SpeechHon TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): Thank you Mr Speaker and kia orana in Cook Islands Language Week. Kiritapu Allan the member who's just resumed her seat suggested she was going to hear some vitriol. Well I spoke in the second reading and the committee stage and now I'm taking my call in the third reading of this debate all of which have happened this afternoon. We should not be dealing with this bill under urgency. But I say that as a matter of fact; I don't believe it's vitriol. She began her speech by saying this bill will put her on the right side of history and those on the Government benches who agree with her. It will not but in saying that I'm not spouting vitriol. I am simply stating reality. In particular as she made the comment because she resorted very quickly to the old rich mates" mantra which showed the real vitriol the real prejudice that comes from the other side of the House. I would like to invite Kiri Allan and any other member from the House to come to my electorate of Hamilton West and to meet with me landlords.Kiritapu Allan: I will take you up on that honour.Hon TIM MACINDOE: I'm delighted that Kiri has taken me up on that offer to meet with me the average mum and dad investor small investor landlord who I think is providing a vital service and in my experience works incredibly hard to ensure that there's a good relationship between the landlord and the tenant. I also acknowledge that the vast majority of tenants are good people who respect the privilege they've been given of renting somebody else's home and looking after it. We need to acknowledge that. But this particular bill that we are enacting tonight fundamentally shifts the balance which should be struck evenly between landlords and tenants firmly in favour of tenants and unfortunately in favour of some bad tenants.Now the Government has clearly stopped listening to us because they're rushing this through under urgency. So I'm going to ask them to listen to the New Zealanders who are providing accommodation. I'm going to begin with a tertiary education accommodation provider and facilitator in my electorate of Hamilton West who wrote to me to say "We are very concerned at the proposed change to clause 60A of the Residential Tenancies Act as it will have significant unintended consequences for tertiary education across New Zealand." We haven't heard much tonight about students we've been mainly hearing about families in houses but think of how many tertiary students need to rent accommodation. Probably most of us who attended tertiary institutions during our younger days did that. I certainly did and so have my children. This particular person in my electorate said "As well as operating halls of residence we also work with landlords who rent their flats and houses to students. The universal feedback we have received from landlords is that they are unlikely to continue providing rental accommodation to tertiary students if the proposed change to clause 60A became law." Now that isn't an isolated case. We have heard that from several people who are providing accommodation to students. I feel desperately for prospective students of the future who might find that they miss out on the opportunity to study by not being able to find accommodation because of this issue. The writer concluded by saying "As most tertiary students across New Zealand both domestic and international"—not so many at the moment here because of COVID-19 but they will come back—"live in rental accommodation while studying the lack of availability of rentals for students will have a serious impact on many students' ability to study away from home." I say to the Government members: please listen to that person.Here is the view of one of my constituents in Hamilton West who is the administrator for a property management company in Hamilton my city—and this is a big operator: "We manage over 1000 properties and represent more than 800 landlords. I believe this bill will end up having a very negative impact on the very people the Government feel they will be helping. We will be in a position that we will not give a chance to anyone who we deem slightly marginal." This is a very big concern due to the high number of people we see in this category—and to those who are listening I want to point out that the Green members are currently laughing as if this is a laughing matter. It is not. It is a serious issue for prospective tenants of the future.Marama Davidson: Oh what?Hon TIM MACINDOE: Oh and now yes we're getting more. "We currently can allow people the opportunity to have a second chance"—if they would stop squawking and actually listen. They should pay respect. These are not my words. These are the words of the providers who they are determined to force out of business: "Without the ability to give them a 90-day notice unfortunately we will be forced to stop giving these people a chance due to the risk this will have on the owners of the investment properties we manage. Only tenants with squeaky clean tenancy records and credit will be placed." Again this person also said "This will also have a huge impact on students. Without fixed-term tenancies students will be in the higher risk category as the risk of vacancy over the student holiday period will be very high." The writer is pleading with MPs not to proceed with this bill and National MPs have made it very clear that we share these concerns.We are the ones here in the National Party showing genuine concern for current and prospective tenants by opposing this bill. But are Government's MPs listening? Are they moved by this? No they're being insulting to the people who have sent these emails to us at the moment. Are they so ignorant of social and commercial realities that they will allow their dogma to prevail over evidence and common sense? Sadly it appears that they are and I have to ask them: what happened to kindness? Because their support for this bill is cruel and inhumane.Unfortunately I haven't got time to read all of them but I'll go for another one and hope that they're listening. This is again somebody from my Waikato region. "I am very dismayed that my submissions and the thousands of like-minded submissions opposing the changes to the Residential Tenancies Act have been ignored by this Labour Government and they are now trying to pass these changes under urgency. I am an experienced landlord"—now I know the writer of this letter. She is not a wealthy person. She is a decent socially minded person with a heart for our community and she says "I'm an experienced landlord who is seriously considering removing my properties from the rental market due to the implications of the proposed changes. Along with many other residential property landlords my submission to the changes appears to have gone unheard and I simply cannot see how these changes give any balance of fairness to the property owner landlord as it appears to be weighted heavily in favour of the tenant. My tenants have been great" she says "and I am a good landlord"—and I know that that is true—"but these changes will not be fair to me. Many tenants are excellent some are mediocre and some are downright appalling." All electorate MPs have unfortunately met some of the appalling ones because we've had to help to try to resolve the issues that occur when bad tenants damage property and cause a social nuisance in their communities and it's very very challenging and difficult to fix. I think of some elderly couples in my neighbourhood who've been through hell in the last year and we fought like mad to try to get them the justice they deserved. Unfortunately the problems tonight will be compounded by this bill passing.As I say I have a huge number of these emails and letters. I could stand here and fill up the next two hours reading them to the House. Unfortunately it is clear that Government members are not listening. I deliberately put these on the record because I don't want them to listen to me I want them to listen to the people who are providing the tenancies. They are not they will ram this bill through and I look forward to being part of a National Government that will repeal it."