Bayly Andrew: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBayly Andrew: Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 24 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2527. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW BAYLY (National—Hunua): It is a pleasure to be talking on the Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill. As we all know owning our own family home is not only a cherished Kiwi dream but actually a fundamental right of all New Zealanders. This bill is about helping 90000 lower and middle income first-home buyers get on the rung of the ladder towards getting their first home. Housing has been a significant issue that this Government has been focused on. We have approached it at both ends in terms of trying to address the problem—namely towards assisting couples to find the deposit for their first home and also trying to increase the supply of new homes particularly in Auckland and Christchurch.With regard to the second issue the supply of housing it is one of the most longstanding issues and many Governments have previously ignored or chosen not to deal with this issue. When the Prime Minister made a statement on 28 January this year on social housing he was committing this Government to actually doing something about it. It is great to see the new special housing areas coming into action with 100 across the country and 80 in Auckland. In my own electorate of Hunua we have one of the largest special housing zones Wesley which will create between 4000 and 4500 new homes over the coming years as well as Belmont also in Pukekohe which will bring in an additional 700 homes.I have listened to some of the earlier speakers including Mr Grant Robertson from Wellington. My suggestion to Mr Robertson is that he needs to get out and about. In my own electorate of Hunua I can talk to you about the number of new developments that are already under way. For example if he chose to get in a car from the Auckland Airport and drive out to Beachlands and Maraetai—probably a 50-minute drive—he would observe that there is a population of roughly 8500 people. By the year 2021 there will be 17500 people in that area alone. When he drove around that area for the first time no doubt he would observe great areas that have already been bulldozed and site works well advanced. The sections will be on the market in some areas already and other sections will be coming to the market over the next few months. There is a staggering amount of new developments there.If Mr Grant Robertson then continued in his hired car and drove a matter of about 20 minutes he would come across a place called Clevedon one of the great places of my electorate. There he would observe if he stopped for long enough an area that will create 700 new homes over the next couple of years. If he travelled south to Pukekohe he would then observe those two large social housing areas that will be an addition of 5500 homes. If he also drove along to Pukekohe East he would observe the diggers the loaders and the trucks undertaking significant earthworks that will create thousands of additional homes in my area. In fact in my electorate one of the biggest issues I have got is that there is going to be an avalanche of homes and to get the council to support that with infrastructure is one of the major issues. But in terms of the number of new homes coming on market it is substantial it is real and you can see the new homes if you actually choose to get out and about.What most people do not realise—just going back to the issue of social housing designations—is that the key requirement of those is that for developers and I know that for some that sounds a very dreadful word a crucial requirement is that they need to build amongst those groups of housing an element of affordable homes and Pukekohe is going to be the better for it. Both of these two large social housing areas in my area will be important contributors towards addressing the issue of supply which for too long has been stifled. I just want to quote some statistics because again there is no factual basis to a number of the presentations tonight. In Auckland in the first year of addressing this issue of supply just over 11000 new sections and dwellings were achieved—20 percent above the target of 9000. Overall for 2014 nearly 25000 building consents were issued across the country and in January this continued with 1700 consents issued—the strongest start to any year since 2008.I just want to move on to some of the other announcements the Government has made towards addressing housing issues. We have previously noted that firstly we are going to be increasing the social housing budget by $40 million per annum which will mean that by 2017-18 around 65000 people or families will be able to benefit from increased income-related rent subsidies. Secondly we are putting additional funds into the emergency housing sector and introducing an emergency housing database in Auckland. It is interesting. Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting my Work and Income office in Pukekohe and I spoke to a social housing adviser who took me through the great work the office is doing in finding emergency houses for those people most in need. We are addressing this issue. Essentially we want to help people move out of Government-provided housing into private rentals or preferably into homeownership if and when their circumstances improve. For people on a low income this Government is providing a total of nearly $2 billion in subsidies. Around $1.2 billion of the accommodation supplement helps people with the costs of private rentals and sometimes mortgage payments. The other $700 million is for income-related rent subsidies which support low-income people with the greatest housing needs.As noted before this bill is specifically about assisting our Kiwi families to enter the housing market. It will allow KiwiSaver members to withdraw their member tax credit when purchasing their first homes. The bill drives at the heart of the issue for many first-time buyers—namely how to save a sufficient deposit to be able to put down an adequate deposit. It supports the HomeStart package announced during last year’s election campaign which comprises three changes which take effect in 8 days’ time. These include firstly introducing the KiwiSaver HomeStart grant. This doubles the support for buying a new home and increasing the house price limits. Secondly it enables KiwiSaver first-home withdrawals by also including the member tax credit which in effect means that someone who has been in KiwiSaver can withdraw all their KiwiSaver contributions other than the $1000 initially provided by the Government as a kick-start. And thirdly it expands the eligibility for the Welcome Home Loan by aligning the house price cap with the KiwiSaver HomeStart grant.The new price caps—just to reiterate; I have heard people mentioning them—will be $550000 in Auckland and by the way you can buy a house for $550000 in Pukekohe; $450000 in the key centres such as Hamilton Tauranga and Christchurch; and $350000 in the rest of New Zealand. The KiwiSaver first-home withdrawal gives eligibility to those members buying a first home who have been contributing for at least 3 years. Additional criteria for the KiwiSaver HomeStart grant and Welcome Home Loan are having an income below $80000 for a single person or $120000 for a couple. The property being purchased must obviously fall below those price limits I spoke of.This Government supports and favours those young New Zealanders who are disciplined and ambitious and who want to save up and put a deposit on a house. This bill will show people that if they can join KiwiSaver and continue to save they can rapidly put together a deposit for their first home. As the Minister for the Environment noted earlier these arrangements offer the capacity to provide up to $55000 towards the deposit. It is a welcome addition and these provisions together with the low-interest environment that we have helped to bring about in this country mean that our first home owners have a better opportunity to acquire their new home. Thank you very much.