Adams Paul: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Adams Paul: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:627;Page:22001] 
PAUL ADAMS (United Future) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of United Future and I want to pick up on what I believe is a natural disaster in this country with the leaking homes situation. The Hon Mark Gosche who is a man I personally respect has really laid out a policy that New Zealanders had heard about. He talked about housing. He said that he was proud to stand up on the housing issue but he was talking about houses that the Government owns. He was not talking about houses that hard-working New Zealanders own. He was not talking about the houses of young people who had saved up for a deposit and had put all their life savings into a home that they wanted to be safe and secure in and had expected to be watertight. They did not expect to have mould growing on the walls. They did not expect their home to be a safety hazard or a health hazard. 
What did we hear from this Labour Government? We heard that nanny State knows best. The Government said: “We will look after what we provide for you. As for what you provide for yourself—tough luck.” Well I say that the people of New Zealand are absolutely sick and tired of that type of mentality. There has to come a point in time when we will again support people who are prepared to work for themselves and who are prepared to put their money where their mouth is yet we have this natural disaster in housing in New Zealand—a ticking time bomb—that absolutely nothing has been done about. 
If people want to pick up on an important election issue I would suggest it is that thousands of New Zealanders are living in such bad housing conditions. If it were a workplace situation there would be inspectors coming in to say it was a health hazard or a safety hazard. Why do we have concerns about the workplace? Because somebody else pays to fix workplace problems up. But with this issue the Government really has to pick up the responsibility. We cannot let houses deteriorate as they are without taking some form of responsibility. 
I have a set of papers here that were taken I admit off the website. There are 42 pages on how one deals with the problems in one’s house—but the house continues to leak and the damage continues to get worse. People have to go to the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service and there are many technicalities involved in doing that yet they cannot get legal advice and they miss out on opportunities. 
I believe and United Future believes that this is a very serious issue facing New Zealanders at the present time. It is not only to do with safety; it is to do with long-term effects on the health of families. From my research I find it is not just mono-clad homes that are affected but also brick homes and precast concrete homes because if water gets in and cannot get out we have major problems. I believe that we need to take responsibility. We need to put a plan into place so that repairs can begin on those homes. 
There is only a 10-year limitation period on claims relating to building work. I can tell people as one who has been in the car industry that if we bring a 7-year-old car into this country we have to give it a warranty as if it is a brand new car yet for a claim on a person’s home—his or her lifetime home—we say “10 years and you are out”. We in United Future say that the clock has been ticking for far too long and that we cannot continue to bury this issue. I believe the public of New Zealand is demanding some action from the Government and as politicians we need to get together and put a plan into place so that people can begin to get their homes fixed. 
What happens if a State house begins to deteriorate? The Government will move in and begin to fix it and put it right. But anybody who owns his or her own house gets no help and we believe that that is totally unacceptable.