3. Question No. 3—Prime MinisterNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 3—Prime Minister3. NICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government's statements and actions?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes.Nicola Willis: What does she say to New Zealand renters for whom on average the cost of renting has increased a massive $140 a week during her time as Prime Minister a 50 percent bigger increase than occurred in the full nine years of the last National Government?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister what I say to the renters of New Zealand is that we have now a Government that acknowledges that there is a housing crisis unlike that previous Government. We have a Government that is overseeing a record amount of house building. We have a Government that is making sure that there are incentives to build homes that can be rented. In short we have a Government that does care about renters.Nicola Willis: Can she now see that her Government's divisive attempt to crack down on speculators" has backfired spectacularly utterly failing to arrest soaring house prices and resulting in massive rent hikes for New Zealand tenants? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister no. What I can see is actually that the proportion of first-home buyers has been rising since those changes have been made and we are seeing speculators leaving the market.Nicola Willis: Is it seriously her position that it is a mere coincidence that average rents have increased a record-breaking $50 a week in the same year when the Government introduced new property taxes for landlords?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister this matter of what is the best measure of rental increases was covered in the House yesterday between the member and her question to Minister Woods. What I can say to the renters of New Zealand is that they have a Government that has moved to protect them to make sure that they only have one rental increase a year and to make sure that there is more support for them through all of the various income support measures. The member on the other side of the House needs to remember it is her Government that's caused this housing crisis; we're fixing it.Nicola Willis: Well does she recall the warning that the Government received from its own housing officials in this Cabinet paper [holds up document] in which they explicitly advised the Government not to remove tax deductions for landlords saying "It is likely to result in increases in rent."?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister we received a range of advice from officials about what to do for housing. We could have sat and done nothing like the previous Government did or we could have done what we've done and made sure that we even up the playing field whilst continuing to support renters.Hon Dr Megan Woods: Does she recall that Cabinet on reading that advice sought to put in place mitigations to alleviate the rental increase impacts like allowing interest deductibility on new-build rental properties for 20 years to continue?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Yes. And in fact the Government has made sure that not only are we dealing with short-term issues but the long-term supply of housing is now being addressed through a record number of consents and incentives to build properties that can be rented.Nicola Willis: Well does the Prime Minister recall the warning in the same Cabinet paper that by going ahead with tax changes even with those measures in place mentioned by the Minister of Housing "There is still a risk to tenants as some landlords particularly those that are highly leveraged may still increase rents or divest properties displacing tenants."; and what does she say to the New Zealanders who are now bearing those consequences in the form of higher rents and a loss of secure housing?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What I say to them is what I've said to the member in my earlier answers to this question: this Government has a plan for housing that is seeing a record number of houses being built; we are looking after renters and low-income New Zealanders in a way that the previous Government did not. On this side of the House we recognise that there has been a housing crisis. We have solutions for it."