Willis Nicola; Parker DavidNICOLA WILLIS (National): I wish to return to this issue of the family home and I would encourage the Minister to address the questions I'm going to put in this contribution and not dismiss them as he did previously by saying There is no capital gains tax (CGT). It's just a brightline test." He can play with the semantics all he likes. I have just put on Twitter that the brightline test will now apply to some family homes if anyone doesn't live in that family home for a period of 12 months or more and the questions are flooding in. I would encourage the Minister to address these questions now for the sake of clarity or else face the wrath of owners of family homes across the country who are very concerned about the new taxes that his Government appears to be ready to place on their home if for any reason whether misfortune or work—that they're military or that they're a diplomat—they have to for some reason live outside of their home for a period of 12 months or more and choose to rent that home out during that period.So here Minister are the specific questions I'm being asked that I would like to be able to answer and that I think you should at the very least ask your officials about and should clarify for this committee. The first is: if I am a first-home buyer as of Sunday this week and I buy my first home if during the next 10 years from Sunday while I own that home I for any reason—maybe I'm an army officer; maybe I'm a diplomat. Maybe I'm a teacher who wants to do a rural relocation for a period of time—during any time during that 10 years choose to rent out my family home for a period of 12 months or more is it the case that the brightline test will be applied to that home so that if I sell that home within the 10-year period having lived outside of it for 12 months I will pay a full tax on any profit I make on the sale of my home? That appears to be what the Minister said earlier and if that is the case then I think first-home buyers up and down the country need to know that not only do they need to be sure they can pay their mortgage for the next 10 years they need to know that if they choose to rent out their home for a period of 12 months or more for any reason they will now face a capital gains tax on that home due to the sneaky provision that the Minister has snuck into this bill. Now you can call it what you want Minister. You can call it the brightline test. You can call it a CGT. I don't really care what you call it; I want an answer to that question.The second question Minister is around those who already own a home and may for some reason during the next period of time have to live outside that home for a period of 12 months or more and who choose to rent it out. Will they be subject now to the five-year brightline test? That is are they now captured by the previous five-year brightline which meant that—we used to have an exclusion for family homes but as I understand it these provisions now mean that if anyone in the next couple of years lives outside of their home for more than 12 months and rents that home out they will then find themselves captured by the brightline test which is currently a five-year test.Let's say this circumstance occurs. A family member gets really sick. The family relocate to get medical treatment for their child. They then return. They maybe live in their family home for a few more months and then realise that actually they need to sell the family home because they can't afford the mortgage any more. What I understand this bill will do is it will slap them with the brightline test. It will say "Well you've owned the house for less than five years and you've had the temerity to rent it out for 12 months so just to make your misery more we're going to slap you with the brightline test." That's what I understand. So those are the two circumstances Minister. Rule it out now or that's what I'm going to go on Twitter and make sure that people know is happening.Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Revenue): I'll speak politely. For a start the member misstated what I had said earlier. I said that in respect of the properties that are purchased going forward subject to the 10-year brightline test if there was a period of more than a year that it was rented out—for example if it was rented out for four years of the 10 years then it's changed to be an investment property in respect of those four years and there would be an apportionment. Of course if it's held for 10 years there would be nothing."