Doocey Matt: Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDoocey Matt: Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 10 March 2015. Volume:703;Page:2072. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): It is an honour to rise to speak to this very important bill the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Amendment Bill. I would like to acknowledge the good work of the Hon Dr Nick Smith. I would also like to mention that coming back from an adjournment week I have a spring in my step after winning the Canterbury MPs’ scone bake-off competition. [Interruption] Thank you. In good faith across all parties I would like to offer the recipe if anybody would like it. It was a very good scone actually—bacon cheese and onion. It was a scone in tribute to the primary industries in recognition of the primary industries and the role they play especially in an electorate like mine “Waimak”. The role that primary industries play in New Zealand is great because very much when the farmers are doing well the whole community benefits.This bill amends the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Act 2006. It is about supporting victims of leaky homes it is about supporting the resolution process and it is about supporting people to get back in their homes.A key part of this bill is ensuring that people who have applied to be supported in repairing their homes through the Financial Assistance Package which is a great package of support—25 percent of the home repair costs are covered by the Government 25 percent are covered by the council and 50 percent are covered by the homeowners. At the moment what we have under the current Act is an expiry date of July 2016. I think it is only right and fair that people who make this application will see this through and receive their financial assistance post - July 2016. So I wholeheartedly support this amendment. I think that this legislation is very much about creating more certainty for leaky home owners to better assist them to get their homes repaired. I think that for a new MP like myself one of the drivers to come into Parliament is that we firmly believe that the role of Government is to support people empower them and inform them to make better decisions to improve their lives very much by legislation like this which will seek to support people and empower them by understanding. Getting more clarity around the criteria for this support can only be good for the homeowners and good for the community as well.There were a few key areas in this bill and one I have talked about is the clarification of the “built” definition. We know that this meant within 10 years of the application being received but we know that since further Supreme Court rulings this has changed. The definition has moved from the point of final council inspection to the point at which a code compliance certificate is issued. Again it is very much great for the homeowner to be provided with that clarification.I think that for me coming from a health and specifically mental health background I just want to touch on some of the social costs of leaky homes as well. We have heard from many speakers in the House today about the financial costs but I think it is very important to talk about the social costs. My parliamentary colleague Poto Williams touched on this as well about the mental costs and health costs as well. We know that growing up and living in a warm dry house is fundamental to a healthy life.Many New Zealanders look to buy a house over the course of their lives. I must say that drawing on my own experience—and many in the House will agree with me—it is very much an exciting time of your life when you talk to your spouse or partner and think about the type of house you would like to buy. You think through the rooms and the size of your family. Maybe you have got a dog you need a big yard for. What it is about is thinking about the memories you will have as a family and providing those memories with a house. I think that that is very much something we as New Zealanders focus on and I suppose this National Government which supports homeownership and is a party for homeownership. It is an emotional time when you go through that process of buying a house: putting in bids and contracts and understanding whether you have received the confirmation of buying that dream house. So you can imagine the stress at the time when after you have bought your family house that you are going to bring your family up in you find out that it is a leaky home.For me I have had constituents come through the office who have been through this situation. One couple sticks out in my mind. Even though their house was built in the 1990s they bought it only 6 years ago. Unfortunately they took the word of people that building reports had been done and did not check them themselves. After living in the house for a while they discovered the moisture. On further inspection they found out there were no eaves and no flashings in the house. On further inspection into the walls what they had to do was actually cut the cladding away and look in by the skirting boards to see the water literally running down the sides of the walls. The plywood cladding had soaked up a lot of the moisture. The moisture readings they got were 65 percent whereas the building code for moisture would be only about 18 to 24 percent. They were using towels to soak up extra moisture on the carpet and they had young kids as well so this was not a good place to be in. I am happy to say they are receiving support through this financial package but you can very much see from that example the physical conditions that then start translating into the impact on the health and mental health of the adults and the children. In their case there was the start of fungi and mould growing around the house as well. That was very hard to get rid of.We know from health research that these conditions can lead to conditions such as asthma and bronchitis in vulnerable people especially the old and young. In New Zealand where we are focusing on a preventative health system it is very much not a situation we want people to end up in. You can imagine also the power costsfor a couple like thisof running dehumidifiers and heat pumps full-time to address these issues.I know that in my electorate we cover over two councils the Waimakariri District Council and the Christchurch City Council. The Christchurch City Council has put aside $1 million a year to support home repairs for people who have leaky homes. There has been a comparison drawn between leaky homes and the earthquake recovery. I must say I am very proud to be standing with a Government that is supporting people eitherwith leaky homes or the earthquake recovery. What we have found in Canterbury is that people have actually been affected by both. Some people through earthquake damage have gone in and looked at their houses structurally and found they were suffering from leaky homes as well which has been very much a double hit for them. It is something I know that all Canterbury MPs on either side of the House are very much working hard to address for their constituents.Just to summarise I am very much honoured to support a much-needed amendment bill that will reduce litigation provide clarity around eligibility and support people who are at risk because of an expiry date. So I support this bill and commend it to the House.I am very much looking forward to the select committee work around this and the submissions we receive all in all to improve the well-being of New Zealanders. Thank you.