Paul Tamatha; Bishop ChrisTAMATHA PAUL (Green—Wellington Central): Kia ora thank you tēnā koe. So my questions are related to public housing just off of the back of what the previous speaker was reeling off facts about. My first question and I'm really hoping to get a response to this is around the sale of State houses. On 9 April in question time there was an exchange between Minister Potaka and Minister Bishop around the briefing that you received when you became the Minister. In that exchange on 9 April you talked about—I think Minister Potaka talked about his surprise to read about the impending sale of thousands of State houses. So I was wondering if you would be able to elaborate on that information for us. The next question I had was around the public housing plan and income-related rent placements and the impact on community housing providers. Obviously this is a critical subsidy and fund that helps community housing providers and Kāinga Ora to be able to build new public housing. So my second question is around who will actually build the public housing that is needed to clear the wait-list in reference to that strategic priority for Kāinga Ora and for the community housing sector; really interested to understand what funding they will have available to them to be able to build more public housing when there I believe has been no guarantee of those further income-related rent subsidy placements? And sorry my third question is around the Sustaining Tenancies Framework. I'm really interested to understand a bit more about complaints in the previous year and the fact that 45 percent of those households where there have been complaints have had children and I'm really interested to know how those children benefited from the Sustaining Tenancies Framework being in place because obviously that is about to be removed. I'm really interested to understand how those complaints were handled previously without completely getting rid of the framework and how that is going to be I guess different going into a Kāinga Ora without the Sustaining Tenancies Framework. Thank you.Hon CHRIS BISHOP (Minister of Housing): Thank you Madam Chair. I thank the member for her questions. Let me take them in order. The first question was around the sale of State houses by Kāinga Ora particularly the reference to the 9 April exchange with Minister Potaka. It's a matter of public record that the information that came to Ministers upon this coalition Government taking office is that the latest forecast from Kāinga Ora was that over the forecast period—so in other words from this year onwards—Kāinga Ora was forecasting the sale of over 10000 State houses. So I don't have much more to add to the situation than that. That has been made public by Ministers and is contained in the Treasury document that Ministers received. That is clearly something that the member finds alarming. Kāinga Ora has on average until now been selling anywhere between 50 and 150 houses per year. The previous Government like to talk a lot about how they had stopped the State house sell-off" to use their words. Actually Kāinga Ora continued to sell and demolish State houses and some places are in the wrong location. Some houses are uneconomic to repair or remediate. It makes more sense to sell in the same way that any other landlord would do and so Kāinga Ora has been doing that. But it is definitely also true to say that Kāinga Ora has forecast at the end of last year a significant increase—a surge in sales—and that is one of the reasons why the Government commissioned an independent review into Kāinga Ora at the end of year on which we will have more to say shortly.The second question was around the public housing build programme in relation to the income-related rent subsidy. Again it is a matter of public record that future income-related rent or IRRS as we call it subsidies for social housing places finish on 30 June 2025. That is next year. So in the ordinary course of events there would be a four-year budget forecast. That was not done by the previous Government. That funding is time limited and it expires so again that is something that the current Government is having to grapple with. So her question was specifically about who will build new public houses in New Zealand and the answer is as is always the case both the community housing sector which does an excellent job around the country and also Kāinga Ora which plays a very important role in our housing system. It is in fact the country's biggest landlord. It's a $45 billion company. It is extremely important that it is run efficiently and effectively. So in terms of the future who will be building social houses—the answer is the community housing sector and Kāinga Ora. In due course the Government will make its intentions clear around that. The third question was around the Sustaining Tenancies Framework. Ministers have asked Kāinga Ora to draw a different balance when it comes to sustaining tenancies. We have asked the board to replace the capital "S" capital "F" framework—so "Sustaining Tenancies" with a capital "S" and a capital "F". We have asked them to replace that and strike a different balance between the clear benefits of keeping tenants in social housing but also making sure that they are accountable and responsible for bad behaviour. We make no apologies for striking a different balance because the social licence for Kāinga Ora to operate has been eroded over the last few years by repeated and wilful bad behaviour by a small group of tenants who the public see as very—no consequences or responsibility for that behaviour. So the name of Kāinga Ora has in many communities become synonymous with bad behaviour and antisocial behaviour. That is in no one's interests because it is very important that Kāinga Ora enjoys social licence because they own 70000 houses and they frequently—very often—look after quite vulnerable members of our community. So it is very important that Kāinga Ora has a good name and that has not been the case in the last few years. So we have asked the board to draw a different balance. Minister Potaka has responsibility for that particular part and he may wish to offer some other comments."