8. Housing Infrastructure Fund—Number of Houses Built and DebtPHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for InfrastructureHousing Infrastructure Fund—Number of Houses Built and Debt8. PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Infrastructure: How many houses if any have been completed as a result of the Housing Infrastructure Fund since it was announced in July last year?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Infrastructure): The answer is none yet but I think the member may misunderstand how the fund works. It is a form of bridging finance to help—Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Sadly there was such a lot of noise that I did not hear the answer to that question; could we have it again?Mr SPEAKER: No the question has been answered but the Minister can complete his answer if he wants.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: As I said I think the member may misunderstand how the fund works. It is a form of bridging finance to help debt-constrained councils put infrastructure in place so that houses can be built. It does not pay for houses to be built.Phil Twyford: Is the lack of progress because the fund was rushed through in a matter of weeks to invent something for the Prime Minister's speech after a short brainstorming session with political staff?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: No. I appreciate the member's latest conspiracy theory but actually councils have been working through a process where they submit proposals for a share of the fund. Those proposals closed on 31 March of this year they are currently being assessed and the decisions will be announced and allocated to councils later this year. The good news though for the member is that in the meantime housing construction is at record levels and the construction workforce is at record levels and that is good news for Auckland housing and housing around the country.Phil Twyford: I seek leave to table an email obtained under the Official Information Act from a staffer in the Minister of Finance's office floating the idea for the infrastructure fund just 2 weeks before the Prime Minister announced it.Mr SPEAKER: The date of the email?Phil Twyford: The date of the email is 13 June 2016.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that particular email. Is there any objection? There is no objection.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Phil Twyford: Was Treasury correct when it advised—and I quote—…these are not proposals by officials. These were ideas that were brainstormed and discussed in that light. We have not done sufficient analysis to be able to provide concrete advice" and that the fund "is not likely to result in additional housing"?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I think the member's criticism could be characterised as having two limbs. One is that we work too quickly and secondly that Ministers may come up with ideas—guilty on both counts.Phil Twyford: Why did the Auditor-General advise that the debt from the fund should be recorded on the council's balance sheet—thus making redundant the very reason for the policy—when he gloated in the House only a few weeks ago that it would not or is the Auditor-General wrong?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I would have to check back in the Hansard. I did not gloat at all about where the debt would be held. The simple fact of the matter is that if you have a debt it appears on your balance sheet.Phil Twyford: Is the lack of progress from his infrastructure fund because he has spent the last 11 months scrambling around with Auckland Council officials trying to salvage a policy that would have loaded more debt on to a council that is already up against its debt ceiling?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: In answer to the first part of the member's question I think the member misheard me because actually we have been making good progress. But in terms of Auckland's debt Auckland Council does have a challenge in debt at the moment. As I have said to the member previously its income has grown substantially over the last couple of years—from $3.5 billion in revenue 2 years ago to $4 billion in revenue today—except unfortunately because its expenditure has gone up so much over the same period it does not have debt-ceiling room to do the sorts of things it needs to do and should be doing as a fast-growing council. So we have stepped in to help and in this way we have offered as with a number of fast-growth councils interest-free debt on behalf of the taxpayers of New Zealand which I think is actually a pretty fair and reasonable deal to help it build its infrastructure.Phil Twyford: Was the call for final proposals correct in that councils will still be working on business cases for the fund this December; if so how does he expect that a fund that takes a year and a half to even fund anything let alone build anything is going to help the housing crisis?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: In relation to the fund Governments have this weird thing: we do not just give away money to people; we actually require some sort of arrangement to be agreed between the council and the Government. I appreciate that the Labour Party never adopted that approach but that is our approach. But in relation to the so-called housing crisis I think Mr Twyford needs to update his talking points. We have record construction we have record numbers working in the construction workforce we have record numbers of apartments being built in Auckland and we have prices in Auckland now buttoning off and steady. The member needs to update his view of the world."