Phil Heatley MP - News

Aquaculture reform reaches milestone

nospam@example.com (admin) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:59:00 +1300

by Hon Phil Heatley, Fisheries

Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley today announced a final, intensive round of consultation prior to the drafting of new legislation that would allow the country's aquaculture sector to begin growing.

Regulatory bottlenecks and laws that don't cater well to aquaculture planning have caused the industry to stagnate.

Speaking at the annual Aquaculture New Zealand conference in Nelson, Mr Heatley welcomed a report from the aquaculture technical advisory group, which was set up by the government in July as an independent expert body.

"I am confident that we will get a regime in place that enables the development of this crucial industry to achieve its goal of becoming a $1 billion contributor to the New Zealand economy - while always protecting the environment and recreational opportunities of other users of our coastal areas," Mr Heatley said.

"I would like to acknowledge the work of the advisory group under the astute chairmanship of Sir Doug Kidd. They have done a comprehensive job in an extremely tight timeframe."

The advisory group of aquaculture practitioners and industry representatives was briefed to develop independent proposals for Ministers on aquaculture reform.

"The government took this step because the complexity, cost and uncertainty of the current regime, along with poor incentives for development were impeding aquaculture growth," Mr Heatley said.

No new aquaculture space had been created under reforms undertaken in 2004 and it was unlikely that any new space would be created for several more years.

"The ability to research and innovate was being stifled by inflexible rules that limited the ability to advance new technologies and the farming of higher value species."

Mr Heatley and his colleagues with an interest in aquaculture, Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee and Environment Minister Nick Smith, encouraged feedback on the advisory group's proposals.

Submissions on the aquaculture technical advisory group report close on 16 December. Wider input will be sought at the select committee stage of the aquaculture reform legislation. The report is available on the Ministry of Fisheries website at www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Consultations/default.htm

Cabinet approval of the proposed policy for aquaculture reform will be sought in early 2010.

PM Dumps on board that Minister was on

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +1200

The Prime Minister's efforts to pass the buck on the Housing New Zealand conferences held at luxury venues appears to have backfired, says National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley.

"Helen Clark said this morning the conferences and the venues were the responsibility of the board, which the chief executive reports to. The thing is, the current Housing Minister was on the board when this was happening."

Maryan Street was appointed to the Housing New Zealand board by Labour and served until 2005. HNZ has confirmed a stay at the plush Hotel & Spa du Vin happened in 2003.

"So the Housing Minister was on the board when this stuff was happening, which is probably why Maryan Street initially said she was 'all for' the conferences at upmarket venues.

"Did the HNZ Board ever get asked to sign off on the budgets for these events? Were they reported to the Board at any stage?

"Because these conferences involved a new HNZ unit, one would expect there'd be a close watch on its activities.

"Was Maryan Street ever party to those discussions?"

Helen Clark on Newstalk ZB: 'Now these things never have come to the attention of ministers … This is a corporation which has an independent board, has a chief executive who reports to that board'.

HNZ boss has pay docked – Minister escapes

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:04:00 +1200

"How fair is it that the chief executive of Housing New Zealand is likely to have her pay docked for hosting a conference at a venue which the Minister endorsed?"

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley is responding to Labour's efforts today to distance itself from the conference held by 94 HNZ managers at the luxury Tongariro Lodge.

"Yesterday, Maryan Street said 'I'm all for it'. Today she had a different story.

"Even so, HNZ's CEO could have her pay docked for hosting a conference at a venue the Minister initially said in Parliament was OK.

"Even if HNZ had consulted the Minister, one can only assume the conference would have gone ahead, because the Minister saw no problem with it."

Mr Heatley is also calling on the Minister to reveal where else the corporation has hosted these get togethers.

"HNZ has apparently confirmed that a conference for 75 people was held at the plush Hotel and Spa du Vin in 2003. I've heard these events are annual, if not more frequent. The Minister should lay all the details on the table.

"Where did they go in 2004, 2005, 2006 and last year? There seems to be a culture developing in HNZ that top notch exclusive conference venues are the place to be.

"Maryan Street will have to work hard to justify these sorts of events to the 10,000 odd struggling families on the waiting list."

94 bureaucrats get two days at luxury resort

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:04:00 +1200

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley has revealed 94 Housing New Zealand managers spent two days at a conference at the luxury Tongariro Lodge.

"The total cost of the two-day staff meeting was just short of $70,000 and included $5,000 in miscellaneous expenses, and $12,000 in travel costs.

"When there are 10,000 struggling families queued up on the HNZ waiting list, this is an appalling message for Housing New Zealand to send. What were they thinking?"

On its website the Tongariro Lodge boasts 'an international reputation for fine food and wine' and 'specialises in serving the best of New Zealand game and traditional foods'."

The Tongariro Lodge is 'nestled on 22 acres of secluded grounds' where 'a secluded spa and all weather tennis court are provided'. It is an 'internationally famous fly fishing lodge', complete with 'executive riverside cottages' overlooking the Tongariro River.

