Macindoe Tim: Housing Corporation Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Macindoe Tim: Housing Corporation Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:671;Page:17931] 
TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) 
: 
 I am very pleased to speak in support of the Housing Corporation Amendment Bill. Contrary to the concerns we heard from Moana Mackey earlier in this debate in these difficult times I suggest it is more important than ever that we concentrate our resources in the Public Service on the delivery of quality services at the front line with a minimum of bureaucracy duplication and inefficiency. Ms Mackey seemed to believe that duplication and layers of bureaucracy are essential. In fact it was only when Maryan Street rose to her feet that I realised that Labour is actually in support of this— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member but the time has come for me to leave the Chair. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
TIM MACINDOE 
: Before the dinner adjournment I was making the point that it actually took two Labour speakers to clarify that the Opposition is supporting this bill at its first reading. I mention that point again because listeners to this debate could be forgiven for thinking they are hotly opposed to it. In fact Maryan Street was positively vitriolic in some of her comments even though she said Labour members would vote for the bill to be referred to a select committee. 
The changes in this bill will focus Housing New Zealand Corporation on its primary purpose of providing good-quality State housing to those who are most in need of such support in our society for the duration of that need. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: Come on Tim! Speak from the heart. Stop reading it off a bit of paper. 
TIM MACINDOE 
: I am sure that even the Hon Shane Jones will understand and support that objective. I have had the opportunity to see the range and quality of Housing New Zealand Corporation properties and stock in the suburbs of the Hamilton West electorate. I have been very impressed by the new houses and units that have been built in recent times. Ours is a rapidly growing city and the corporation has a big challenge in keeping up with the demand. Added to that the challenges associated with maintaining and repairing some of the older Housing New Zealand Corporation houses are considerable and can cause angst for the tenants of those dwellings. I am sure that all electorate MPs in this House will have had quite a lot of experience of dealing with concerns of that nature. 
Given the magnitude of those tasks it is appropriate that Housing New Zealand Corporation be directed to this work and not diverted by a secondary obligation to provide policy advice that is currently also provided by another agency namely the Department of Building and Housing. The building and maintenance challenges I have spoken of are properly the concern of the Department of Building and Housing and only Labour members could believe that it takes two Government departments to do the same job. That is the mentality that brought about an explosion of bureaucracy without improving core services in the previous decade and that diverted increasingly scarce resources from important areas of need. This bill will help to rectify matters in one important area of social policy and I welcome its introduction.