5. Question No. 5—HousingHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of HousingQuestion No. 5—HousingHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura): Thank you Mr Speaker. To the Minister of—Kieran McAnulty: Welcome back.Hon JUDITH COLLINS: —Housing what challenges—[Interruption]SPEAKER: A very good idea Mr Jones. I'm just checking—was that Mr Jones who made the interjection?Hon Members: No.SPEAKER: Who was it?Kieran McAnulty: Someone far wittier.SPEAKER: Sorry? The person who made the interjection—stand up.Kiritapu Allan: I withdraw and apologise.Kieran McAnulty: I also withdraw and apologise.SPEAKER: Well if the Government keeps that up it'll be whip-less.Hon JUDITH COLLINS: As opposed to witless!SPEAKER: The member knows—[Interruption] All right OK that was my invitation to the Hon Judith Collins to make the interjection so I'm not going to punish her for it but I think people shouldn't continue with it. We'll start again.5. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing: What challenges and risks if any have been identified for the KiwiBuild programme?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): As part of the reset of the KiwiBuild programme a number of risks and challenges were identified and addressed. For example the programme had been building some houses in locations that did not match KiwiBuild buyer demand. The three-year residency requirement on studio and one-bedroom apartments was dissuading some eligible buyers. First-home buyers were having difficulty gathering a deposit. The cohort of eligible buyers was too narrow. Early underwrites put in place for the developers didn't create the right incentives in some cases. Reference was also made to the price of building materials and difficulties with land supply. Then of course there are the risks identified in the departmental risk register the project management tool used in the KiwiBuild unit to list high-level issues that could happen without adequate systems in place to mitigate them. I don't propose to read out that whole list that was released to the member under the Official Information Act last Friday. Of course challenges to building affordable houses are not new. I remind that member once again that the previous Government promised 39000 houses under the special housing areas—3100 were delivered 100 of which were affordable.Hon Dr Nick Smith: That's not true.SPEAKER: Order! Order! We'll just not have that interjection thank you.Hon Judith Collins: Is the KiwiBuild risk register correct to state that KiwiBuild does not have appropriate systems in place to manage conflicts of interest and has a lack of separation between stakeholders and decision makers?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: No. As the member well knows what the departmental risk register does is list possible risks and ways in which they could be mitigated. Of course the risk register does also show how that risk is being mitigated.Hon Judith Collins: So if there is just a possible situation here then why does it show under the heading Further improvements we've committed to"—as opposed to have done—the words "function to provide oversight and advice on all KiwiBuild transactions"?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: If the member also reads the column next to the "Further improvements" columns that she is reading out she'll see it has a yellow arrow going in both directions which means there has been no change since the last report. What the risk register does as the member will well know is it puts out very clearly what risks there could be and what needs to be done internally to manage those. What this report shows is it is being managed.Hon Judith Collins: Were any of the developers who received KiwiBuild underwrites also members of the ministry stakeholder groups?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: The member will have to put that question in writing to me. I don't have that information at hand.Hon Judith Collins: Does she agree with her ministry that KiwiBuild may have opened itself up to potential legal ramifications due to any unfair processes?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Like any public entity that is spending public money it needs to have a clearly spelt out risk register that shows what all the possibilities are and how it is that they are mitigated. This is no different than any other departmental risk register. So no I do not agree with her.Hon Judith Collins: Then why are 12 categories on the risk register still showing as high risk?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Because there is still work to be done to make sure they are mitigated and this Government is committed to putting that oversight in place and making sure we are tracking it and spending public money very wisely.Hon Judith Collins: Is it acceptable to the Minister when the KiwiBuild programme has been operational for two years and has had a major reset that we still have 12 major categories listed as high risk?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I remember as an Opposition spokesperson getting many risk register reports that showed many things in "high risk" categories. The function of a Minister is to make sure that is being monitored and it is being well mitigated. That is exactly what I'm doing."