"At a time when households are tightening their belts, taxpayers will question the priorities of an organisation that sends 94 managers to a luxury resort for a couple of days."

Mr Heatley says answers to written questions reveal the purpose of the talkfest retreat was to 'promote consistent delivery strategies', 'a stronger customer service focus', 'to critically review processes, measure progress, and enhance … capability and delivery mechanisms'.

"New Zealanders expect Housing New Zealand to review their processes to make sure they're getting things right – but at a luxury resort?

"Housing Minister Maryan Street should say whether there were any cheaper options available."

Parliamentary Question 04520

Sent: Tuesday, 27 May 2008 8:57 a.m.
To: Philip Heatley
Subject: 04520 (2008) Published - Housing - Normal Reply

Question: Did Housing New Zealand Corporation recently have a staff conference, hui or forum at Tongariro Lodge; if so, how many staff attended over what calendar dates?

Portfolio: Housing
Minister: Hon Maryan Street
Date Lodged:15/05/2008

Answer Text: This is an operational matter and is therefore the responsibility of the Chief Executive of Housing New Zealand Corporation.

I have been advised by Housing New Zealand Corporation that 94 staff from the Property Improvement Team from its offices across New Zealand attended the conference at Tongariro Lodge in Turangi over the 8th and 9th of May 2008. Conference attendees arrived on 7 May.

The purpose of the conference was to promote consistent delivery strategies and a stronger customer service focus in line with the recently introduced operating model for the Corporation. The conference also aimed to critically review processes, measure progress, and enhance the Property Improvement Team's capability and delivery mechanisms

The structured programme included 19 formal presentations, including two seminars, over about a twelve hour period, seven presentations from regional office staff over about two hours, a 45 minute team building exercise, and a conference dinner on the night of 8 May.

Housing New Zealand Corporation has advised that the cost of the conference was: venue hire, food, and accommodation as a single conference package - $47,526.31; presenter charges and expenses - nil; travel and transport - $12,192.00; and miscellaneous costs - $5,204.26.

This response also answers WPQ 04521 - 04523.

Attachment: None

Date Received:26/05/2008

Families stay in squalor - spare capacity at HNZ

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:06:00 +1200

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley says with reports of overcrowding and squalor, Labour is still failing to adequately manage the spare capacity in the state housing stock.

"Housing New Zealand has 1,108 houses with two or more spare bedrooms. This needs to be laid against a waiting list of almost 10,000 and reports that people are living in overcrowded and seriously unhealthy conditions.

"For example, vulnerable families are being forced to live in overcrowded and squalid Mangare boarding facilities where 'flea bites, fungal sores and ringworm etch into children's skin' when there are 38 state houses in Mangere and Manurewa with 38 tenants who live in houses with two or more spare bedrooms."

In 2005 there were 1,578 houses with two or more spare bedrooms. At that stage Labour was promising to better manage the housing stock.

"Yet two and a half years down the track, figures show that only 90 people have been proactively transferred to more size-appropriate accommodation, with the remaining 380 only gradually moving out with the natural passage of time.

"Given that overcrowding is rife amongst desperate families on the waiting list, Housing New Zealand needs to be much more proactive in better utilising state houses, better managing the space on large sections, and putting tenants in suitably sized properties."

Click to download: Parliamentary Questions – 3364 & 3366

Recycled policy gets reheated - again

nospam@example.com (admin) — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:07:00 +1200

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley says Labour's pre-Budget 'shared equity' announcement is a "recycled policy reheated" for election year.

"Labour campaigned strongly on shared equity ahead of the 2005 election. This is taking recycling to a whole new level. This re-announcement has been made a dozen times already.

"It's totally bizarre that one of the aims of the pilot scheme is to see if people want a shared equity scheme, given that Labour has been working on this policy for donkey's years."

Mr Heatley has previously released news clippings and official papers showing that Labour has re-announced shared equity a dozen times since 2004.

"Provision for some $30 million in capital spending was made last December for shared equity. Labour appears to be re-announcing the same stuff in Budget 2008.

"One presumes that today's re-announcement is the result of the $1.4 million that was put aside in Budget 2007 for 'modelling work'.

"Today's shared equity re-announcement also appears to gloss over crucial details, like how any capital gains, or losses, will be shared, and what happens when the first home buyer wants to make even minor property improvements?"

Mr Heatley says the shared equity re-announcement is further evidence that Labour is out of ideas and out of puff.

"Maryan Street's Housing Affordability Bill has been roundly rejected by councils up and down the country. Meanwhile, the flagship Hobsonville housing project has been in the pipeline for Labour's entire term in office, but at $350,000 a pop, the homes don't even meet the Government's own affordability test.

"The most sensible thing Labour could have done to keep houses affordable was to reduce pressure on interest rates and improve take-home pay though tax relief. Government ministers have consistently made deliberate decisions to ignore these crucial tools."

Needy live in squalor while gangs housed ‘sensitively’

nospam@example.com (admin) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:05:00 +1200

Housing New Zealand is promising to house opposing gangs in neighbouring state houses ‘sensitively’, while desperate families live in “squalid” boarding houses just down the road, says National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley.

