Lole-Taylor Asenati: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lole-Taylor Asenati: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Sitting date: 30 January 2013. Volume:687;Page:7675. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR (NZ First) 
: 
 May I say happy New Year to everyone in this House tonight. 
Todd McClay 
: Happy New Year to you too. 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: Thank you. As we all know housing plays a vital role in a healthy and happy life—a healthy and happy life. New Zealand First believes that every New Zealander deserves a decent place to live. We have a strong democratic tradition infused with our egalitarian ethos and desire to own our place to call home. It is a sad and grim reality that under this current Government that dream is becoming increasingly unobtainable for young Kiwi families. 
New Zealand First holds grave concerns about the housing situation that faces a generation of New Zealanders. The Government’s approach to the housing crisis can be summed up in one word. Do you want to hear that one word? It is deregulation. That is the word. Ours is not a party—[ 
Interruption 
] Who wants to hear it? Do you not know how to spell the word “deregulation”? Go back to school! You should not be in here. Ours is not a party that wants to constrict businesses and developers with unnecessary obstacles and red tape nor do we want these costs burdening young families and first-home buyers. However we have seen firsthand what casual ill-considered housing deregulation has done to hard-working New Zealanders up and down the country. Careless deregulation of the housing market in the early 1990s led to the emergence of leaky building syndrome. 
Raymond Huo 
: Who was the Minister? 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: That is right. Unsuspecting hard-working Kiwis bought up homes eager to step up on to the property ladder. Many invested their life-savings to get their own house. What happened? They were failed by the system. That is what happened. Leaky building syndrome has cost and continues to cost the Government local councils and affected property owners millions upon millions of dollars. So although we support sensible carefully considered measures to lower housing costs we do not support a bonfire of regulations because a few years down the track when it all starts turning to custard rest assured that the National Party will be keen to shift the blame. 
Throughout the years we have been calling for consecutive Governments to take up our policies which would have alleviated the housing crisis that we currently face. The truth is that there is no one silver bullet to solve the housing crisis. Rather a number of forward-thinking changes need to be made. 
Raymond Huo 
: “Mr Fix-it”. 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: “Mr Spray and Walk Away”—that is true. As for foreign investment we need to get the best results out of our current housing supply as opposed to having foreign nationals who do not take up residency in New Zealand buying up houses at the expense of our own young Kiwi families. The second aspect is ensuring that foreign investment is doing what we want it to do—that is helping to solve the housing crisis. 
Other countries woke up to this reality years ago—they have. They knew they needed to use foreign investment in a way that bettered their own people and country. In Australia for example they stopped foreign nationals buying up housing stock for investment purposes. They knew that there was no gain for them in having foreigners just buying up houses because it did not help the economy did not create any jobs for Australians and made it harder for Australian battlers to get on to the property ladder. Instead they permitted foreign nationals to buy a property under strict conditions. 
Why are we not doing something similar here? Why? We have a Prime Minister who has a background in investment and international markets. Surely he should know a thing or two about getting foreign investments to bring about desirable outcomes. We do not have the luxury of allowing unrestricted buying of our limited housing stock by foreigners. Many countries like Singapore Hong Kong and Australia impose strict rules on foreign buyers. That is right. 
And what of regional development? Jobs and housing are intrinsically tied together. Is it any wonder that the housing crisis is concentrated in Auckland? Or that there are so few young people from the provinces staying in their home towns? People from provisional—provincial—New Zealand are flocking to Auckland in search of work. 
Sue Moroney 
: It’s becoming provisional under this Government. 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: That is right. They know that in Auckland and these main places the main employers are there. That is where the money is. That is where the jobs are. So yes the Prime Minister might be correct when he talks about affordable housing in Lumsden in the far south; the truth is that the jobs are simply not there. This Government has a number of members from provincial New Zealand yet what incentives are they creating to keep jobs in the provinces? Undeniably the most understated factor contributing to the housing crisis is regional development. 
And what of immigration? There seems to be a taboo about mentioning immigration in the context of housing. At the risk of stating the obvious all migrants require housing. New Zealand is adding around 40000 citizens a year a figure that exceeds the rate of natural population increase. It is time that the number of migrants was adjusted to help the housing situation particularly as the majority of migrants choose to live in Auckland. 
Solving the housing crisis is not simply a case of throwing around figures about how many homes different parties claim they can build. It is about ensuring long-term solutions are found through sensible policies. For many young families the aim of homeownership is no longer obtainable. Our proud tradition and culture of being a property-owning democracy is now under threat. Is this truly the path we want for our future young families? The answer is surely no. New Zealand First believes that every New Zealander is entitled to decent housing and we must make that a reality. 
And last but not least—on the brighter side that is—let me congratulate the Prime Minister on recognising New Zealand First’s Sentencing (Short-sharp Sentences) Amendment Bill which has been plundered by his Government in its move to make prisoners work while behind bars. The initiative was clearly taken from New Zealand First’s member’s bill which I referred to in my maiden speech last year and was submitted into the ballot last year. I believe that the Government would be wise to implement the whole bill in order to improve the prison work scheme. It is pleasing to see our policies being picked up by the Government but it should come clean and give credit where it is due. Thank you.