Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. Talofa lava lau Afioga le Fofoga Fetalai. Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. It's a great pleasure to have this opportunity to talk on the Building (Building Products and Methods Modular Components and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. And I figure if I mention this title a few times in this speech I might also be able to nail it like Duncan Webb did there in his speech getting to the full allocation. It also seems very appropriate since this is a building bill to acknowledge that it is Samoan Language Week and talk about the theme of the Samoan Language Week which is Poupou le lotoifale. Ola manuia le anofale" which in English means "Strengthen the posts of your house for all to thrive." I thought that was quite a nice little touch! It seemed quite appropriate.The building sector as we know obviously is under real pressure to deliver in an increasingly demanding environment. This bill is making sure that not only will we be delivering but also delivering durable and affordable buildings at that. This bill as has been pointed out a few times is amending the Building Act 2004. It was introduced on 8 May last year and in fact is only the first stage of the reforms that we are bringing in seeking to address those longstanding challenges in the building and construction sector.Again I like to look for themes when I do these kinds of longwinded stories. I guess I would like to tie it also to—I'd like to talk a little bit about and I'll make it tie into the bill—it is about securing our recovery because this is what our Budget does; it focuses on accelerating our recovery for everyone it keeps everyone safe from COVID but very importantly when we're thinking about this bill it also tackles the long-term challenges that we have in New Zealand when we think about things like child wellbeing climate change and housing.So I mentioned the reform before and what that reform will do is support the Government's endeavours in our broad housing priorities to make sure that we speed up that supply of the housing and also at the same time create an economy that grows and that works for all New Zealanders. I know that the Minister Hon Poto Williams when she first gave the speech underlined what this bill exactly does and there are three overarching themes in it. While it is amending the Building Act 2004 I think it's probably important that we go through those three overarching themes again so people are quite clear on what the bill exactly does.It introduces a mandatory building product information requirement making sure that there is better and more informed decision making because the Building Act as it is—and I think we heard that from my colleague Paul Eagle in quite detail—doesn't actually require basic information to be provided for building products. It was also my colleague Duncan Webb who spoke about I think the taps in his kitchen needing to do the things they're needed to do and not other things. I think that's rather important.Coming to the second theme then the bill addresses the fact that some manufacturers are having some difficulties in gaining consents for buildings and that is something that we—actually I wasn't on this committee but I know that the submissions talked about this from some people and experts in that particular industry.And then thirdly the bill also addresses concerns about the level of confidence with certified products because obviously we need to make sure that the products being used in the building industry are also compliant with building codes for safety and durable building work.So it's obvious that New Zealanders deserve confidence in the quality and efficiency of our building system. They deserve a building industry that's also innovative and at the same time as I mentioned before speeds up that delivery of our housing. And so in that spirit I want to make sure that I do thank the Hon Poto Williams for shepherding this bill to its final reading and also her continuous work on behalf of the Government to reform our building and construction sector and not to forget also the previous Speaker in the Chair the Hon Jenny Salesa who did all that work in getting to this bill. Not to forget the work that the Environment Committee did on this bill as well as the many people that came in from industry and provided insight into their expertise and their experience in the industry.Now I'm not a member of the Environment Committee although I had the real pleasure this morning to sit in on a four-hour session—Hon Members: Oh!MARJA LUBECK: I know! I couldn't believe my good luck! So that was really a real pleasure to see that committee at work—a hard-working committee. Obviously I'm chairing the one that's the most hard-working but nevertheless—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Very offended!MARJA LUBECK: —the Environment Committee is doing their fair share of the work. Apologies Madam Speaker. I'll stop this train of thought now. The submissions that were made I have heard were incredibly helpful and obviously we're very grateful every time we have submitters coming in and bringing their expertise to this bill.Now as I said before the bill introduces product requirement information and that is important because we not only want to break down delays in consents and the increases in costs that follow but we also want to make sure that builders and planners have the information they need to make informed decisions. That's not just important for them but also of course for the consumers when you think about building a house for the very first time—and even if you are building a sleep-out like we are in the process of at the moment and we have been for the last 2½ years. I hope my husband isn't watching at the moment but I've given him a bit of grief for the length of time it's taken but that may have things to do with some of the faults at the moment in our legislation which we are clearing up. So that is all really great great news. We know that there is a lot of residential activity in the pipeline. There were over 39000 homes consented in 2020 and thousands of New Zealanders that will benefit from what will be a newfound efficiency with this legislation.Another benefit of the bill—I spoke about it before—supporting innovation making use of opportunities to lift productivity under a new voluntary modular component manufacturing scheme. So manufacturers who can demonstrate a certain quality and performance standard will then be rewarded if you want to call it that with a faster and more consistent building consent approach and that will allow New Zealanders making use of the innovation that's occurring in the construction sector to save time and to save on costs as well which is a winner all round.Also I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet but I think it's an important point to make this bill will improve the confidence we can all have in our construction sector because there will be promotion of compliance with the Act. I think it might have been mentioned already but of course many of the offences that are in the current legislation haven't been adjusted since 2004. So it's high time—and this bill does in fact do that exactly introducing new offences higher maximum penalties and also a longer period for a charge to be filed which gives greater opportunity for our enforcement agencies to actually make sure that those who are not complying are being held to account for that. So it's a great bill. I am encouraged to know that this is only one phase in the work that we're doing in our reform programme but it's a good first step; many more will follow.And then I think rounding it up—goodness me it's already almost time; only a minute and a half to go—I think it's important to bring it back to look at the wider context for this bill and also the further supports that the Government is providing in this sector. We have heard it already before but of course there is continued investment in apprenticeships and trades training. I think there are actually 100000 new apprentices since 2019. And of course we have improvements to our planning system reform of the Resource Management Act—oh and I see we have some of our subject matter experts here in the House. They know all about that reform so we're really looking forward to bringing it to the HouseJust to quickly wrap it up in the last 30 seconds then we are a Government that is committed to helping housing supply and supporting innovation and growth of the building and construction sector. Thank you Madam Speaker for allowing me to have this opportunity to speak on the Building (Building Products and Methods Modular Components and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. It was an absolute pleasure and I'm looking forward to the last couple of speeches now but in the end of my turn I commend this bill to the House. Thank you Madam Speaker."