Smith Nick: General Debate 
Smith Nick: General Debate 
[Volume:627;Page:22061] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 It is not just the houses around New Zealand that are rotting; it is also the Government. We found out today that the agency that was set up by this Government to help those destitute families with rotting unhealthy homes has been having expensive Pacific Island awareness days. Today the Department of Building and Housing has confirmed that it spent $6679 so that 17 staff of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service would be more aware of issues facing Pacific Island peoples. Have members ever heard of such rot and such nonsense! 
I just heard Mark Gosche say that this Government was all about spending public money wisely. Can any member of the Government tell me why the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service should fly nine staff from Wellington to Auckland accommodate them at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and then spend $392 a head on lunch kava drinking and hula dancing? Can members believe it? Three thousand families out there are in rotting homes unhealthy from the mould and staff of the agency set up to fix the problem are drinking kava and hula dancing! 
 Ladies and gentlemen we only laugh because otherwise we would cry. I suspect that many thousands of owners of leaky homes are crying. In fact people have committed suicide and marriages have broken up. This is not a laughing issue and this Government has provided no explanation and no apology as to why that department has with public money been having aeroplane theme parties Wild West Cowboys and Indians theme parties and Sound of Music theme parties as well as having two Pacific Island awareness days. The Government says in respect of the Sound of Music theme party: “Don’t worry the Government didn’t pay their airfares to come down from Auckland for this party. They came down for a morning tea to farewell a staff member.” Well that provides us with great comfort does it not? That department is prepared to fly staff all over the country to party while owners of leaky homes suffer. 
Janet Mackey 
: Not true. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Who said “Not true.”? Ms Mackey said it. Well I have to tell her that a press release from the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service confirms that all of this is true. Maybe Janet Mackey the member for East Coast will explain to owners of leaky homes in her electorate why kava drinking and hula dancing are occurring during work time amongst staff of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service. 
This scandal goes to the heart of everything that is wrong about this Government. It is so politically correct that the public service thinks it is quite appropriate to spend $392 a head for a lunch at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. That is the culture of extravagance that this Government has had. No wonder it is opposed to tax cuts. It wants New Zealanders’ hard-earned taxpayers’ money so that public servants can have Cowboys and Indians theme parties and Sound of Music theme parties and so that the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service staff can drink kava and hula dance. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Aw! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: New Zealanders I tell Mr Cosgrove have had enough. The Government is rotten. It will go.