Shearer David: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Shearer David: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 07 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6361. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. That seeking of leave just brings to attention the housing problem that we have in New Zealand. When you have 5 percent of our housing stock currently not being used—that is around 3300 homes that could actually house people on lower incomes—that is a disgrace. That is a disgrace because right now people in my electorate anyway are living in cars in caravans and two or three families to a home when they could actually be living in a State house instead. 
There is a real problem in New Zealand with housing and housing affordability. No longer is the Kiwi dream of owning your own home a real possibility for thousands and thousands of Kiwis. No longer can you get a chance to be on that bottom rung of the ladder. House prices have gone up in Auckland in particular in Christchurch in Tauranga and in a number of other places—in more than half of the country. 
So it was with great anticipation enormous anticipation that we wanted to hear what Bill English was going to announce to the Productivity Commission’s report on housing. We waited 7 months. We waited 7 months. The build-up was excruciating. What did we get? An extraordinary let-down—an extraordinary let-down. They weakened the Resource Management Act they lowered industry standards they pushed more responsibility on to councils and they tried to make land cheaper by expanding the boundaries of Auckland for example. So you have to get on to the motorway and drive for an hour rather than actually do something intelligent which is medium sized - scale housing inside of Auckland. 
That is it—that was it. That was to solve New Zealand’s housing problem. It fails utterly and that is what everybody said—not just us not just me and not just Annette King but for example the Mayor of Tauranga: “In my view it failed to take into account the reality of the situation” he said. Brian Fallow said: “It is fair to judge a policy package like the one on housing affordability announced this week by what they do to relieve those problems.”—those problems being housing affordability—“In short precious little.” John Armstrong wrote: “Package? What package? … The plan looks like a rough first draft”. In other words nobody is impressed with this Government’s performance on housing. It is woeful and it is disappointing. 
There is a real shortage of houses for younger people wanting to get that first chance on the ladder and this Government is determined not to do anything about it. It gives up on the most basic things to do. One thing it might want to look at for example is a capital gains tax or at least not allow the price of houses to go through the roof and at least put our investment into productive enterprises rather than into the Auckland property market. 
Even when there is a possibility of State housing and community housing as in the Hobsonville scheme the Government cancels it. The Prime Minister calls it economic vandalism—that is what he calls it economic vandalism—to put social housing into a housing development. Of the 3000 houses 1000 were going to be houses that would have been able to accommodate low-income families. The Government cut it from 1000 to 100. And guess what? Now it is down to 17—17. And the Government wonders why there is a housing affordability problem! That is why there is a housing affordability problem. It is because it is not doing anything about it. 
You have got Craig Heatley—Craig Heatley—who is completely asleep at the wheel completely asleep—[ 
Interruption 
] Sorry Phil Heatley. Phil Heatley. Even Phil—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
DAVID SHEARER 
: Phil Heatley says he agrees with everything and does absolutely nothing. He agreed with everything in the poverty report and what did he do? He cut funding to community housing. He cut funding for State house maintenance—[ 
Bell rung 
]