7. Housing Auckland—Unitary Plan and SupplyPHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Building and HousingHousing Auckland—Unitary Plan and Supply7. PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Building and Housing: Does he agree with the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel that the number of houses Auckland needs in the next 7 years is 131000 or nearly 19000 per year; if so does he think it acceptable that only 9651 homes were consented in Auckland in the last year?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for Building and Housing): The 9651 new homes consented in Auckland in the last year is the highest number in 10 years is good progress and is more than treble the rate of the 3212 bequeathed to us when this Government came into office. The house build rate has grown by over 25 percent per year since April 2013 when we entered into the Auckland Housing Accord. This strong growth of over a billion dollars a year of extra investment year on year is about as fast as you can grow a sector like building. The specific house build rate referred to in the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel is 13000 per year and we are on track to deliver that by 2017-18.Phil Twyford: Is he aware that his construction pipeline forecasts that nearly 40000 fewer homes than are needed will be built in Auckland over the next 7 years according to the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No I do not accept that. What I do know is that the panel report says that we will get to 13000 homes per year next year. We have never built 13000 homes in Auckland in a single year. I remind the member that in Labour's last year in office it did 3000 homes per year. Those 13000 homes per year mean that we will be building a city the size of Whangarei in Auckland in this term of Parliament and again in the next term of Parliament and on anybody's terms that is a phenomenal number of houses.Jami-Lee Ross: What was the rate of house building in Auckland prior to the Auckland Housing Accord being agreed in April 2013 and what reports has he read on future growth?Mr SPEAKER: Order! Would the member please repeat the question. It could not be heard because of the level of interjection. [Interruption] Order!Jami-Lee Ross: What was the rate of house building in Auckland prior to the Auckland Housing Accord being agreed in April 2013 and what reports has he read on future growth?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The build rate prior to the accord being signed was 4800 per year and it has grown more strongly and more quickly than at any time in Auckland's history over the 3 subsequent years. The pipeline report says that it will reach 13000 in 2017 and stay above that record level every year until 2020.Phil Twyford: Why does he think that building 9000 houses a year in Auckland is a record building boom when more than 12000 a year were being built a decade ago?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The average number of houses built in Auckland per year over the last 25 years is about 7000. The average that was achieved under the previous Government for 1 year in 2003—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is little point in answering the question. The members are not interested. [Interruption] Order! No I am not putting up with that.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. If you are to adopt the approach that screaming and yelling from the Opposition benches means that a Minister is not able to answer the question it only encourages screaming and yelling from the Opposition benches.Mr SPEAKER: No. I do not agree at all.Hon David Parker: Speaking to the point of order—Mr SPEAKER: No I do not need any assistance.Hon David Parker: I think you do.Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will stand and withdraw that remark immediately.Hon David Parker: I withdraw and apologise Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: If the question is asked by an Opposition member and then that level of barrage occurs I will on occasion cease the answer of a Minister. If the members want to listen to the answer to the question that their own party has asked I expect them to deliver some sort of decorum and cooperation to the answer while it is being delivered.Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: I hope it is not on this matter but I will hear it.Hon David Parker: Well it is.Mr SPEAKER: No. If it is—[Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat. I have ruled. That is not up for debate. If the member has a fresh point of order I am prepared to hear it. But if the member is simply going to relitigate where I have just been that in itself leads to disorder and I will deal with the matter very severely by asking the member to leave the Chamber.Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think the Minister makes a fair point. I agree that you have a duty to keep order. I agree that you at times have a duty to tell the Opposition to be quiet or indeed to tell Government members to be quiet. But if any member on either side of this House can frustrate the purpose of this House by being disorderly then that runs against the purpose of question time. So I think that the ruling that you have given—I accept it in respect of this instance but if you are trying to make a general ruling that answers should be truncated because of disorder I think that is wrong in principle.Mr SPEAKER: Order! When it is a single member attempting to disrupt the proceedings by yelling and screaming from my left-hand side that point may be absolutely valid. But when it was an orchestrated litany of barrage from a large number of front-bench members and second-row members then that is disruptive. Either I can deal with it the way that I have which I will choose to do on some occasions or I can deal with it more severely by asking members to leave the Chamber. Those are the two options that I have and they are the two options that I will not hesitate to use.Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: No I have discussed this matter quite enough. [Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat. [Interruption] Order! I gave the member the benefit of the doubt. I said that I was not prepared to have the matter relitigated; the member said he would not and then rose to his feet and did exactly that. If he wishes to raise a fresh point of order I will hear it but I warn the member that if he attempts to relitigate this matter again in this particular point of order he will be immediately asked to leave the Chamber. I cannot be clearer.Hon David Parker: It is a fresh point of order. When Ministers answer questions either from their own side or from the other side they are addressing the House not the person who asks the question.Mr SPEAKER: That is exactly relitigating the matter I have just dealt with. I ask the member now to leave the Chamber.Hon David Parker withdrew from the Chamber.Phil Twyford: Is he aware that adjusted for population growth Auckland building consents are 33 percent below the level we saw in the mid-2000s?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No I do not accept that analysis. What I would remind the member of is that in each of the last 4 years the rate of house construction has grown by 25 percent—compound on each other for 4 years. In real terms the amount of residential construction in Auckland right now is an all-time record. It is time for that member to get out and see the houses that are being built.Phil Twyford: Is he aware that his Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) officials say that his housing boom will take until 2030 to eliminate the housing shortfall in Auckland that has built up under his watch?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I meet with my officials many times a week and never has that prediction been made in any paper report. It is just another example of that member making things up.Phil Twyford: I seek the leave of the House to table the advice from MBIE officials that it will take until 2030 to eliminate the shortfall. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! This is a point of order. What is the source of that document?Phil Twyford: MBIE.Mr SPEAKER: Well the House may have a chance to have a look at it. Leave is sought to table that particular information. Is there any objection? There is objection.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I want to put on the record the feelings of New Zealand First in respect of the treatment of the Hon David Parker. This is a very senior highly qualified and academically highly respected member of Parliament—no across the board. When I see someone of that background being treated that way and my colleagues see it that way we are not at all happy with it. To say to a member of that seniority—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member has had the opportunity to put it on the record. It is not actually a point of order.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Now what is the point of order?Rt Hon Winston Peters: My point of order is that every member of Parliament has got cause and authority to say that what is happening here is likely to lead to serious disruption. That is a matter for a point of order and I can say that if there is much more of this the House will be seriously disrupted.Mr SPEAKER: I have allowed the member—[Interruption] Order! I have allowed the member to make his point. If he wants to take it further he knows how to do it.