Smith Nick: Building (Late Consent is a Free Consent) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Smith Nick: Building (Late Consent is a Free Consent) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:634;Page:5692] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 At the beginning of this parliamentary term the Prime Minister said that the No. 1 goal for Parliament this year should be improving productivity. Yet we have our biggest industry—the building industry—where nearly 50 percent of building consents are not being processed on time and when faced with a practical bill to address that the Government sticks its head in the sand. There was not even an acknowledgment from any Labour member that there is a substantive problem for builders for average citizens trying to get a practical consent for their particular building project. 
I thank United Future the Maori Party and the Green Party— 
Hon Member 
: New Zealand First? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: —well I understand that New Zealand First is being its normal poodle for the Government—for at least saying that this is an issue that will— 
Barbara Stewart 
: We are supporting it. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: My sincere apologies. So the Labour Party is the only party with its head in the sand pretending this is not a real problem. 
I address the specific issue in respect of the costs of rates. There is a very simple solution: the councils should do consents on time. If councils process consents within the 20 working days there is not a penny of cost for the ratepayer. The part that really disturbs me about Labour’s attitude on this bill is that it basically says it is OK for bureaucrats to break the law; it is OK for this Parliament to have a law that says that 20 days— 
Darren Hughes 
: What did the High Court judge say about this? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I ask Labour members opposite what penalty they are proposing for a council when it breaks the 20 - working day requirement. The silence is deafening. Basically they are saying there should be absolutely no requirement for bureaucrats to obey the law. We on this side of the House say there are penalties all through the law for any citizen any builder or anybody else who breaks the law so there should be a penalty for councils if they break the law. 
I again draw the attention of this House to the experience of the Hamilton City Council because it has adopted this policy in its own area. It has been able to have 100 percent compliance. If we look at the survey done by the  
Sunday Star-Times 
 we find further that the cost for applying for building consents in Hamilton is perfectly reasonable. So doing this has not put up the cost. In fact the interesting fact is that some of the most expensive councils are those with the worst record for delays. 
Also in respect of Hamilton is there any evidence at all to back up the Minister’s claim that this measure would result in a drop in quality? I challenge him to produce the data from Hamilton that show there is any less quality in the building consent processing. What was extraordinary about the Minister’s contribution to this debate was his example of inspections. Well that is nothing to do with this bill. This bill is about the “consenting” part where a council has to make a decision as to whether the plans and the application are appropriate to grant a consent. 
I say again to this House this is a $13 billion-a-year industry. This industry employs 150000 people. I have been inundated with a file one could not jump on which is full of examples from New Zealanders and builders who are frustrated with the delays and who strongly support this bill. For example the master builders the Certified Builders Association the Business Council and Business New Zealand are all indicating strong support for this initiative because they see it as a practical way in which we can improve productivity and reduce compliance costs. 
I welcome the fact that this bill is going to a select committee. Regardless of what Labour says this is a real issue for ordinary New Zealanders. It is sensible that it goes to a select committee so that we can then make sure that building consents are more efficiently processed. I am just simply surprised that again Labour is on the side of bureaucrats it is on the side of lawbreakers and it has absolutely no regard for compliance costs or for productivity. It is good that this bill will get through this House so that we can address a real practical issue for New Zealanders and for builders.