Tisch Lindsay; Wood MichaelSTUDENT LOAN SCHEME (FIRST HOME REPAYMENT DIVERSION) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingDebate resumed from 8 March.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Members when we were last on the Student Loan Scheme (First Home Repayment Diversion) Amendment Bill the next call was to be a Labour call of 5 minutes.MICHAEL WOOD (Labour—Mt Roskill): I am very happy to rise to speak on the Student Loan Scheme (First Home Repayment Diversion) Amendment Bill and to confirm that Labour is very happy to support this bill through to select committee for further consideration. Why is that? It is because this bill is an honest attempt to deal with the biggest issue that young New Zealanders face in our country today and that is the loss of the dream of one day being able to own their own home.One of the reasons this bill in particular appeals to me is because I think of my own story. Back in the early 2000s my wife and I as a relatively young couple who were a few years out of university did have the ability to make our start in life by purchasing our first home. It was a modest home in a modest part of my community in Mt Roskill. Back in the early 2000s that was possible for a young couple who were on reasonable wages and who did a bit of saving—to get a foot on the property ladder and to put roots down in the community. But what we know and what every New Zealander who is watching this debate knows as well is that increasingly that dream of homeownership is out of reach. We can consider some of the statistics that point to this. We know the stories but let us be very clear about this.In New Zealand today we have the lowest rate of homeownership since 1951 since Sidney Holland sat in this Chamber and spoke as the Prime Minister of New Zealand—since Sidney Holland was the Prime Minister in the year of the great Waterfront lockout and strike. We have not had homeownership so low since that time. It simply is not good enough. The fact is that from that time onwards both National and Labour Governments until this National Government supported that dream of homeownership—supported the dream of the great Kiwi property-owning democracy in which everyone had a stake.What I have learnt out of homeownership is that it brings stability to communities. When people can settle down and when they can put roots down into a community they can give back. They can look forward to the future and think about their kid going to the local school. They can join local groups and make a contribution. They can make friends and neighbours. We build stronger communities when we have high rates of homeownership. It is not just about the individuals; it is about the kinds of communities that we want in New Zealand. But with the lowest rate of homeownership since 1951 which has happened on this Government's watch we have lost that.It is particularly acute when it comes to the dreams of our young people. Back in 1991 50 percent of under-40-year-olds in New Zealand were able to own their own home. That figure has halved to 25 percent and in Auckland it is just 20 percent.When the Labour Party sees this bill from Mr Hughes and the Green Party it sees as I say an honest attempt to deal with this incredibly serious issue. We believe that this entire House should in good faith pick up any attempt to deal with this housing crisis and give it the full weight of its consideration. This should not be about politics between parties in this House; this should be about the obligation that we owe to every single young New Zealander to give them a decent shot at homeownership.Jono Naylor: To pay for their house?MICHAEL WOOD: And of course there is some noise from the other side of this House. It is very comfortable for members of this House—including me—who start on a salary of $140000 a year. But when we are talking about young New Zealanders just out of university—young New Zealanders who want to get their first home in Auckland when we have got suburbs across Auckland where the average price is a million dollars a year—we should be looking at every single avenue we have got to support them.The bill is a relatively simple one. It picks up the model of the student loan holiday that we currently have if young New Zealanders with a student loan are travelling overseas and it gives the opportunity to divert those student loan repayments into a separate account that can be used only for the purposes of a home deposit. It is relatively simple in its nature. There are potentially some issues in respect of tax treatment that need to be explored the Labour Party believes but a select committee is the place to do that and this House as I say should have the focus on this housing issue to send it to a select committee to allow those issues to be explored.In the previous speeches from the Government—the one previous speech we have had—we did not actually hear much about the housing issue which is the driver of this bill. We heard about some of the support that we give to students currently. I just encourage members opposite to home in on that housing issue which we hear the Government cares about. Here is a chance to do something about it. Let us send the bill to a select committee and continue the debate. Thank you.