told me that he did not want shonky builders in his industry because that would lower his professionalism and tar all builders with the same brush. It is a bit like politicians—a bit like Don Brash who with his substandard behaviour tars the whole National Party with the same brush. 
This legislation is about preserving high standards in Kiwi workmanship. It is about a clarion call to Kiwis. The age of a building does not matter—contrary to what we heard Opposition members talking about today. We want high standards in building practice and tradespersonship. That is what this legislation is about despite all the bleating from some Opposition members. 
I know that Shane Ardern is always placed in the difficult position of saying firstly either what he believes or secondly what the new whip Simon Power—who has put a gun to Mr Ardern’s head—has told him he has to say. I know that Shane Ardern is from good old-fashioned Kiwi stock and is a good old-fashioned farmer who has employed a number of tradespersons in his life. He knows that average Kiwi battlers out there want some assurance that their homes are their castles that they are of a high standard and that they will be preserved for them. 
That is what this legislation is all about despite the politics and all the puffery around this Chamber. That is the fundamental issue that Part 1A is about—as is this entire bill. I support this bill and I invite Opposition members to get off their high horses—or out of the Land Rovers Range Rovers and BMWs that a few of them over there have along with three or four homes and a bach in the Sounds—and think of the ordinary Kiwi battler who has put $50000 $60000 $100000 or $200000 into his or her own home and who says “This is my castle. I want to ensure that I am looked after. I want to ensure that what I’ve invested for my family and maybe what I hand on to the kids is a solid resource that is looked after and is of a high standard and that I don’t have to go back to look for the developer the architect or the three or four “subbies” who did not do a good job and who maybe ripped me off.” 
Tonight Part 1A is about a Government and a Minister saying that they will stand behind the Kiwi battler and provide some guarantees where others would not. I tell that crew over there that if they are going to stand up for the ordinary Kiwi then I pose the question: why after 9 years did they not do something? Why did they not do anything? Why did they not hunt down the architect the developer the “subbie” or the contractor and look after the ordinary Kiwi? 
After this legislation is passed I tell members that in my electorate—the fastest-growing electorate in the South Island with lots of buildings developments and subdivisions—the average Kiwi man and woman will sleep a lot easier in their beds knowing that there are some minimum standards that their homes will be their castles and that the Government will look after them. 
I support the bill. I commend the Minister who inherited the bill. I ask those who stand up from now on to front up for the ordinary Kiwi man and woman in the street and tell us as my colleague said what their policy is on this bill.