Clark David: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClark David: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 26 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2665. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North): Labour will support this bill through the House and that is largely because it is a benign bill. It does have an intention I think to try to get some more people into homes and it may be that the additional flexibility will help one or two people get into homes but it does very little to actually address the core issue in this area which is about supply.This Government has no answer to the supply-side problem of housing in New Zealand and the statistics back that up. We have—Jami-Lee Ross: Rubbish!Dr DAVID CLARK: The member opposite says “Rubbish!” but we now have the lowest homeownership rate in New Zealand in 60 years. That member should know because it is in his part of the country that there is enormous housing price inflation.The amount by which a house goes up each week in Auckland is more than many many people earn in a week so only those who are in the housing market are able to afford a house in Auckland. In many cases a house will go up by $1000 a week in value and how much would those New Zealanders who cannot afford to get into a house enjoy having $1000 more in their pockets per week? Then they might be able to afford to actually get into a home.What we see here is a weak attempt to try to do something about the housing issue brought about of course by an election campaign that exposed National’s lack of policy. Those members scurried around they tried to put something together and we know that they would not have adopted this policy if they were not on the back foot. Treasury said that it was a hopeless policy. Treasury thought that this policy would not have the intended effect.What it highlights I guess and what we saw in the campaign when it came out is that Labour is the party of first-home buyers. The KiwiBuild policy that Labour put up in the election which would have seen 100000 more Kiwis put into homes through houses that would have been built by the private sector but funded through cheaper Government borrowing would have seen New Zealanders actually be able to afford homes. Ordinary Kiwi families could have had that dream of owning their own home realised in a way that is currently impossible under this Government which spirals from one housing crisis to the next.What we see here is National the party of speculators doing a little bit to make it look like it is doing something but not really addressing the core issues in the housing sector. We know that the average house in Auckland last year earned more than the average worker—a rise of just under $90000 in the past year. I look forward to hearing what Jami-Lee Ross the member over there who said “Rubbish!” might have to say about this because I am not sure how he can justify those kinds of rises and say that the Government has a policy to tackle that housing problem in Auckland. We heard in question time of course of people living in garages and in cars and we hear a lot of bluff and bluster from the Government but no real solution to the housing problem.Of course the implication of not dealing with that goes right around the country. In my electorate the effect of the Reserve Bank’s measures—because it had no other tools to actually help deal with its issues—was that the loan-to-value ratio saw a significant drop in first-home buyer rates. That has been mirrored around the regions which are feeling neglected by this National Government. I have no doubt that the result will be exactly the same in Northland. Up there we have of course the Government trying to build bridges furiously as it tries to persuade local voters that it has not forgotten about people in the regions despite the houses the voters cannot afford despite housing that is cold and damp in many cases and despite high levels of unemployment in that area.Yet we see here a bill that in many ways is actually like pouring petrol on a fire. That is what it is doing. Through giving HomeStart subsidies we are giving more people a little bit more money in their hands and the house prices will go up more. So I am afraid that this bill has little to recommend it but we will be supporting it. The extra amount people can withdraw will at most be a couple of thousand dollars and it is unlikely to make any significant difference in their ability to buy a home particularly if those house prices keep going up and up and up. At the same time people are effectively robbing themselves of their retirement savings in order to take that money out. As I say for one or two people it might make sense but overall it does nothing—nothing at all—to address the major housing crisis in New Zealand which is affecting so many families.This is another illustration of the way in which this Government has lost touch after 3 years. It does not seem to have answers any more. It had New Zealand behind it. There is no doubt that at the start the Prime Minister was very popular but as time has gone on those ideas are no longer there. I suggest that Simon Bridges and this Government actually should take a lesson out of their own book. We heard him say during question time that we should quit while we are behind and it occurred to me that for once he should use his mirror to good effect and take his own advice—Phil Twyford: Do what Alice did—Alice in Wonderland.Dr DAVID CLARK: —Alice in Wonderland—because this Government really has run out of ideas. It is clear when we see policies like this which will not solve the housing crisis and which really tinker and make it appear like the Government might be trying to do something but do not get to the nub of the issue. That this is its big idea is really a tragedy for this Parliament.There are some technical amendments that went through at the Committee stage that will ensure that membership in a complying superannuation fund for 3 years may count towards qualifying for a first-home withdrawal and that will ensure that a first-home withdrawal can be used only for New Zealand homes. These are kind of sensible things that have been agreed on. Of course the changes to the veterans’ support payments are largely technical. It is good that we have sorted these things out as they have gone through the House. There is a bunch of other ones in terms of Māori land; first-home withdrawals being used to make payments including deposit agreements before the agreement for sale and purchase is unconditional—making sure the rules are right around that; ensuring that existing interests in Māori land do not preclude access to a first-home withdrawal; and so on. These are sensible matters. If you are going to put this bill through they should be got right. But as I said at the outset this bill does not address the fundamental supply-side problem.This Government is watching while Rome burns. It is watching the housing crisis spiral out of control. Its latest answer of course is to flog off State houses to more property speculators—Phil Twyford: That’s really going to help.Dr DAVID CLARK: —which will do absolutely nothing to help. That was dressed up with the fig leaf of support from the Salvation Army and that fig leaf I am afraid has been removed and there is something particularly ugly to show in its place.The Government of course is now squirming. We heard Bill English in the House today trying to defend that policy and trying to defend the indefensible. This Government will continue of course to say that it has one or two new ideas but those ideas do not have the currency to persuade the commentariat and they are not persuading New Zealanders any more. New Zealanders know from day to day that when they cannot afford a house and that when they can in fact less afford a house today than they could a couple of years ago things are not working.In supporting the bill we note that the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment has said that it is a “tentatively positive” bill. That is the warmest praise it has got. Obviously with Treasury’s criticism and the “tentatively positive” stamp put on it we must wonder why we are here in Parliament spending a couple of million dollars’ worth of taxpayers’ money to get this bill through—I suspect it is that much in terms of the salaries of the people here the staff supporting this legislation going through the House to pass a “tentatively positive” bill—when in fact there are far greater solutions going begging. Of course the one I mentioned earlier is Labour’s KiwiBuild policy which would see 100000 New Zealanders helped into their first homes. It would ensure that there was warm dry housing for the next generation of children ensure that our country could invest in the next generation and ensure that we have people living healthily in warm houses not in garages or cars as we are seeing now.We will support this bill. It is a shame that this is the best the Government now has to offer. It is a tired Government that is looking to push one or two ideas through the House. I am looking forward to seeing how Mr Bennett justifies it when he rises to his feet in a minute. He must be embarrassed. He will know that Hamilton has got housing problems too.