2. Question No. 2—Prime MinisterHon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 2—Prime Minister2. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by her statement in relation to accepting policy recommendations on housing The appetite for some of these policies also needs to come from the public"?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): I stand by the full quote—which specifically at that time I interpreted to be regarding measures like capital gains tax—where I stated "Well look I would say that actually the appetite for some of these policies also needs to come from the public. We've tried three times now to do things that specifically sit in that taxation category and there hasn't been wide support for that. But I would point out again that actually that is not the only lever that exists." Hon Judith Collins: Does she believe voters have given her a mandate to implement her housing agenda which specifically excluded a capital gains tax?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I do believe that we have been given a mandate from the public to roll out the manifesto commitments that we presented. Of course some of those we're seeing in the House today because we've moved very very quickly on those that matter most to the public in the middle of a pandemic—including for instance sick leave provisions; including those income tax increases so we can continue the provision of decent housing health and education services. We know though in a very short space of time we have seen extraordinary house price increases. We are not the only country experiencing that and that is why with the mandate we have we are responding to concerns that have been raised by the public around that and we're waiting for advice that we will consider in the new year. Hon Judith Collins: Will she rule out extending the brightline test beyond five years?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Mr Speaker you'll have seen during the course of the election that we were very clear that obviously a capital gains tax was not in our consideration. We equally ruled out any measures around a wealth tax. These are purely hypothetical questions beyond any of those taxes. However I note the brightline test policy—introduced by National extended by Labour—is something we've asked for some analysis on over the impact it's having in the market and in this current environment that is absolutely the right thing to do. We need to know what levers are and aren't making a difference to house price increases.Hon Judith Collins: Does she agree that more taxes will not build more houses?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I note that the member was actually in the Government that introduced the brightline test. My only assumption would be that there was some expectation from the Government of the day that it would have some impact on what were incredible house price increases under that Government. The big difference between that member and this side of the House is that we do not accept that those house price increases are OK. We do not believe that there is no lever that can be pulled to continue to stabilise what we're seeing in the market and we also don't believe that the answer is selling housing stock as that last member did.David Seymour: Can the Prime Minister explain how—SPEAKER: Sorry. A point of order—the Hon Judith Collins.Hon Judith Collins: Point of order Mr Speaker. My question was "Does she agree that more taxes will not build more houses?" I did not hear anything relating to whether or not more taxes would build more houses in the Prime Minister's answer.SPEAKER: Well I certainly thought that the general area was addressed. I thought the member was going to raise a point of order about the length of the reply. She might have been on sounder grounds there.David Seymour: Can the Prime Minister explain to the public how extending the brightline test to 10 years would be different from introducing a capital gains tax?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Obviously at the time when ACT supported as I understand the brightline test there was a very clear view put forward by the Government of the day—that was I believe supported by the likes of Andrew Bayly—quotes in this House claiming that it was income not capital gains tax. That was certainly the argument made by Chris Bishop. But of course what I only assume that side of the House intended to do was to deal with speculators. Of course at that time there was a view that there were a number of people in the market who were purchasing homes and flicking them within a very short period of time in order to benefit from quick gains. We are seeking advice on what impact it has had on the market and that may go to answer the member's question.David Seymour: Point of order. Mr Speaker the question was very clearly about the difference between two policies. We've heard an awful lot about who had supported a brightline test and speculation about the reasons they might have supported them but no attempt to explain to the public what the difference between the policies is. She didn't address the question at all.SPEAKER: Well the Prime Minister certainly did address the question—she addressed it by contrast and from memory she quoted someone.Hon Judith Collins: Who was to blame for house prices rising 37 percent in her first term of Government? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Perhaps the member would like to tell us who's to blame for the 65 percent increase we had under National. The difference is I do not accept that it is acceptable to continue to see house price rises that lift housing out of reach of first-home buyers. There are a range of issues contributing to this environment and what I will not do is apportion blame to anyone. However undoubtedly what is happening in the market right now is there is an impact from low interest rates; there is an impact from the fact that we haven't had the supply over consecutive decades that we have needed in this country. We have not had for instance the rating base in local government to provide for the infrastructure that is needed. We haven't for instance had support for residential housing during economic downturns like the GFC where we did not see the development that we needed under that last Government. I'd say a big issue here is whether you take political ownership for trying to fix the problem. National never did.SPEAKER: Order! I've alluded to it previously but I'm now going to be clear to the Prime Minister: her answer was far too long.Hon Judith Collins: Why have house prices risen faster in the last month than any time since 2004 according to CoreLogic?SPEAKER: Order! That's actually not an area that the Prime Minister has responsibility for.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Oh hold on what'd she answer the other questions for?SPEAKER: Well that's a good question. I've been going over that in my head for the last three or four supplementaries. Hon Judith Collins: When the Prime Minister alluded to house price rises under a previous National Government what's her answer to why house prices have increased more in the last month than they did since 2004?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: This is actually a very good question. If you look back at the annualised increases under this Government in the last term according to CoreLogic they sat at 4 percent. You compare that for instance to the previous Government where annualised figures sat at nine. In the last month we have seen extraordinary growth. Now part of the issue is not just domestic. If you look overseas nine out of 10 democracies that we compare ourselves to and economies we compare ourselves to are having exactly the same issue. Low interest rates are being used globally to stimulate growth in hard-hit economies through COVID and members of the public—even in jurisdictions where they have things like capital gains taxes or their equivalent—are investing in property. And so that is part of the issue but low interest rates are also benefiting first-home buyers. That is not to say there aren't other levers and we are investigating all of those to try and get it under control. Hon Judith Collins: If the Prime Minister is correct then why has Australia only seen a 6 percent increase in the last 12 months and the UK a 5 percent increase if it's "low interest rates"?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Actually I recommend to the member some analysis in The Economist just recently around actually what—in a very short space of time even through lockdown—we are seeing from house price increases in the likes of the UK. I haven't looked on the month-by-month analysis for those jurisdictions so I'm not sure that that's fair analysis but we are not alone in this problem."