Doocey Matt: Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDoocey Matt: Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 31 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11521. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): It is an honour to rise and speak in support of the third reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill. It is great to hear the support of the main parties in the House for this very important bill and the impact it will have on families and young children—and really what Kiwis would vote against a bill like this? I just want to touch on four key points in my call on the third reading tonight. For the first one I want to talk about the Government’s activity in this space. I want to touch on the important aspect around smoke alarms. I also want to talk about the positive impact of the Social Services Committee ably chaired by Alfred Ngaro and the impact that had around the submissions and especially around increasing the penalty for unlawful acts which will help redress that possible imbalance between vulnerable tenants and maybe intimidatory landlords as well. Then if I have time I want to talk about compliance and how this legislation will be inspected once it is implemented.It is fair to say this bill needs to be passed tonight. This is a bill that will warm up a lot of houses in New Zealand and make a lot of houses safer by installing smoke alarms. When you look at the Government’s track record in this space—since 2001 we have invested $500 million insulating houses in New Zealand we have insulated 50000 State houses we have got the Warm Up New Zealand programme as well as retrofitting 280000 private rentals. I know when I visit the Canterbury District Health Board and Community Energy Action those initiatives of warming up “frequent flyers” to the accident and emergency departments in our hospitals have great results not only for the community but in improving the well-being of those families and those children.Currently we know that under the Residential Tenancies Act there is no requirement around insulation or smoke alarms. It is great that 270000 private rentals will be insulated because of this legislation. We know that 56 percent of them—or around 150000—are low-income earners. So there we are: this is a Government that cares a Government that listens and is responding to people’s needs especially those of the most vulnerable. That is why regulation is the next step. We know once this bill is passed tonight that from 1 July 2016 social housing will require insulation and we know that private residential tenancies from 1 July 2019 will also require it.Can I just go on to talk about smoke alarms. In my home town of Rangiora—Richard Prosser: Woo hoo!MATT DOOCEY: There we go Mr Prosser—a great constituent of mine in Rangiora.Hon Nathan Guy: Does he vote for you?MATT DOOCEY: Of course he does. We have got a hard-working 36-strong volunteer fire brigade men and women who give their time. In the middle of the night they get up and their employers allow them to leave work during the day when that alarm goes off. I fortunately brought the Prime Minister in to have a look at the new $3 million Rangiora fire station. When you talk to our volunteer firemen and firewomen who sacrifice a lot of time the stories they tell us are about a lot of fires they go to that could have been avoided a lot of fatalities that could have been avoided. It is great that we are supporting our volunteer firemen and firewomen around this legislation. We know that in New Zealand there are about 20 fatalities a year that could be prevented and we know that this legislation by putting smoke alarms in these 270000 private rentals will possibly prevent up to three fatalities a year. That is why I commend this bill to the House.