Huo Raymond: Building Amendment Bill (No 3) — In Committee 
Huo Raymond: Building Amendment Bill (No 3) — In Committee 
[Volume:678;Page:832] 
RAYMOND HUO (Labour) 
: 
 The Minister in the chair the Minister for Building and Construction made a very constructive contribution in particular in his admission about licensed pilots and airlines. That has prompted me to ask a question: when did it become a luxury for us to ask an airline pilot just to fly his or her plane safely? The Building Act review is nothing more than to address among other things safety issues. Naturally such legislation would concern three main parties: the consenting authorities the building practitioners and the end users i.e. the consumers. 
I pretty much enjoyed the contributions made by members on this side and the members opposite. I pretty much enjoyed in particular the contribution made by Ms Jacqui Dean. I would like to follow the good spirit of the Hon Shane Jones and do some uncharacteristic things by reading an email addressed to Ms Jacqui Dean and others and copied to me. That email was sent by one of the top structural engineers in this country Mr John Scarry. I will read it out: “Dear Ms Wagner Ms Barry Ms Dean and Mr Borrows Yesterday you all spoke”—that is a direct quote that is not you Mr Chair. “Yesterday you all spoke in Parliament in support of the Building Amendment Bill (No 3). If you were aware of the true state of the construction industry in New Zealand particularly with regard to structural accuracy as opposed to leaky buildings you would not have done so.” As explained in my second reading contribution last week I imagine that Mr John Scarry was responsible along with the O’Sullivan brothers for the redrafting of the building legislation but sadly we are in a worse position than 10 years ago. That email went on to say “The opponents to this bill are right. It does nothing to improve productivity or accountability it does not introduce compulsory contract insurance to cover long-term defects and it reduces the already poor protection new house owners have at present.” 
The Minister in the chair also mentioned the Building Amendment Bill (No 4). Even reading through the report of the Department of Building and Housing to the Local Government and Environment Committee we find it is all over the place with reference to the Government not intending to cover this particular issue and that issue will be likely covered in the Building Amendment Bill (No 4). According to the Order Paper the Building Amendment Bill (No 4) will be introduced probably tomorrow or later this week. We will look forward to debating that particular bill. 
Again in reply to Ms Jacqui Dean’s questioning why Labour is opposed to this bill the Hon Lianne Dalziel and the last Labour speaker—a very good spokesperson for building and construction—Mr Phil Twyford outlined our position very clearly and other positions have been outlined very accurately in the Labour and Green minority reports. I reiterate Labour did support the referral of this bill to the select committee and although we are in broad agreement with the direction of the Building Act review which began under the former Labour Government anyway we will not support this bill further because listening to submitters at the select committee and reflecting on this particular bill has led us to the view that it should not proceed. The aim of the Building Act review is to better allocate responsibility and accountability among regulatory authorities building professionals and end users i.e. the consumers but that will not be achieved by this bill because it is a piecemeal approach. It includes only some parts of the reform agenda that has been widely discussed with the industry over the last few years. Thank you.