King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:678;Page:899] 
11. 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Labour—Rongotai) 
 to the  
Minister of Housing 
: What response has he received to the “Smarter. Faster. Fairer” tenancy service which provides an 0800 phone customer service centre response to people with housing needs? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY (Minister of Housing) 
: 
 Since the 0800 service was set up under Labour in 2003 it has now grown to handle almost a million calls a year which seems like a pretty good response to me. 
Hon Annette King 
: Does he stand by Housing New Zealand Corporation’s claim very recently that the new Smarter. Faster. Fairer. 0800 service to Housing New Zealand Corporation clients will provide a better and bigger service through just one phone call and with customers getting help straight away? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY 
: Well clearly statistically it shows that more and more people are using the 0800 service since it was begun in 2003 under Labour. It is becoming more and more popular. Almost a million people are using it; they are voting with their fingers. 
Hon Annette King 
: What is his response to the social worker who contacted him recently outlining her experience with the new 0800 call centre service under a National Government which involved her making nine phone calls and two personal visits to a Housing New Zealand Corporation office before she got to leave a message on a staff member’s answerphone after waiting 7 minutes on the line to leave that message? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY 
: As I said there are almost a million calls a year now. In this particular case the corporation shares my view that it dropped the ball. This is unacceptable. It has assured me that it will be working hard to ensure there is a better standard of service in the future. But I have to say that given the amount of calls to the 0800 service this could in fact be Labour’s most popular initiative ever. 
Hon Annette King 
: What impact will the loss of 70 jobs from Housing New Zealand Corporation and the closure of its offices except for arranged appointments for housing needs assessment have on his new Smarter. Faster. Fairer. service to Housing New Zealand Corporation clients? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY 
: Clients are now getting a much better service. When they want to know how much rent they owe or whether they can get their window fixed they can pick up the phone rather than wander down to the bus stop wait half an hour pay a fare go into the office and wait for an appointment just to say the same thing. So there is much improvement and as I say it is so popular we simply have to take that at face value on the statistics. 
Hon Annette King 
: Does he agree with the Housing New Zealand Corporation spokesperson who said today: “Our customers now feel comfortable. They have a relationship with Housing New Zealand not Mary Brown the tenancy officer.” and if so could he explain how it is possible to have a relationship with a corporation rather than a person? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY 
: The 0800 number does help with the relationship because people can get answers quickly. I do know there is room for an improvement because her colleague Shane Jones wants it to be changed and improved by turning it into an 0900 number. I actually think that is inappropriate and we will not be doing that. 
Hon Annette King 
: What a weak answer! 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member knows she should not start a question that way. 
Hon Annette King 
: Is he aware that members of Parliament who carry out considerable constituency work on behalf of Housing New Zealand Corporation clients have been told that under his new Smarter. Faster. Fairer. policy they will no longer have direct contact with a Housing New Zealand Corporation manager and must now deal with the 0800 call centre and is this the more efficient service that he envisaged? 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY 
: For very simple queries I encourage members of Parliament State house tenants and others working on their behalf to use the 0800 number. Where there are more complex queries then they are more than welcome to sit down with tenancy managers and work these through. 
Hon Annette King 
: I seek leave to table an email to the Hon Phil Heatley on 5 March from a social worker expressing her dissatisfaction with Housing New Zealand Corporation’s new processes—not the Labour Government’s; the new processes—under his watch. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection. 









Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.