Collins JudithHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Well a big sing-out and shout-out to Michael Wood who's resumed his seat. Thanks for the acknowledgement Michael Wood.I found the revenue portfolio to be a very interesting one and I'm sure it's testing the Hon Stuart Nash. It's certainly one which I think is often underestimated because of the fact that our tax system for it to work needs a highly organised administration in the revenue department and also it needs to have tax laws that are easy to operate and easy to administer. So this bill is one which the National Party will be opposing. There are parts of the bill which we can agree with but the majority—particularly those around increasing tax rates and also the ring-fencing of losses for residential properties that are rented out—are things that we cannot support.I think it's really important to remember that the current Government in Opposition were very loud about the need to attack speculators of land and we've heard Mr Wood refer to the speculators of land whom he sees as taking properties that first-home buyers could buy and therefore keeping them out of the market. Well these so-called speculators of properties that first-home buyers might otherwise want to buy are actually generally landlords to—guess what?—people who would one day like to become first-home buyers. It's these landlords that this bill is attacking when it goes after the ring-fencing of losses which basically means that it will become even less attractive for one to become a landlord. What we're seeing at the moment with these sorts of measures as are contained in this bill is a constant and dedicated attack from the Government against landlords.So these are the very people who provide the rental accommodation for people who don't want to or who can't yet buy their own home. So by taking more landlords out of the market it's not that we're freeing up properties; what we're doing is we're actually having fewer properties available for rent which is why this Government is currently staggering under the biggest increase in State rental waiting lists that we have seen in my lifetime and certainly in the last probably hundred years—that includes Winston Peters' lifetime. And I actually think it is really important that we and this House understand that there are consequences to what seems like a really good sound bite. The sound bite of going after speculators and stopping them from taking homes that first-home buyers could buy is a great sound bite but the consequences are that there are fewer homes available for people to rent.We hear today the Government saying Well you know it's such a shame that rentals have gone up in price—that the market is moving." And the reason the market is moving up in the costs of rentals for people who want to rent properties—this is one of the reasons for it. It's not only that the Government has taken steps to remove the cost of letting fees being charged to tenants directly but it's these sorts of ring-fencing losses contained in this bill that actually make being a landlord significantly less attractive to somebody who has perhaps saved up all their life and has got themselves in a position where they can buy something they want for what they call their retirement income.Residential rental properties: at the moment a landlord is lucky to get more than a 4 percent return if we take away the cost of interest the cost of rates the cost of maintenance and the cost of everything else of having downtime—4 to 5 percent is all that people will generally expect to get on one of those rental properties. That's barely enough to pay the costs. We already have landlords saying "We used to be able to say 'Well we'll get some capital gain.' " Well that's been taken away. We've got a Government that's now hell-bent on taxing in every way that they can—to do what? I can tell that member who has resumed his seat Michael Wood who told us about what he said the Hon Amy Adams was apparently all against—well I'll tell you what: we're against $700000 a day being spent on inquiries to tell the Government what to do. I would have thought it'd be a lot cheaper for the people of New Zealand to expect this Government just to do its job. If they really need to ask some advice on something make it something worthwhile and a few of those inquiries are but they can't be when there are 210 I think at the moment. There may even be more by now and they've been in Government for only a year.So when I see taxes being spent on things like that I'm with the Hon Amy Adams. I'm with her saying "Hang on there's a bit of waste going on here." When I look at the billions of dollars being given to our colleague over the way the Hon Shane Jones to splash around the particular parts of the country where New Zealand First think there might be some votes for them I have to say I think that that's possibly a bit of wastage going on. Some of it no doubt is needed but when I look and consider that we've had—what was it?—$160000 worth of seedlings chopped up and mulched because nobody worked out that the land wasn't ready for them to be planted into I'd say that's a bit of wastage. I'd also say too with these tax bills and this particular issue that paying the head of KiwiBuild to stay at home—so far for 6½ weeks—is probably a bit of wastage. I'm just questioning how much the salary is. How much is the salary? How long is the contract for? Is it a three-year contract? Is it a five-year contract? Is it a salary of $300000 a year? How much is the taxpayer going to be up for because that's what this money—these taxes—is going for.Alastair Scott: Student fees—they're wasted.Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I look at student fees—the first year of student tertiary fees now being completely funded by the taxpayer. I'd say is this fair? Well maybe not actually when we consider that 70 percent of a university student's fee for a year was already funded by the taxpayer before this came in this new fees-free policy for the first year. Many people when I'm around the country talking to people and particularly in my electorate in Papakura say to me "Well if you're going to give it to somebody for free why wouldn't you give it for the last year once they've got their degree—give them a refund?" Why wouldn't you do that? Why wouldn't you say to them "Hey thank you for finishing."? Wouldn't you put an incentive in there?Kieran McAnulty: Does the member support that?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: And the answer is coming from the other side—somebody is calling out I'm not sure of the name; somebody will tell me—that actually you said something about "Well because they need some money." or something. Well there are student allowances there are interest-free loans—there's almost everything.And what about the plumbers? We need more plumbers we need more builders we need more electricians we need more gib-stoppers we need more people who do things—something this Government doesn't seem to understand. None of this bill is about helping people to do things; it's all about taking away from anybody who actually wants to supply housing to people who need to rent it taking away from people who were getting $1060 on average. The average earner and their tax cuts—"Take that away because we don't want people having their own money." Why can't people have more of their own money? Everything in here is all about taking more money from hard-working New Zealanders who are trying to save up for their retirement—hard-working New Zealanders—and spending it on things that this Government thinks it's best able to spend money on.I say to this Government that there has to be an end to constantly taxing everything that moves. There has to be an end to this because people are getting sick and tired of it. They've already got fuel taxes basically for Africa frankly and in Auckland fuel taxes for Phil Goff and Phil Twyford to sort themselves out and try and get themselves something built—fuel taxes and other taxes going in to pay for a trolley up Dominion Road that nobody so far apart from Jacinda Ardern wants to ride on. Nobody's asking the taxpayers "Is that a fair use of your money?" We on this side will continue to stand up for taxpayers and we are going to hold this Government to account and we will not agree if we don't agree that it's in the best interests of New Zealand. This party will stand up against further tax increases and further attacks on landlords who are by the way providing the houses and the housing for people that this Government has left behind and will not provide for them because they simply can't."