Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): I promise not to use any acronyms in this contribution though I commend the member prior to me Anahila Kanongata'a-Suisuiki for showing her clever use of those. The Building (Building Products and Methods Modular Components and Other Matters) Amendment Bill is an important piece of legislation. It's actually quite a small piece of legislation but it does make some progress on what I think is a bigger issue that is significant for New Zealand and that is the potential to significantly reduce the building costs associated with developing new homes.We have a situation in New Zealand where housing has become increasingly unaffordable and when we look at the components of that cost one of the significant components is building costs. Yet we also live in a time where there has been an absolute acceleration in the technology and innovation in the way houses can be built specifically around modular housing. Of course this is about the kind of housing where some of the component parts are prefabricated in factory conditions often at scale en masse to create efficiencies of cost and production time and then are assembled on site and this kind of technology is taking off across the world. We're seeing benefits from it in terms of reduced time to get new houses built and in terms of reducing the actual costs of those component parts. So it is very important that our legislative and regulatory regime keeps up with these technologies because they have the potential to make housing cheaper in New Zealand.However this bill is a response to the fact that many operating in the modular housing area say that the current conditions simply aren't working for them. The bill establishes a voluntary certification scheme that allows those who are manufacturing modular components to be certified and it does that by setting out a scope of practice which says this is what's required and then allows for certification against that scope of practice. It also allows for the product certification scheme by creating new registration requirements for product certification bodies. So this is a step forward.I note that the select committee had 94 submissions and I do want to say that I am not completely convinced that everyone who has something to offer in the area of prefabrication and modular housing has had their full say on this bill. It is going to be very important as this bill progresses but also as it is implemented that we are clear about whether or not it is working and whether or not the framework in place is keeping pace with the innovation and technology we're seeing in this area. What we don't want to see is a regulatory regime which stops people bringing the efficiencies of modular housing to market. I didn't sit on the select committee that examined this bill but my colleagues who did tell me that they are satisfied that from the submissions received those involved in the building and construction sector felt that this would be a step forward—a small step forward perhaps but a step forward. That is the primary reason why National is supporting it.I do want to highlight that we're also with this bill extending the commencement date and that is because it's really important when significant regulatory changes of this sort are made that communication to those affected takes place. I want to note for the Hansard that there is a big impetus on officials here to ensure that this legislation how it will be implemented and how the regulations are intended to be interpreted is well communicated to those in the sector who will be seeking to operate under it.So in short Minister this is a step in the right direction—sorry; Madam Speaker. You were a Minister but you are today Madam Speaker. So this is a good step forward. It doesn't take us all the way. I challenge members opposite to think about taking some bolder legislation to the House when it comes to addressing the cost of housing in New Zealand. I reiterate National's offer that should members opposite wish to bring legislation that would allow the other main component of housing cost—that is land—to be cheaper in New Zealand in the form of emergency measures we on this side would be happy to work with them on that. We did it after the Canterbury earthquakes and it worked. So this is a step forward but there's a lot more to do.