2. Prime Minister—Water Housing Superannuation and Multinational Tax AvoidanceANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterPrime Minister—Water Housing Superannuation and Multinational Tax Avoidance2. ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement we're not here to shy away from the hard issues" which was tweeted from his account and then deleted?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH (Prime Minister): Yes I stand by the full statement which was originally made when I announced funding for 1100 additional police staff earlier this year. At that time I said: "This significant taxpayer investment comes with a range of challenging performance targets for police. They include higher attendance at home burglaries seizing more assets from organised crime reducing deaths from family violence and reducing reoffending by Māori. Meeting these targets will not be easy but we are not here to shy away from the hard issues."Andrew Little: Why does he refuse to take real action now on water on housing on superannuation and on multinational tax avoidance and instead repeatedly promise changes well into the future that he knows he can never be held accountable for?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: That is an interesting question because we have just made an announcement about national superannuation. The member is asking us to take real action now rather than the announcement which I presume means another flip-flop and that he will be going back to the policy that Labour agreed with before it disagreed with it.Andrew Little: Putting aside the Government's own flip-flops why will he not take any meaningful action on water quality or pricing before the election instead leaving it to future Governments to deal with the issue?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: As the member will be aware the Government publicised a framework that for the first time measures the quality of our fresh water across New Zealand which has not been done consistently at all before sets some targets and makes sure that we are all accountable for improving the quality of our fresh water. That is real action and right now it is driving real investment across our farming industry in reducing its impact on fresh water and there is also the Government freshwater fund of $100 million which is being spent.Andrew Little: Why has he spent 8 years refusing to fix the housing crisis with a Government-led building programme and a ban on foreign speculators instead leaving it to the next Government to clean up that mess?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: There has been a whole range of action on housing from special housing areas through to introducing the brightline test the National Policy Statement on Urban Development and most recently the $1 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund currently under negotiation with councils and that comes on top of HomeStart which is designed to help 90000 young Kiwis into their first home.Andrew Little: Why has he sat on his hands on the multinational tax avoidance issue year after year given that he was first advised about it in 2012 while other countries have cracked down on it and with his revenue Minister now admitting the issue will be left to the next Government?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: I know the Government is making a lot of policy announcements and it is hard for a policy-free party such as the Labour Party to keep up with what we are doing. Just a couple of weeks ago the Minister of Revenue issued the next round of measures to deal with multinational taxation which come on top of some of the toughest rules in the developed world in dealing with multinational taxation.Andrew Little: Why will he not restart contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund now to help meet the future cost of superannuation and why is he instead leaving the issue for a future Government in 2037 to deal with?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: The Government made an announcement a few weeks ago about raising the age of national superannuation broadly supported by the New Zealand public. Additional contributions to the superannuation fund will not make a big difference to that but what would help New Zealanders is if the Labour Party returned to its original policy to raise the age rather than pretending there is no ageing population which everyone knows.Andrew Little: Why is it that with water housing superannuation and tax avoidance his answer is always to make a promise but leave actually doing anything about it to the next Government and just when are we going to see real leadership from him?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: In each case as the member has now discovered from asking the questions we have made announcements including on the superannuation age on multinational tax and on the billion-dollar Housing Infrastructure Fund. Even if the member is not that supportive of all the policy measures the Government is taking we would be interested to know whether he has any policy on any of those things at all."