O'Connor Damien: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
O'Connor Damien: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:626;Page:21334] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister for Racing) 
: 
 That is one of the most outrageous speeches I have heard in this Chamber from a member who thinks that the market will deliver to everyone—will give a solution to everyone regardless— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I never said that. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: Well that member and his party say that philosophically on just about every issue in relation to the economy. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Do not. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: Yes they do. In fact they said that through the 1990s which is the very reason that this Government has had to step in and fix the big mess. Indeed I accept the member’s point that it is a disastrous situation for a young family that has bought a home in good faith and discovered that it is not just a leaky home but that they have a truly faulty undervalued—or overvalued—disaster on their hands. How has that occurred? Many of those homes were built while Mr Smith was in Government. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: This was built in 2001. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I tell the member that the regulations that governed the system right through the 1990s were set up by his Government on the basis that the market would deliver—that homeowners should know what they were buying: “let the buyer beware”. The problem was that that Government had insufficient safeguards to protect people who bought homes in good faith. That is why this Government has had to step in to what is a very significant issue particularly in the Auckland area. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: It’s not working. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: It is working. We are working through the issue very very carefully. We now have in place some regulations that govern the kinds of timber to be used in the process. We have to go through a very complex commercial situation to try to unravel a mess. The mess was laid down by the same blind ideology that that member and his party will take into the future— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: George Hawkins! 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: It is not. I applaud the efforts of the Ministers in managing this difficult process. This Government has grappled with the issues and has moved ahead and set up the new Department of Building and Housing which will be responsible for all these issues. That member said: “Six different Ministers for building issues.” Well the fact is we will now have one Minister overseeing the Department of Building and Housing who will oversee all these responsibilities and issues. That has not occurred before and it is the very reason that this situation has occurred. 
Responsibility has been in a whole lot of different areas of Government and commercial law and the smart wise boys in the building industry have ripped people off particularly in the Auckland area because the laws laid down by the previous National Government based on the blind ideology that the market would deliver to everyone were insufficient to protect those people into the future. So we have set up the Department of Building and Housing. There will be a Minister responsible. We have tightened regulations and improved the standards and the types of timber that can be used. I have every confidence that while not offering a perfect solution—I do not think any honest Government would say that it could—it is a huge step forward to protect the consumers in this country and the people who buy homes in good faith. 
If we ever—God help us—see a National Government on the Treasury benches again this country can be assured that we will be back in the same commercial situation that would allow leaky homes and rorts to occur right throughout the economy because the National Party believes the market will deliver to everyone. Well I say to Nick Smith and the National Party that they should wake up because that does not work. This Government has had to step into the issues in the building industry take stock grapple with a difficult issue change the whole structure in Government set up a new Department of Building and Housing and do the things that are necessary to move this situation forward. I am happy to say that this Government has taken huge steps to make progress and I am confident that we will move forward in the same way.