Mallard Trevor: Unit Titles Amendment Bill — In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMallard Trevor: Unit Titles Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 19 November 2013. Volume:695;Page:15052. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South): I rise to also support the Unit Titles Amendment Bill and associate myself with the comments made by my colleague the Hon Ruth Dyson. This was part of the Statutes Amendment Bill. Unlike most other parts of the Statutes Amendment Bill it did attract a number of submissions and well-reasoned submissions. Unfortunately the vast majority of those submissions were outside the scope of the relatively minor changes that were being made as part of the Statutes Amendment Bill.I do want to reiterate that there has been a commitment to a substantive change in unit titles legislation. We had a minor change in 2010. It became apparent in 2011 that there were at least 21 minor errors to the minor legislation and some major errors to that and some areas that needed to be looked at. Unfortunately despite the commitments that were made to the Government Administration Committee by officials and by the then Associate Minister of Justice there has not been any progress—although I can be proven wrong. There might be a Unit Titles Act amendment bill introduced in the next couple of weeks. We did have an undertaking that we would have something back before the end of the year that dealt with the substantive matters thatwere raised with the select committee but we had to tell the people making the submissions: “Sorry this is a Unit Titles Amendment Bill but it is not wide enough.” It was not wide enough to encompass and to deal with the very real issues that are causing harm to people who own or want to develop unit title properties or who want to convert properties into unit titles.I do say to members opposite to you know think about Auckland a little bit and think about some of the intensification that needs to occur. To do it properly one of the answers—it is only one of the answers—is to have decent working unit titles legislation. It is important if people are going to feel safe putting what is often their biggest investment—for most New Zealanders their biggest investment is their property the home that they live in. If people are going to feel safe about having unit titles there has got to be good legislation and there has got to be appropriate legislation and we have not got that yet despite the promises of various Ministers including Maurice Williamson and Nick Smith over a period of time.As has been indicated this makes 21 amendments all of them minor to a minor bill that was enacted by Parliament under the National Government in 2010. The idea that the Government can make 21 mistakes in a relatively small bit of legislation does go to the lack of focus on detail and the lack of care of its Ministers and the fact that they do not work their Cabinet committee and the select committee process well. In most countries making 21 errors in a relatively minor bill and having to come back to Parliament to get it fixed up a year or so later would be a source of outrage but unfortunately that is the level of competence we have come to expect from the National Government. The bill comes to the Opposition and the only reason we are supporting it is that it does a little bit of good for some people who have got unit titles.Bill read a third time.