Davidson MaramaMARAMA DAVIDSON (Green): I am standing to oppose the Housing Legislation Amendment Bill which is being rushed through this House. It is very clear—it has been clear for quite some time actually—that this Government has lost control. It has no handle on the housing crisis and has no handle on the extent and the scale of homelessness in this country. It is forever continuing to try these band-aid mop-up bits of legislation to make it look as if it is serious about addressing this very serious issue which New Zealanders understand is serious. It is trying to make it look like it is addressing the core part of the problem of homelessness and the housing crisis and it is using mop-up band-aid legislation to do that. I liken it to imagining that there are houses on fire and the Government is firstly denying that they are on fire and secondly rushing to try to put the fire out with half a hose. The Government's mop-up bits—its band-aid legislation—are not even fulsome enough to properly address the emergency status of what is happening let alone going anywhere near the deeper fundamental core problems that are causing more and more people to become homeless. This is why in question time today John Key could not commit to ending homelessness—it is because he cannot. He does not want to promise that. He could not even say what one of the submitters at our hearing in Kaitāia just last week said to us which was: This should be the last generation of this country to be impacted by homelessness." That is a goal—that is a goal. This should be the last generation in this country to experience homelessness—any insecure tenure. That is a goal. Today in question time New Zealanders our Prime Minister could not even commit to that. He has left our New Zealanders out in the car cold; in the garage crouched up cold; and at the park cold—that is what he has done to our country: he has left our people in the cold. And he cannot even promise to get them back in the warmth. He cannot even do that. Today in question time folks that is what we confirmed from this Government. That is why these failed pieces of legislation are failing. It is because they are not addressing the core roots of the problem. The Government is trying to mop it up to make it seem like it is doing something. This special housing area (SHA) legislation—oh it went so wrong. The developers asked why they would want to bother ensuring that even 10 percent of housing was affordable—that is all the SHA legislation even as it is guarantees as affordable. It is only 10 percent; the developers do not even want to agree to that. They are not into that 10 percent being affordable. Now let us look at this word "affordable". It means 75 percent of the median. Does this Government understand that even at 75 percent of the median for Auckland it is still not actually affordable? Does the Government get that? New Zealanders do—New Zealanders do I tell you. This is why real solutions are needed—for example: capital funding a capital gains tax banning non-resident sales and buyers of homes in New Zealand and the Government building affordable housing where our families and our people can pay a weekly amount into the capital of owning their own homes without needing to have a deposit. Those are real systemic and enduring solutions not this SHA legislation which has already failed—it has already failed. So no we are not going to support this bill because it is half a mop and it is half a band-aid. The country is on fire and it is half a water hose. Thank you."