3. Auckland—Teacher Supply Housing Costs and Conditions and Traffic CongestionANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterAuckland—Teacher Supply Housing Costs and Conditions and Traffic Congestion3. ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Has his Government done all it needs to for Auckland given schools are struggling to find teachers who can afford the city's housing costs congestion is the worst in Australasia and people are living in squalid illegal boarding houses?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH (Prime Minister): Yes. The Government has done an awful lot working with the Auckland Council—for instance a 10-year transport plan which will cost $24 billion of which $20 billion is funded and that is after the $1.4 billion Waterview Connection widening the Northwestern Motorway more lanes on the Southwestern Motorway extending the airport motorway link and funding a large part of the City Rail Link as well as a major building programme. Auckland is a strong economy generating thousands of jobs and we believe we can deal with the challenges of growth while that member believes you should shut growth down because it is all too hard.Andrew Little: Moving beyond the Prime Minister's world of fantasy after 9 years of the National Government—[Interruption] Oh you cannot take it—no you cannot take it.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Just continue with the question.Andrew Little: After 9 years—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have asked for assistance to my right on one occasion. I do not want to have to do it again. We will now have the question—repeat it.Andrew Little: After 9 years of the National Government why is there a growing relief-teacher shortage in Auckland meaning that families now face the prospect of being forced to keep their kids at home this winter when their regular teachers get sick?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: Some of those teachers in Auckland I am sure would have welcomed the opportunity to move into a house in the Three Kings development which the Labour Party has held up for 5 years. It means that thousands of affordable houses have not yet been able to be built because the Labour Party in that community is stopping the development happening.Andrew Little: Putting aside the fact that the entirety of Auckland's teacher population does not live in Point England why did his Government cut New Zealand Transport Agency's Auckland funding by $3 million last year while at the same time Auckland's gridlock worsened by 800 cars a week and is it not time for a fresh approach?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: In fact the Government has been topping up the standard transport formula in Auckland with billions of dollars of taxpayer funding from the rest of New Zealand through large projects like the central rail link which is half taxpayer-funded and through the Housing Infrastructure Fund which is a billion dollars of taxpayers' funding from all of New Zealand the largest part of which will be spent in Auckland.Andrew Little: After 9 years in Government does he take any responsibility for the worsening housing crisis and infrastructure deficit in our largest city; if not whose fault has it all been these last 9 years?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: We are quite happy to take responsibility for the growing economy the growing population and the 40000 Kiwis who used to leave every year who are staying at home. We are quite happy to take responsibility for the massive investment in schools and in roads the 34000 houses the Government is going to build and the massive investment in broadband. These are all great things in a country that is going somewhere on the back of a growing economy.Andrew Little: After deciding at the end of his 9 years to spend $2 billion a year on tax cuts how much infrastructure like light rail could be built to get Auckland moving and how many State and affordable houses could be built for Auckland families with that money?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: The member is up to the old Opposition trick of comparing whatever you do with whatever is on his mind that day. Last week the $2 billion of support for families was meant to go on health and education; this week he wants to spend it all on infrastructure. The fact is that this Government is overseeing strong economic growth which gives us the opportunity to invest in infrastructure support family incomes and lift our public services—all positive choices for a growing New Zealand.Andrew Little: Given his accomplished former housing Minister Nick Smith said in 2014 that Where there are rat-infested mouldy dives that are unfit for human habitation I want them eliminated." why 3 years later do we have toddlers like 18-month-old Julia Alatina living in these Auckland slums with rats and cockroaches and violence?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: If someone is living in those circumstances the council has the legal capacity—Hon Members: Oh!Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: OK. So if the Opposition does not want the solutions—they would prefer to have the misery go on so that they can feed off it. But in fact the council has the power to shut down residences that are dangerous to the health of the occupants of them. I would suggest the member take that case to the council and tell them they should shut it down. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Again there is too much interjection from both front benches.Andrew Little: How can the Prime Minister give himself a tax cut while children like little Julia are forced to live in slums? After 9 years how can he possibly be proud of that?Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH: Little Julia and her family if they have very high housing costs will receive one of the biggest single boosts in family incomes that has occurred in 30 or 40 years. She will be eligible for higher Working for Families payments the impact of the cuts in the tax thresholds and the very significant uplift in the accommodation supplement. I hope that that family gets along and finds out their entitlement because it could be over a hundred dollars a week if they are in extreme circumstances."