King Colin: Building Amendment Bill — In Committee 
King Colin: Building Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:645;Page:14754] 
COLIN KING (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to take a call and speak on the Building Amendment Bill and to take up some of the points that members on this side of the Committee have well and truly canvassed. I start by saying that there is a degree of sympathy from this side of the Committee towards the Minister in the Chair Shane Jones who makes utterances and pontificates that this bill will become law. That may be the case but at the end of the day the Minister should always remember that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. 
There is another saying that is worth quoting at the moment. We have a situation that has become like an albatross around the neck of the Labour Party and the accountability issue is that two wrongs do not make a right. In fact we have had four wrongs here. We have tried to solve a problem and in our effort to do so we have made the matter worse. I tell the Minister that the saying effectively means that once something has been made crooked it cannot be made straight. Sure the bill might be passed into law but it has been a huge disappointment. 
Although the Labour Government started out by trying to solve the problem the Government itself has become the problem at this stage of the legislation. It has lifted things to a level of unaffordability. It has lifted the level of bureaucracy and the size of the Department of Building and Housing to a level that has meant that the interface with local government has had to match that. When I went back to the Marlborough District Council which is a unitary authority council members said to me: “Colin I bet you’re pleased that you’re not a Labour MP.” I asked why. They said: “If you were a Labour MP we would just about throw you out of here because of the amount of work that has been created for us around building consents construction and suchlike.” 
Really where we are today is that the Labour Government is in its final stages. It will be remembered for one major thing when it comes to what is traditionally known as being something that average New Zealanders aspire to which is to own their own family home. I tell members on the other side of the Committee that they will be remembered for creating unaffordability. It is very very sad because the Government is not fully aware of that. There seems to be a conversation way up in the stratosphere and it is not connecting with the realities on the ground. 
There are solutions and I am certainly looking forward to the time when the National Party releases its policies at a stage when we are confident they will not be stolen by the Labour Party as have the other 14 policies already taken by the Labour Party. 
It is quite interesting to see where we are at the moment with regard to the Building Amendment Bill after all the work talking and time. The Chair pointed out to us last time we addressed this bill that it has now been more than 4 months since we began the final stages of the bill. All we have been building under this Government has been growing bureaucracies. We have fewer houses being built we have more costs being added and we have fewer builders. Builders are leaving the country in disgust and people are seeking other careers. There has been a reversal in affordability. The only dramatic growth we have seen is in the Department of Building and Housing where we have seen a growth in bureaucracy. 
It is hugely disappointing that we are confronted with the extra layer upon layer of bureaucracy which is squeezing the very inspiration and aspiration out of young New Zealand families to afford their own homes. When we look at the whole range of policies that impact on the communities in our regions and throughout New Zealand we see that we are now confronted with some of the highest interest rates in the OECD. Not only do we have the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act impacting upon people’s housing costs but also the Labour Government putting on another layer of costs. The cost of $50000 for a section is absolutely appalling. 
When one stops and thinks about the young people coming out of universities and colleges going into the workforce and looking at the challenges and hurdles they have to get over one realises that it is a shocking situation.