Cosgrove ClaytonHon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour): That was a far more generous speech from Scott Simpson than that from the Minister for Building and Housing. In fact I suppose if we were to use a racing parlance after the Minister's speech we could say he well and truly scratched himself. You would think that this proposition as Ruth Dyson said had all been the work and the idea of the Government. I went on to punters.com.au to look up a couple of definitions. I thought: What would fit the Minister's contribution?". I thought for a while and then I found it and it is a quintessential Australian punting term. Mr Smith I think could be described as a "coat-tugger". The definition of a coat tugger is "someone who offers a punter a tip and demands a percentage of the winnings". And after that speech he fits the description and the definition of a coat-tugger absolutely clearly—absolutely. This is a Minister who got up—I counted how many times he said "the Government" and I think it was about 22: "The Government did this. The Government's responsible for this. They've got to come to me to consult."Hon Member: All his own work.Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE: All his own work of course when we actually know that this idea had nothing to do with the coat-tugging Minister—it had nothing to do with him. The genesis of this idea was the Riccarton racing club. People like Rodger Finlay an eminent business person and his fellow board members and trustees of the Riccarton racing club thought long and hard about how they could utilise their asset and they engendered this idea. They planned it they thought it through and they went to the Government and said: "We've got an idea that could help us as a club but also help a lot of people in Christchurch who have lost their homes via the earthquake." And they came up with the 600-house plan. Yes this Parliament—and this is a Government bill a local bill—is responsible for facilitating that through the legislative process as is normal. But you have to say—and I return to Scott Simpson who I think made a far more measured and generous speech than the Minister did—that this was the archetypal definition of coat tugging by that Minister. A guy who gives you a tip and demands a percentage of the winnings—that sums him up. But we should celebrate the passage of this legislation.Nuk Korako: Hey good. Now you're talking—now you're talking.Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE: We should celebrate it and credit to that member back there—credit should go where credit is due. Yes—to the racing club to the city council to Ngāi Tahu and to the other stakeholders who assisted in this; credit should go where credit is due. Six hundred houses 30 percent of which will be affordable homes—the ceiling is what $450000? That will still be a struggle for many in the Canterbury and Christchurch community but it is an excellent initiative. If I were Dr Nick Smith I would actually look at that and say "Well the way to deal with a housing crisis"—even though he will not admit there is one—"is to do what the Riccarton racing club has proposed and that is build more houses." It is actually a pretty simple proposition; pretty basic even for some of the less sharp tools in the box in this Chamber. It is a pretty simple concept.Actually what will happen—what is starting to happen and what will ultimately happen—in Christchurch according to projections is that we will end up in that region of Canterbury with a surplus of housing. You can see in some of the figures that house prices have plateaued a little in certain places as the construction has come on stream as those houses have been built and as people have gone out of their old munted properties into viable new homes. It is a pretty simple proposition: "supply and demand" when I did fifth form economics. It adds up and it could be replicated around the entire country and especially Auckland if the Government had a mind to become involved in that proposition.The Ministers want to get up and talk about consents and lovely little bits of paper like that but as others have said in this Chamber you cannot live in a consent: a consent is permission to build on a piece of land.Kris Faafoi: Consent-warming party.Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE: Well that is a very interesting point actually. Maybe Dr Smith could have as my colleague said a consent-warming party.Grant Robertson: A party of one.Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE: A party of one yes—and a bit of a punt at the same time. The Riccarton racing club its facilities and the Riccarton Market—and we have said these things before as Canterbury colleagues and we cannot say it enough—are iconic parts of our city. Not only have many people in our region gained much pleasure in participating in the racing club activities—often they have lost a bit dough—but many community organisations and private sector organisations have utilised those facilities for many many events and many of them charitable. Many of the members of Parliament have been invited. The Riccarton Market is a staple in the weekend calendar of most Cantabrians when they want to go and participate and we are pleased that that will be preserved. The club itself will be far stronger financially and far more secure in its future thanks to its own good idea its own initiative and its own innovation. It would be nice if the Government could actually show a similar set of skills in respect of innovative ideas and if it could give credit where credit is due.I think that this is a shining example of what can be achieved with collaboration—smart people in Canterbury getting together doing a deal coming to the Government with a sound proposition that will meet a whole series of needs and none more important than housing people who are in great need. Equally this is an example of where political cooperation—putting aside the lack of generosity of some speeches—can lead to a very viable outcome.But there are other issues as Ruth Dyson and others have raised. I know the area very well. As I have said in other speeches in the early years of my life I grew up about a block away across the road—across Yaldhurst Road. I know it well and as I said in other speeches in those days it was a pretty sleepy area you did not have traffic jams.Kris Faafoi: What in 1878?Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE: You did not have—thank you for that. You did not have—Hon Member: Did you have traffic? Were there cars?Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE: You can pick your enemies but not your friends.As I say it was a pretty subdued area. It is a nice area. It will change with 600 houses there. There will be infrastructure difficulties; traffic will be a huge one. I think what the Riccarton racing club the city council and the other stakeholders will look to is for some Government leadership—not Government telling them what to do—some Government involvement and partnership to deal with some of those infrastructure problems the most stressful being the traffic. Look at what is happening down Johns Road by the airport—the widening the four-laning—that is a good thing. Access from Hornby into that Yaldhurst area is huge now the traffic volumes are immense; they will only get worse. If planning and infrastructure and resources do not follow then what is a fantastic project for that part of town and for our city could and will experience some difficulties. And of course those people who are already resident in that area of Avonhead—Nortons Road and the racecourse area around there—and Hornby they can be impacted as well. So what we look forward to is hopefully some indications from the Government that it will be a participant and partner in this in respect of the infrastructure requirements.The Labour Party as other colleagues have said has much pleasure in supporting the legislation. Again congratulations to the Riccarton racing club. Credit where credit is due: to it and its board its trustees and the other stakeholders. It would be great if off the back of this—once we have passed this legislation—the Government could use this as an excellent example of what can be achieved to deal with housing difficulties. There should be no reason where there is political will that these sorts of schemes and arrangements could not be replicated say in Auckland or other parts of New Zealand if the land is available. So I would say in closing congratulations to the select committee and the chairman who I am told did an excellent job in respect of this legislation. We look forward to those houses being built and especially we look forward to people moving into the 30 percent of affordable homes and getting on with their lives."