Yates Dianne: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Yates Dianne: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:627;Page:22000] 
DIANNE YATES (Labour—Hamilton East) 
: 
 I am pleased to respond to the previous speaker who was involved with the building inquiry and the Building Act and who knows very well that this Government has done a great deal about the weathertightness of homes. We have had an inquiry and we have had a bill and I thank him for the work that he did on the bill. He knows very well who was the chair of the Building Industry Authority when the complaints first came forward and who ignored them. It was George Chapman a former National Party chairperson. The member also knows that the causes of leaky buildings are multiple and are part of building development. He knows that the problem is one of timber and design. He knows that it is a problem with regard to certification and he knows that it is also caused by not having qualified certified builders to do the work. He knows all that and that we have just passed a huge Building Act which he helped us to work on. It was 2 inches thick and it has revised our building law. So the member should give us credit and he should give himself credit for the work that he did on that bill with us because—as he very well knows—the causes of leaky buildings are multiple and they are being addressed. I thank the Labour Government for actually doing something about that problem and I say more shame on people like George Chapman who just ignored the advice he was given and was going ahead with deregulation. Deregulation was one of the major causes right throughout the time of that building industry problem. We have turned the situation around we have a new Building Act and we have got things back on track. So let us put the record straight in this Chamber. 
Let us also talk about housing. I thank the Minister of Housing for the wonderful job that is being done. As Mark Gosche has said 13000 State houses were sold off which was a crying shame for working people in New Zealand. Many people in New Zealand had their start in life because their family got a State house. I thank Michael Joseph Savage and all the good Labour people who ensured the provision of that basis of life—a decent home to live in; a home in which to bring up our kids and give them a good start in life. That is vitally important so I say thank you to Labour. In my electorate we are acquiring 90 houses a year and many of them thankfully are lovely little two-bedroom units for older people. Older people are moving out of the big State houses and into new smaller State houses. They are brick State houses and have garaging with internal access doors wide enough to get a wheelchair through and walk-in showers. I thank Labour for having the insight not only to build new State houses but also to build ones that care for the needs of people in our electorates and for caring for the people who need them. So a good deal has been done. 
What is the result of State housing? It is as our local schools will tell us more stability in people’s housing. What is the result of that? It is that children stay at the same school succeed and pass their maths and English tests because they have decent houses to live in. They are living in the same area and going to the same school. Let us not forget income-related rents. People forget the good things that are done in good times but they are things that make life better for Kiwis in this country. Another result in my electorate is that people are saying that the demand on food banks is down to a minimum. What did we have under Jenny Shipley? I would just remind the Opposition members that with Jenny Shipley we had tax cuts superannuation cuts benefit cuts and job cuts. That is what we had under a National Government—and we will get it again and people in New Zealand know that. People who care—the superannuitants the grannies that I speak to every day and the older people who can remember poverty and depression—will vote for a Labour Government to make sure that we have not only economic growth but also stability for our people and decent social services. Jim Bolger used to talk about that—we should bring back Jim Bolger if anybody from National. He used to know about having a decent standard of living for decent Kiwis who will live in this society and not be sold down the drain by some bribe made at election time by Don Brash who knows only about money in his 1953 style. He is a 1950s man and that is all he knows about. Let us have people in Government who know about real Kiwis who are living real lives in this country.