Paraone Pita: Points of Order — Member’s withdrawal from Chamber ; Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises 
Paraone Pita: Points of Order — Member’s withdrawal from Chamber ; Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises 
[Volume:609;Page:6221] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
A tena koe e te Kaiwhakawa engari i mua i te haere tonu i waku korero i te ahiahi nei he mihi tenei ki a koutou. Ahau nei horekau i whakahe wo korero e te mema mai i Te Tai Tonga. Engari maku e mea atu ki a koe te nuinga o nga taumahatanga i taka mai kei runga i to tatou whanaunga a Parekura ehara i taka ana kei runga ki a ia anahe engari aua taumahatanga i taka mai kei runga i a tatou nga mema Maori katoa. Na reira maku e meatia ki a koutou kia maumahara ki nga korero o o tatou matoa o o tatou tupuna kia tika kia pono. Mehemea i whakarere ke i a matau ena kupu korero na ka puta mai nga hua ote ra nei mo tonu atu.  
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Thank you Mr Speaker and before continuing with my address this afternoon may I extend a greeting to you people. I personally did not find fault with what you the member for Te Tai Tonga said but let me say this to you: the majority of the burdens on our relative Parekura are not just with him but are on all of us as Maori members. Therefore let me say to you remember what our parents and our ancestors used to say: be truthful be honest. If we were to change those statements then the results of today will continue. 
] 
That is not the tenor of the speech I will make in the brief time given to me. I want to add my contribution to this debate on the operations of Crown entities public organisations and State-owned enterprises. In that regard I will make reference to the Housing New Zealand Corporation and I do so only because in terms of the community in which I was born and raised the issue of poor housing is certainly not being addressed in the way we would expect it to be in New Zealand. Given the poor housing conditions that are evident in the far North I think it only proper that I comment on that particular enterprise. 
I will touch on a number of areas where the operations of that entity are probably to be found wanting. For instance I am talking about what is commonly known as the State rental. I am sure the Rt Hon Michael Savage is probably turning in his grave given that he was responsible for the initial State housing programme that was introduced into this country. I am sure he would be very disappointed that there are a number of New Zealanders whose housing standards would certainly match those of Third World countries. Why do we continue to have waiting lists? Why do we continue to have people living in conditions that some Third World countries would even be embarrassed by? 
In that regard I will make reference to the condition of some of the current State rental housing that Housing New Zealand is responsible for. Why has the maintenance of such stock been ignored? As a consequence there is a need to introduce what is called the Healthy Housing project. Although Housing New Zealand should be commended for introducing that project I note that it is being limited to State housing. I heard the chairman of the select committee make reference to Whangarei and Mangere but when will that project be extended to other parts of Auckland? 
 When will it be extended to other parts of New Zealand and more important when will it be extended to other housing outside the State rental sector? I can confirm that there are a number of people living in accommodation that would certainly require the benefits of that scheme. I want to ask this House—when? 
Another issue I want to raise is the poor insulation in some of the present housing stock. Again that is an indication of how the level of maintenance has been allowed to drop to the state it is in now. Unfortunately a lot of my relatives are living in those conditions. Although people might think that the energy crisis has been averted it still hangs over us. But there is a need to keep our people in warm conditions so why has this issue of insulation not been extended? I want to ask the House that. 
The other thing is the question of home ownership. The one dream that most New Zealanders aspire to—apart from full employment—is home ownership. We have heard often during this parliamentary term about how the employment rate has dropped but why is the home ownership rate not commensurate with that drop in unemployment? If I and a number of members of this House am able to enjoy home ownership why cannot the rest of New Zealand enjoy it also? A number of people currently living in State rental housing have been there for quite a long time—some of them in excess of 20 years. I am asking the Government to consider selling those assets to the present tenants and from the proceeds build more available stock. But no that seems too logical and too simple. 
I note that there is a proposal to introduce what is called a mortgage insurance scheme. The scheme aims to facilitate access to home ownership for segments of the population that are potentially able to afford home ownership but face difficulty in accessing finance. I want to ask some pretty simple questions: how many mortgage-holders are likely to be provided with the benefits of that scheme during the forthcoming year? Will the mortgage insurance scheme apply only to new lending or will existing mortgage-holders be eligible also? Will the mortgage insurance scheme offer low-deposit mortgages? And while I am talking about that a number of courses are being conducted around the country to identify the conditions people need to fulfil to qualify for home ownership. That is fine but once those people know what they need to qualify how many will actually acquire their own homes? 
In the far North there is a group called Kia Ora Ngapuhi Housing that has a target of identifying 90 families who are possible homeowners. That is fine but although they might be identified will those people actually acquire their own homes through this entity? I would like to leave those questions with the House.