O'Connor Damien: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Damien: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3655. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman): Following on from my colleague the Hon Annette King there is the question of who will provide advice if this bill is passed and we remove the ability of Housing New Zealand to do so. The question of why that advice should be provided is also one that I will come back to. In my view the “whos”—that is if we prevent Housing New Zealand providing that advice; that vacuum—will be filled by three parties: firstly the real estate agents because the Government likes them; secondly the banks; or thirdly the investors in the whole housing market. The reality is that the Minister will require advice. Capable as she is I do not think she has the ability to go around and find out what is happening in each and every different market for housing up and down this country. So where will the advice to the Minister come from? Real estate agents—well I guess they could provide advice; they are on the ground. The banks—they provide the money. And the investors obviously have an interest in this area.Well we must ask the question why they will provide the advice because when Housing New Zealand provides advice it is for one purpose—and it has been set up—and that is to help New Zealanders into housing and into homes. It is not just social housing; actually every bit of housing be it in the public or private sector has a social component to it. If we think we can have an economy without people having homes we have got our head in the sand and we live in a false world. We need a strong social structure across our society strength confidence and security to give us a good economy. The Government on the other hand is removing the ability of its own agency set up right back in the 1930s to provide houses and homes for New Zealanders and to provide security for our good people so they can get on and live their lives and contribute to our country and our economy. If you remove that ability for that agency to provide the advice you then leave it open to the real estate agents the banks and the investors. Their reasons for providing advice are not the same reasons as those of Housing New Zealand and are not the same reasons as those of a Labour Government but perhaps the National Government has a totally different objective.In spite of its words around social housing responsibility in my view the Government has got to the reality and honesty of saying “We’ll just leave it to the markets. We don’t need any advice because the markets will provide the advice to the Minister and indicate what he or she should do.” That is the philosophy of the current National Government. The market delivers nirvana! The market delivers to each and every New Zealander—it thinks—and we will get our advice from the real estate agents we will get our advice from the banks and the investors and we will ensure that every New Zealander has a fair go. Listen to the ad played in Singapore Minister. Listen to the ad that says: “Invest in New Zealand because New Zealanders will pay more than 50 percent of their incomes to pay the return on your investment.” That is the advice that the Minister is going to open her mind and ears to because the Minister and the Government are going to remove the ability of the one agency set up in the 1930s to provide homes and securities for New Zealanders and remove the ability of that agency to provide the advice.This is a huge backward step in Part 2. This is an outrage for a country that has depended upon the advice the independent advice and the sound objectives of Housing New Zealand since the 1930s. Subpart 2 of Part 2 of this bill will remove that and replace it with market advice—with the self-serving advice of real estate agents the self-serving advice of banks that want to pour more money in so they can get more money back and the self-serving advice of the investors who think it is better that more and more New Zealanders pay rent into the private sector than have the security of a home be it in the private sector or be it under Housing New Zealand. This is a disgrace.