Bishop ChrisCHRIS BISHOP (National): Thank you very—David Seymour: Point of order Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker you ruled in the last reading that once you had said The question is that the motion be agreed to." no speech could begin. Now you and I both know of course that Speaker's ruling 65/5 says that actually until you finish those words somebody can seek a call. And I just wonder if you could explain for the benefit of the people watching at home which set of rules you are enforcing tonight. Is it the ones in the book or the ones you made up?ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Thank you to the member. I will not have a reflection on my ruling. The member will stand withdraw and apologise.David Seymour: Ha ha! I withdraw and apologise. Point of Order Madam Speaker. We would still like you to answer the question.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Yeah well David Seymour I'm just going to warn you that I'm trying to be very tolerant. It's getting on. We only have two hours and 10 minutes to go this evening so we've still got a wee way to go. I am now commencing the second reading—or the House is commencing the second reading of this bill. It is my—David Seymour: Under which rules?ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The member will not interrupt while I am ruling. I am now going to proceed on the basis of an orderly second reading which indicates that I will call Chris Bishop which I now do.CHRIS BISHOP: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Bit of fun and games at close to five to 10 on a Wednesday night under urgency. It's the cabin fever that sets in at this time of year with just two weeks—Hon Dr Megan Woods: It's only Wednesday.CHRIS BISHOP: What's that?Hon Dr Megan Woods: It's only Wednesday.CHRIS BISHOP: Yeah I know. We've still got a long way—what did I say? Thursday? OK I meant Wednesday. Wishful thinking! We've still got a long way to go. I think we're on bill three of the 24 in the urgency motion. I could be slightly wrong on that but we could still be here till Friday.So this is an embarrassing bill for the Government to have to bring through the Parliament and we're going to help the Government out by expediting its passage through the Parliament. But let's be under no illusions that this should be a source of embarrassment for the Government because this bill could have come into the Parliament at any time in the last six to nine months. Currently the latest figures we've got at 30 September—so 1 October; round it up—around two-thirds of Kāinga Ora tenancies are compliant with the healthy home standard. We've still got 23000 or 20-odd thousand still to go. So at any stage in the last six to nine or maybe 12 months the Government could have come down to Parliament and said "Look COVID's been a problem. We're not going to make it or it's highly unlikely we're going to make it. We need more time. And in the interests of fairness we're going to give everyone more time—the CHP sector. We're going to give Kāinga Ora more time and we're going to give the private sector landlords more time." And I think a lot of people would have welcomed that and said "OK fair enough. COVID's been a tricky beast for everybody to deal with." And I take the Minister's point around some of our more elderly and vulnerable people who don't like having people who they don't know in their homes. And many MPs in this Parliament who have dealt with Kāinga Ora residents in their electorates or areas they look after will be familiar with that issue. And I acknowledge that that is a real problem and there is a degree of sensitivity and compassion that's required there. And oftentimes it is the job of the MP to work through that with local tenants. So if the Government had turned up six to nine months ago and said "We've got a bit of an issue here. Look let's just put a bill into the House to give a bit of certainty and extend that time frame." I think many people would have welcomed that. But they didn't do that. Instead we've spent our time in the Parliament dealing with all sorts of other issues—many of them rinky-dink issues not so important. And instead here we are at the fag-end of the year coming towards Christmas on a Wednesday night looking at an extension for every—Brooke van Velden: It's November. I've never heard that phrase.David Seymour: What sense of the word was the member using?CHRIS BISHOP: We're right at the end of November. We're in the third to last week of the sitting period for the year.David Seymour: Is that the definition?CHRIS BISHOP: Yeah that's right. Yeah absolutely. We're at the tail end of the year and instead we have the Parliament put into urgency for the Government to embarrassingly extend the time frame. And we know why we're here. The Government can sort of talk about extra flexibility and all the rest of it but we know why we're here. We're here because Kāinga Ora has failed in its task and its obligations. And as Chlöe Swarbrick actually said in her contribution that I listened to as I ducked out of the House but I heard her dulcet tones ringing through the loud speaker system here in the Parliament. As Chlöe Swarbrick said these regulations were passed in 2019 and here we are in 2022 under the current track before this bill makes its way into law later on tonight or maybe tomorrow morning. As Chlöe Swarbrick said landlords have got till 1 July 2023 and we're now getting the extension to 2024. But it's a long way through and a long way down the line already. And of course COVID's only turned up in 2020. This is embarrassing because Kāinga Ora has simply failed to fulfil its obligations. And the poor old private sector landlords who have done the right thing in the last few years who have actually moved heaven and earth to comply with the regulations and gone out and done what they need to do. Many of them are under quite significant financial pressure because of the Government's war on landlords and the extension of the brightline test and the removal of interest deductibility has put enormous pressure on landlords. And they've gone and done the right thing. So here we have this situation where the double standards apply—the double standard where most private landlords have done the right thing moved heaven and earth and have complied with the regulations. But the Government landlord the monopoly or near-monopolistic provider of Kāinga Ora has acted like almost all monopolies do all the time which is badly. And that's the situation we have. And the basket case that is Kāinga Ora has failed to fulfil its obligations under the law and so the Government's just going to give them a leave pass. So the Government's response is not anything other than just a leave pass by dint of a piece of legislation that they're going to ram through all stages. But we're a helpful Opposition. We always try and do the right thing. We try and facilitate where we need to and I see a couple of members with a wry smile over there—the member for Upper Harbour and the member for Taieri smiling away. But they know because they've been on committees with me. They know that we're a constructive Opposition. We're sensible we try and do the right thing and we're happy to help. And I see Karen Chhour from the ACT Party is smiling and I know she agrees with me as the members opposite do. Hon Scott Simpson: She sure does.CHRIS BISHOP: That's right. Thank you very much Scott Simpson. And so we're prepared to help facilitate this because we want to be sensible and constructive. But we note in passing the double standard because it is a double standard. And the Government has turned up here and said "You know we're going to do it for everybody." But we know why they're doing it. They're doing it because Kāinga Ora has failed to fulfil its obligations. And so instead we have this fig leaf this facade this front where it applies for everybody but the real target is KO Kāinga Ora and I think everybody in the House knows that and certainly the people out there watching know it. And so that is why we are here. So we're going to facilitate it. We welcome it. It will be welcomed by some of the private sector landlords. It certainly will be welcomed by the thousands of extra Kāinga Ora staff who have been added to the bureaucracy in the last five years. No doubt they will enjoy that extra time. So we will support this bill but let's be under no illusion about why we are here. And people will see the double standards for what they are. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker—Acting Assistant Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Barbara Kuriger): Thank you Mr Bishop. I call Vanushi Walters."