Shanks Katrina: Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Shanks Katrina: Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:641;Page:11025] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 I speak to Supplementary Order Paper 134. Interestingly I was speaking last night to Supplementary Order Paper 133 because I thought that was all there really was. I did not realise there was a Supplementary Order Paper 134 as well. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Clem Simich) 
: It is clause 3 that we are speaking to. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: Sorry—it is clause 3 that we are speaking to. It is interesting because I am on the select committee that looks at these bills. We read them and we get submissions. There is a robust process when we make legislation. There is a first reading where we talk to it. It goes to a select committee and we get submissions in. It is really important in this process to listen to what people out there say about how the legislation affects them and to listen to what the specialists in the industries say about the legislation we are trying to make. After that we adjust the legislation bring it back into the House debate it in a second reading debate it in a Committee stage go on to the third reading and then the bill is passed. 
We have a very robust system in New Zealand and one we should be proud of. But I must say that today I think the system has let us down. It is disappointing when we attach Supplementary Order Papers to bills and put them through without the opportunity of their going through the proper system that we have in place. When I look at clause 3 and I look at all the other things that have happened in the building industry I see mistake after mistake after mistake. 
The Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Act 2002 came in to fix leaky homes. Well it kind of fixed leaky homes; leaky homes are still being built so the problem actually has not been fixed. It was repealed and the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Act 2006 came in to make the situation a bit better because obviously the legislation had been rushed through as has every piece of building industry legislation that has been presented here. We were here again yesterday to talk about the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill. It is being rushed through yet again and we did not even ask for submissions on that legislation which is about the distress and anxiety of owners of leaky homes and giving them some form of compensation. That is fine; we are talking only about leaky homes and that is what the initial bill was about. 
But then I looked at the Building Act 2004 which is relevant to clause 3 as it does relate to the building industry. Then I looked at the bills before the select committee in 2007. All these bills should go there to be made right. The Building Amendment Bill is sitting there and gosh is this relevant to that bill or not? Well you know it actually should be because it has nothing to do with leaky homes. 
That is interesting because when we look at the purpose statement of the 2007 bill we see that it was drafted to make the 2004 bill more workable. We have a pattern here a pattern of legislation made incorrectly rushed through not properly worked through the system and we are back here again and again. It is really disappointing especially as I am so new to the House to see legislation and the process let us down over and over again. 
I will talk about the split this Supplementary Order Paper 134 is making to the bill. It is splitting the bill into the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill and the Building (Consent Authorities) Amendment Bill—which is pretty close to clause 3 I do believe Mr Chairman. Anyway I think we have let down the people. We have let down homeowners and we have let down the building industry. 
Colin King 
: We haven’t; the Government has. 
KATRINA SHANKS 
: I have not; I believe that the system is wrong. We have let down the homeowners and we have let down the building industry. We have let down all those people who voted us into Parliament to represent them because they believed we can make good legislation to make this a better country for them all to live in. 
When we witness something like this we are not witnessing good legislation or a process we should be proud of. Everybody out there who has listened to this debate should be disappointed in what has happened to clause 3. All the people in Auckland who are in their cars now driving along at 1 kilometre per hour with another hour to go before they get home to their leaky homes will not be helped at all by any of the legislation that has been put through in the last 2 or 3 days.