Faafoi KrisKRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana): It is a pleasure to be able to speak on both the Riccarton Racecourse Development Enabling Bill and the Riccarton Racecourse Bill. Can I first open with some comment and I think other members have made it during this debate around some of the comments from the Minister for Building and Housing in his speech in this third reading. I have a brother. I love him very much so I will not name him but Jason's worst trait as a youngster was turning up when the dishes were almost done and then taking credit for it and taking undue credit for the work that had been done. That is essentially what the Minister did today in his third reading speech. You would have thought that the Minister had come up with this idea himself will actually go out and build the homes himself—everything about his speech was taking credit for something that has actually got very little to do with a Minister at all. Credit where credit is due: the Canterbury Jockey Club has seen a need for housing in Christchurch post the earthquake and has taken steps to look to change the legislation that binds it to keep hold of the land that we are talking about here. But you would not have thought that it was a Canterbury Jockey Club issue or maybe Ngāi Tahu's issue that they had brought to this House to get the caveat around that land changed; it sounded like it was the idea of Nick Smith. I want to also comment on some of what Jan Logie said and what the Minister said—this land was wasted space—and just take a moment to reflect on the fact that Nick Smith our building and housing Minister said the words wasted space" because I think there is a certain irony in there at the moment. At a time when we have a housing crisis that the doctor says does not exist and when we have got banks taking action because of what is happening with foreign-based buyers but he says there is diddly-squat there our "wasted space" Minister says that there is nothing to do here. And he has the audacity to take credit for this piece of legislation when it is the people of Christchurch who have seen a need for housing and some affordable housing and have brought this piece of legislation to the House. So let us give credit where the credit is actually due: to Ngāi Tahu and to the Canterbury Jockey Club which has said that we need these 40 hectares of land in order to have a housing development of around 600 homes. But importantly it has said that 30 percent of that must be affordable. The benchmark for that has been set at $450000 and a number of my colleagues have already questioned whether or not that is in fact affordable given the housing situation in Christchurch. Regardless of that we think that the fact it has have decided to put 30 percent of that towards affordable housing is a good thing. This piece of legislation is necessary because there is a piece of legislation that I believe was passed in 1878 which landlocks this land with the racing club and gives first right of refusal to the Crown and also to Ngāi Tahu and this allows this piece of land to be developed. I would also like to acknowledge my colleague Clayton Cosgrove who harked back to 1878 when he lived close to the Riccarton Racecourse I believe. He said that it is very different from 1878 now. Back then in 1878 the Riccarton Racecourse was well beyond the fringes of what the Christchurch City was—Hon David Parker: Connected by rail.KRIS FAAFOI: Connected by rail I hear from the Hon David Parker and Clayton Cosgrove can remember this. The land itself was rural and protected for the purpose of the racecourse itself. But now we find ourselves in different times. The land is needed for housing development some of it affordable. This brings two issues that I—as our racing spokesperson—hold dear housing and racing and brings them closer together. This Government has been useless on housing and I think this week the Minister for Social Housing has found herself in serious danger of being scratched—taken out of the equation no longer useful to the Government in terms—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I am going to interrupt the member and ask him now to stop the analogies and get back to the bill. It is a pretty specific bill.KRIS FAAFOI: Back to those 600 homes. The fact that the Government has taken little or no action on social housing or on building affordable housing is why we are here. It is why Christchurch needs more housing and we have got three housing Ministers who have failed to take any desk action to ensure that there is affordable housing for New Zealanders. Whether you are living in a car or you are looking to buy your first home this Government has been hopeless. But credit where credit is due. It is not with Nick Smith our Minister for Building and Housing not with Paula Bennett our Minister for Social Housing not with Bill English our Minister responsible for HNZC—responsible for something else—none of them have been able to do that job. But hats off to the Canterbury Jockey Club and to Ngāi Tahu for actually doing something to build some houses—something that this Government has been completely incompetent at."