Rurawhe Adrian: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRurawhe Adrian: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3531. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour—Te Tai Hauāuru): Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te W’are i tō mihi mai ki a mātou i tēnei wāhanga o te W’are i tēnei pō.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker of the House in regard to your acknowledgment of us in this session of the House tonight.]I rise first of all to mihi out to all whānau who are in State houses tonight and who may be watching the broadcast tonight. They will be sitting there wondering what their future is in their home. They will be sitting there wondering hearing all of this kōrero about this bill tonight whether they are still going to have a home to live in. This bill merely provides a mechanism for the Government to sell State houses. That is how I see it. I think that the people at home in their State houses do not know what their future will be who their future private landlord will be or whether a property developer is going to come along and redevelop their home into something that they cannot afford. That is my concern about this bill. It does not do what the Minister has said it will do: provide more social housing. Well I do not think so.If you start with one set of State houses and then you sell them to someone else that does not actually increase the number of houses that you have got. Potentially I believe that it will reduce the number of social homes because the only way to increase the number of social homes is actually to build more. Under our KiwiBuild policy which we campaigned on last year that is exactly what we would have done. Our solution to the housing crisis in New Zealand is to build more homes—more affordable homes—for our people. This bill fails. It does not provide those. This bill does not increase the number of social homes.This bill actually is a reflection of core National Party policy. In the 1990s it sold 13000 State houses and this is a mechanism that the Government is willing to use to make sure that it gets rid of those homes so that it gets rid of its responsibility. Why I am here tonight is to tell the House that I believe that despite this bill the Government must never and can never transfer its responsibility for Kiwi families who require social housing. That is a fundamental way of life in New Zealand which people expect—that we should be able to have clean dry homes; social homes that people can actually afford to live in.This afternoon we have heard members on the other side of the House saying some amazing things and I have thought to myself: “I am hearing the words but they do not match up with what is on the Table.” They do not match up with what is being presented here in this bill tonight. This bill will actually create opportunities—not for families or for living in social housing but for property developers and private landlords. That is what this bill does. It attempts to transfer the responsibility of the Government to someone else and we are here to tell you that that is just not good enough. That is not good enough today and I think over the next few hours that we will be hearing a lot more about what should be happening in the social housing sector. Thank you. Kia ora.