Coffey TāmatiHOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE (GST-SHARING) BILLFirst ReadingDebate resumed from 5 April.TĀMATI COFFEY (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. Very happy to be taking a call on this the Housing Infrastructure (GST-sharing) Bill and can I acknowledge the member that brought it to the House Brooke van Velden.The last time we chatted about housing so intensely was when we were tracking through the changes to housing intensification talking about medium-density residential standards. It was a very important conversation. It was something that we tried to tackle as a cross-party solution to try to get more houses in across New Zealand. It lately hasn't—the Opposition have decided to back away from it. The ACT Party at the time also didn't support it. But at the time the member for the Opposition Nicola Willis—she brought it to the Environment Committee as something that she believed wholeheartedly in a way that we could grow more houses in our country and do a better job. The ACT Party didn't support it at the time and I would say that it was potentially a mistake because we still have a real need around our country to be able to build more houses.One thing that this side of the House have done is that we have introduced the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund which is all about trying to build more houses because that's what we've got to keep focused on. That's what this bill does—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well in the meantime we need a bit of focus on the bill before us too Mr Coffey.TĀMATI COFFEY: It is all connected Mr Speaker but I'll come back to it—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well connect them up for me.TĀMATI COFFEY: I will I will. Because whether it's this bill—the Housing Infrastructure (GST-sharing) Bill—or the initiatives that the current Government are already facing what we're all trying to do is get more houses built all around the country in our various communities. So I acknowledge the member for bringing this to the House.But as far as this side of the House are concerned we won't be supporting this bill. We do believe that there are mechanisms within any future Government to be able to do it without changes to legislation. We believe that it has got a very hefty price tag on it. We don't believe that councils would necessarily be able to triage the GST portion in the way that it's supposed to be and intended to be directed to.This is a well-meaning well-intentioned piece of legislation but it falls short on a lot of fronts. I do want to say that I think that—I definitely acknowledge the fact that the member has brought this to the House in an attempt to try and get more houses built. I don't believe that this is the way that we should be doing it. I do believe that the policy has the potential to cost about $1.3 billion a year. It's a lot of money.On this side of the House we prefer things like the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund. I know that in Rotorua we were privy to $85 million of that. I know that our local council and our local developers are very happy about that. I know that it's a way that developers and councils can help with the costs of building these developments. Investment into stormwater upgrades investments into things like detention dams: these are all things that are currently being done with the systems that we already have and therefore I don't believe that this bill is needed. For that reason members on this side we've gotten together we've put our heads together and thought Is there any merit in trying to support this?" We don't believe that there is. We believe that there's already mechanisms in place. We'd like to think that the Opposition parties would continue to support the current initiatives that are in place.With the $85 million that's going into the Rotorua Lakes Council to be able to help with that infrastructure cost we're looking at an additional 3000 houses in Rotorua. We are desperate for houses. We are desperate for housing. Unfortunately the member's part of a party that was part of a regime that ensured that we got rid of our State houses in Rotorua. They're actually partly responsible for making sure that we were 44 short after the decade that they were in charge.So we just need to make sure that we're following good practice and things that are currently succeeding in our communities to be able to develop good houses. This bill doesn't do it. This bill falls short. The current initiatives that are in place—and I can tell from my own experience back home in the geothermal paradise of Aotearoa that we are currently making moves in that right direction. It's because of good Government good solid policy that's already in place. For that reason I don't support this bill. I think it needs a whole lot more work."