Ngaro AlfredHon ALFRED NGARO (Associate Minister for Social Housing): I rise to take a call on this debate. It is an interesting thing when a member gets up to talk about one party's history and forgets his own. I think that member Chris Hipkins needs to stop for a moment and just take a little bit of a history lesson and maybe talk to some of the more senior members of his party and actually think about your own history. Think about your own history. When you talk about housing and the housing stock think about the sort of housing stock that we inherited—[Interruption] that is right—nearly over 9 years ago. It was run down it was cold and it was unsuitable for people to live in. Who was the Government that made the investment to make sure that we could retrofit those houses?But here is the thing—right? You have started to use examples so let us go for an example because you will want to use an example. Let us take the Tāmaki Transformation. That was under a Labour Government. That was under a Minister who turned around and said that this housing stock in Glen Innes—by the way we lived in it as well—was not fit for people to live in. This housing stock—I can name you the streets: Farringdon.Chris Hipkins: Inherited from a National Government.Hon ALFRED NGARO: No no no no no. Let us take this: 9 years—9 years. So now you are saying it was inherited from a National Government. You had 9 years to make a difference—sorry Mr Chair—under a Labour Government but you did not. You did not. [Interruption]The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Order! I want to hear what the Minister is saying.Hon ALFRED NGARO: Thank you Mr Chair. You know you are getting in when the growls start to happen. You know when you are scratching home because all of it begins to hurt and all emotions start emerging. OK that is when you know you are starting. Why? Because it hurts because it is the truth. It hurts because it is the truth.Under this Government we have retrofitted we have fixed we have housed more people in warmer drier homes than that party in Government did in 9 years. That is the truth and that is the difference we have made. Over 35000 homes have been retrofitted and made warmer and drier under this Government. That is the record that we have. So I can tell that member that when he thinks about his own history he should think very hard before he starts to blame the legacy of this Government because that is what this Government has done to make a difference.I want to also acknowledge my colleague and friend Kris Faafoi who talked about and said—I want a member on the opposite side to stand up and to actually make a comment. It is not a challenge because actually I think that what that member has done is the right thing. He has been an advocate. That is what a good electorate MP will do which is to take a constituent case. He talked about the single mother who had I think a disabled eldest son and a grandchild living with them and they were having to pay their rent arrears. Up to something like $350 is what they were asked to pay after the review on their income-related rent. You are right because if it was not for your advocacy—and then when the amount came out what they were entitled to was $53. It was $53. So what do we say to that? We say this: you are right Mr Faafoi and the fact is that in the calculations an administration error was made and your advocacy caught it. But here is the thing that you have to say: $53 means that actually it is affordable.Hon Member: Are you really defending it?Hon ALFRED NGARO: I am going to defend it. Why? Because under this Government we have ensured that actually it is appropriate that they are able to. Once the right amount was made OK the problem was fixed—right?This member over here was talking about emergency homes. This is the first Government that has invested $354 million in emergency housing. No other Government has done that. The other side can talk about it but this is what we are doing to make a difference: 8600 emergency homes every year to make a difference for those without housing.Those members have been complaining about the fact that people were living in cars and were struggling and now when we are giving them temporary accommodation—that is all it is; it is a transitional house into social housing—the heckles are coming up that we should not even be doing that. They say that we should not even be doing that but it is a temporary fix. By the way it is not all just in motels. There are other forms of builds that we have been making to make a difference and that is what is making a difference. We are increasing supply from 66000 social houses. By June 2020 it will be 72000 houses. That is 6400 extra social houses. That is making a difference.Under this Government we know that the direction we are taking is making a change. It has quietened down now. Why? Because we know that this is more than just rhetoric. These are facts. These are the things that we are doing as this Government. We are not only increasing social housing but at the same time we are also looking at emergency housing. That is making a difference. That is coming along.We are proud of our record that under this Government we have taken responsibility for those who are vulnerable and who have needs in our community. We are proud of our record to date. Thank you.