Davidson Marama; Mallard TrevorMARAMA DAVIDSON (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise to support the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2017-18 Employment and Investment Income and Remedial Matters) Bill. I offer a short call mainly to focus on the brightline test—how this proposed legislation will extend the brightline test to five years so that it requires that income tax is paid on any particular capital gains from residential property purchased and sold within five years. Of course those are properties which are not lived in as the home property.I've heard quite a bit from the Opposition side of the House tonight about how this will detrimentally impact on hard-working Kiwis and their investments. I just want to bring us back to the fact that we also need to support hard-working Kiwis who just want a house to live in let alone to invest in who just want a house to be able to be affordable to either own or rent and that we've really got to rebalance. We've gone out of whack in the way that we have upheld houses in this country with the lack of regulation and the way that houses in this country have become such a focus of investment in a way that isn't balanced for our economy and especially for our families. Even in the National Party's 2009 Tax Working Group they themselves identified that this inconsistent taxation of capital in New Zealand breached all principles of a solid good tax system particularly distorting investment decisions. So we've got to pull that back a bit particularly because speculators in recent years—I was having a look at some of the figures; some of the speculators were able to flip houses on the very same day of settlement for six figure sums—on the same day; on the same day. I'll just mention very quickly that it's been no secret that the Greens support a comprehensive capital gains tax. We do support this extending—David Seymour: On the family home?MARAMA DAVIDSON: Not on the family home. We do support extending from two years to five years the brightline test but it's been no secret that we do support a comprehensive capital gains tax.But I just want to pull us back to setting up sort of what the Opposition are calling mum and dad investors in competition with our New Zealanders who also just need the chance to live in affordable rental homes or even have the chance to buy their own first home to live in. That's why we have to address and use the tools that we can to rebalance the way that houses have been used as businesses in this country rather than just as homes and that ends up pushing everybody down the homelessness continuum in this country. So that is why the Greens are very clear in our support for this and we will of course keep pushing our discussions. No piece of legislation in this House sits alone in a vacuum. Of course we will address all the other areas of the housing build supply regulation rent controls State housing and social housing that need to go alongside this sort of legislation but we should get back to a principle of rebalancing investment so that we can make more sound and more diverse investments instead of relying on houses not just as investments but as massive corporate property development portfolios.So I totally applaud the work that we have started. This is a start to that rebalancing taxation work and investment rebalancing work that we have to do for our economy and for our communities and that we—the Green Party—will keep pushing for further comprehensive tax regulations and changes and further comprehensive capital gains tax on property. Thank you.David Seymour: Mr Speaker.Andrew Bayly: Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: David Sey—well unless the member wants a five-minute call. David Seymour.