Hawkins George: Building Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
Hawkins George: Building Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:3816] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 I am pleased to speak tonight in support of the Building Amendment Bill (No 2) which was introduced by the Hon Shane Jones. He was such a busy Minister; he got things done. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: There was the small matter of the showers. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Ha ha! It was really quite good to hear the Hon Maurice Williamson acknowledging the very hard work that Shane Jones had done. Too often in this House we just attack each other but when something really good happens we acknowledge it and acknowledging the work of Shane Jones was important. 
I acknowledge the work of the Local Government and Environment Committee. Unfortunately I was not on the committee at the time but the chair the member for West Coast - Tasman—or Tasman - West Coast whatever it is; I do not know what it is called but I am sure he goes there not very often but occasionally—got this bill back into the House. 
I think this bill will save a lot of frustration for many people. There have been unnecessary delays over building consents. I go back to the 1980s when I was mayor of a place called Papakura—which is about to become a part of Auckland—and people used to be frustrated then by the use of red pens when examining building plans and building consents. But I think we got too liberal in the 1990s. As the Hon Shane Jones said the pendulum swung too far. In an effort to fix the problems of leaky houses it again swung too far the other way. But I think this will be quite a good bill and it demonstrates really the foresight of someone like Shane Jones. There is nothing like Tories seizing on a good idea. When Tories get a good idea they grab hold of it and on they go; I think that is really good. 
This bill will also save people some money and that has to be good. I imagine that Shane Jones gets piles of mail from people writing to thank him because he is saving them money and that is what this bill will do. 
This bill was part of a coordinated approach to assist the increasing supply of good quality but affordable homes and that is really important at the moment. People want affordable homes. I come from an electorate where the housing issues are fairly glum and where lots of people are in houses they cannot afford—which means there are mortgagee sales and all those sorts of things—or where they have to get the house right to sell again because they have not had the permits for the alterations they have done. They should have had a consent for shifting a door in days gone by. Well those minor alterations to a general plan will not require people to go to that trouble again and I think that that is quite sensible. 
It is interesting to note that about 40 percent of all houses built in New Zealand are built by volume builders. That is quite a large number. People might remember that in the old days people talked about little houses on the hillside that all looked the same. Now it will be an advantage if they are the same in many ways rather than that sameness being looked down on. Efficiencies can be achieved if a system of national multiple-use consenting is introduced to provide a streamlined approval process under the Building Act for buildings that will be copied and built several times on a nationwide basis. That is very important. 
The thing that surprised me about this bill was that there were only 17 submitters. That is not a huge number. I thought that maybe it was a good thing that people generally accepted the recommendations and that not too many people were wanting to stand outside those recommendations. I am sure that the chair of the select committee would have preferred to see something like that for the resource management bill he is trying to get through the committee at the moment. But when we have good legislation that has been well thought out by the Hon Shane Jones and taken up by the Hon Maurice Williamson things progress. So I thank the people who were on that committee and I also thank the chair. It is good to get some things through fairly quickly. When councils looked at the way they have treated people in the past I think that not too many of those councils were keen to come forward and admit that to the select committee. However I think things are changing quite dramatically. 
From time to time we come to the House make speeches and look around but things in here are not the way they seem when they are reported in the paper. 
By way of an example Dr Paul Hutchison was not against the amalgamation of Auckland local authorities into one city authority until he got back to his electorate when he changed. No one will go back to their electorate with the Building Amendment Bill (No 2) saying that it should change. The bill will stay the same but in the case of Auckland the member for Hunua certainly did change. 
Under this bill people will now be able to make real savings in the sorts of houses they build. There will be economies of scale when builders work out that they can put up a pile of similar houses at a cheaper price instead of every house being completely different. For those people who want to get a roof over their head this bill will make things far easier. Variations to consented building work following the granting of building consents will become even more common than they have been. While some variations will require formal amendments to the building consent others will not. I am pleased to hear the Hon Maurice Williamson say that there will be more legislation coming along and I think that is important. This bill is a tidy little package but it will not solve all of the problems that people face at the moment. 
I finish by saying that I am also pleased to see on TV tonight that the National Government seizes all the good ideas. It has picked up not only the home insulation ideas but also Shane Jones’ very good bill which we are debating here and made it its own.