Carter John: Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill — Recommittal In Committee 
Carter John: Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill — Recommittal In Committee 
[Volume:641;Page:10958] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 I want to make a contribution to this debate and to draw to the attention of the Committee and the public the fact that this provision if passed will actually omit the general provisions of Part 1 which I understand is the intent of the Minister. I assume that is his intent—he is not nodding one way or another—but given his history we hope that he knows what he is doing this time although we cannot be assured of that. The bill certainly states that it is his intention to omit the general provisions. 
I listened to the contributions from my colleagues Nick Smith and Phil Heatley and the emphasis on the issue of stress under the general provisions which will be taken out if this proposal is passed tonight. I say to those members of the smaller parties who may well support this proposal—we do not know yet; they have not indicated—that it is seriously important for this House and the public of this nation to understand that up until now we have talked about the leaky home syndrome that we currently know about. There were about 3200 registered the last time I looked although there may be more now of which about 2700 are in Auckland. It was—it was; I want to stress that—predominantly an Auckland problem up until this point in time. 
The problem is that under this Minister this Helen Clark - led Labour Government and this Department of Building and Housing we will find—given that the Government is looking to delete the general provisions that include the clause relating to stress—that there are more stressed people in this country than we ever understood. It is for this reason: this Government and this Department of Building and Housing are letting materials come into this country and be put into houses that will cause more leaky homes than we will ever begin to understand. The House needs to know that. I want put on record the fact that the National Party at least understands that we are building leaky homes today. We are building leaky homes right now in this country in volumes that have hitherto been unknown. It will take another 5 10 or 15 years before the regime developed by this Minister and this Helen Clark - led Labour Government is exposed. The Government and the Department of Building and Housing have been so irresponsible that they are letting faulty materials come into this country and be put into homes today. 
What we are doing tonight is taking away the ability of people to express a view to express a concern and to have the stress caused as a consequence of that noted. I say to the Minister Clayton Cosgrove that I cannot understand why he wants to do this. I cannot understand why the officers in his department are allowing this to happen. 
Surely the Minister’s officers are competent enough to know that houses being built today will cause stress. Surely they are competent enough to know that the houses being built today will end up being leaky. Surely they know that the materials being put into houses today are faulty. Yet this Minister the Government he is part of and the department he represents are asking this House to pass this legislation so that people cannot express a view. I say to my colleagues—and I know they understand this—that if this bill is passed it will cause more unnecessary concern emotion and stress than ever. I say to the Minister that surely he understands that he is causing problems in this nation right now.