Little Andrew: Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLittle Andrew: Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 24 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11121. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition): I would like to take a moment to address clauses 6 and 38 of the bill as well as Supplementary Order Papers 177 and 172. I just note that notwithstanding what the Minister in the chair has just said—the requirement that there be insulation and delegating it to regulation to determine what the standards will be—it is pretty clear that there will be ample rental housing that simply will not meet the 2008 standard that he glowingly talks of now. The reality is that his bill means there will be rental housing that simply will not come up to the 2008 insulation standard. But there is something that is even more disappointing and that is that it is just confined—this bill and the new standards that rental properties must meet whether income-related rental properties or not—the only additional standards they now have to meet are an insulation standard and a smoke alarm standard.It has been alarming to see in the justifications that the Minister gives that they include—he made this statement on 19 April 2016: “These new tenancy regulations will make 180000 homes warmer and drier by requiring insulation …”.I have news for the Minister: adding insulation does not make a house warmer. It will retain whatever warmth there is; it will retain whatever coolness there is. It will not add warmth. It will not make houses warmer and so this is a lost opportunity.When the Minister talks about houses that are safer because they have smoke alarms he might just want to reflect on houses that at the moment are making people—including young children—sick and are therefore unsafe. He might want to reflect on what a difference he could make if clause 6 which refers to the tenancy agreements and clause 38 which refers to the new powers for regulation making in fact added a requirement that not only should there be insulation as determined by the regulations but there should be a form of heating as determined by regulations.The regulation-making power allows ample flexibility for him as Minister or the department administering the legislation to ensure that it is not just one form of heating that counts.I know that part of his criticism of suggestions that other minimum standards should be added such as a source of heating is that it is all just about heat pumps—it is not.This is an opportunity for this Committee with his bill to get it right and we could expedite this House’s time on my Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No 2) by the Minister admitting that perhaps we can make some modest improvements now that would allow those standards to be added. The regulation-making power in clause 38 would allow ample flexibility and provide some reassurance to that part of the constituency that he is concerned about who might be thinking that they could be put to extra cost.I want to refer to Metiria Turei’s Supplementary Order Paper 172 because it does contain a list of additional standards that might be added. The Minister is critical for example of visibility strips. He is a former Minister forACC; he will know from the data from ACC that a common household accident is people walking into ranchslidersand floor-to-ceiling glass. In modern architecture and with a growing number of people living in apartments—and if only there were more of them to alleviate the housing crisis that “does not exist”—we will probably see more of this so actually visibility strips are not such a silly idea. It is after all an inexpensive idea.I will just prevail on the Minister while he is in the chair and while he has got the time and the attention of this Committee that with this piece of legislation at a time when the entire country is gripped by issues of housing housing standards and housing quality now is a time for leadership. He is capable of providing leadership—it has happened before I am sure of it. He could actually step up and say that insulation is important but a source of heat which is what the insulation is there to keep in the house is equally as important and those other standards that have been laid out in Supplementary Order Paper 172 are equally important for safety reasons for tenants living in rental properties. He could do it today.