“There’s something very wrong here.

“Housing NZ seems more interested in making sure opposing gangs are housed apart than they are with the plight of the many desperate families being forced to live in reportedly rat-infested and squalid private boarding houses nearby.

“The Minister should explain how her department set these priorities.

“And anyway, how on Earth can Housing NZ assure communities they’ll house opposing gangs ‘sensitively’ when they haven’t got a clue how many gangs the taxpayers are helping to support?”

The assurances were offered in HNZ’s 2006/2007 Financial Review, but select committee questions reveal Housing NZ hasn’t done any reviews of gang tenancies in at least two years.

HNZ has been under pressure from private landowners leasing properties to the government in its Weymouth development. Those landowners want assurances that their properties will be properly managed.

HNZ confirms that its policy is to house opposing gangs ‘sensitively’.

“Housing NZ has always avoided direct answers about the number of gangs living in state houses, but now they’re telling us they can house them ‘sensitively’.

“I would like to know how many are they supporting.

“I accept that they may, knowingly or unknowingly, house gang affiliates from time to time, but that doesn’t mean we should allow those gangs to congregate and cause trouble in a tenant’s state house.

“At a time when there are close to 10,000 families on the waiting list, and when its third-party damage bill has been rising, Housing NZ must ensure that its tenancy agreements allow it to act decisively on disruptive elements.”

Click to download extract from HNZ Financial Review (859KB Word image).

HNZ slams affordable housing bill

nospam@example.com (admin) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:07:00 +1200

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley says the Housing Minister's own department has inadvertently slammed Labour's heavy-handed plan to force developers to build 'affordable housing'.

"Maryan Street's fatally flawed bill has already been rejected by a number of local authorities as it will push up rates and force up house prices. Today, Housing New Zealand confirmed that conclusion."

In a written report to the Local Government and Environment Committee today, Housing New Zealand said about Maryan Street's bill:

Territorial Authorities wishing to develop, consult on and adopt an affordable housing policy will incur further compliance costs.

Territorial authorities will face ongoing costs implementing an affordable housing policy. These costs would be incurred negotiating with developers retaining affordable housing, and monitoring and reviewing the policy.

The affordable houses are generally sold at below their normal market price, so the discount below the market price will need to be covered by someone. In theory there are four parties that the discount can impact including the council, landowner who sold land to the developer for development, the developer, and the final consumers or owners.

Mr Heatley says Labour's approach to home affordability has been to snip at the edges, rather than deal with substantive issues like high interest rates and red tape which can add as much as $55,000 to the cost of building a new home.

The Government's House Price Unit said that in 2000, 59% of renting couples and 11% of singles could have afforded the lowest quartile priced house, but by 2006 that had dropped to 29% of couples and only 2% of renters.

"On top of these embarrassments, Labour's 'affordable' homes in Hobsonville don't pass the Government's own 'affordability' test and over a third of the initial list of Crown land that Helen Clark said could be freed up for affordable housing included DOC land and even the Auckland zoo."

National agrees with Master Builders: the bill will have a reverse impact on housing affordability - rather than improving the situation, it will make it worse.

"It appears Housing New Zealand also agrees.

"Labour's new rhetoric on home ownership does not measure up to the reality."

What's the whole story on housing squalor?

nospam@example.com (admin) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:07:00 +1200

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley is challenging Maryan Street to say she is certain that Housing New Zealand is not referring vulnerable New Zealanders to 'squalid' South Auckland accommodation.

"Separate media reports confirm Housing New Zealand has been referring vulnerable people to 'squalid' facilities in South Auckland. But the Minister denies this.

"Who should New Zealanders believe - the residents who're living in 'rat infested' conditions, or a Minister engaged in damage control?

"Surely, it can't be a coincidence that those who've complained publicly suddenly appear to have been miraculously put in Housing New Zealand properties."

The Minister said this week 'they haven't been advised to go to Kotuku Lodge … they are not advised to go there'.

"But I understand the Minister cannot know that for sure, because there is no paperwork or any record kept of which private housing providers people were referred to.

"Maryan Street needs to clarify her public denials.

"If Housing New Zealand did not know these people were living there, how were they able to contact them and offer them alternative HNZ accommodation?"

Housing Minister is on her own with denials

nospam@example.com (admin) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:08:00 +1300

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley says Maryan Street appears to be out on her own in denying that her department is referring vulnerable New Zealanders to 'squalid' South Auckland accommodation.

"Now there have been two reports from separate media, claiming that Housing New Zealand has been referring vulnerable people to 'squalid' facilities in South Auckland. Yet the Minister continues to deny those reports.

"Who should New Zealanders believe - the residents who're living in 'rat infested' conditions, or a Minister who is in full damage control?

"Surely, it can't be a coincidence that those who've complained publicly suddenly appear to have been miraculously put in Housing New Zealand properties."

Mr Heatley is referring to reports by the Listener and TVNZ's Close Up programme, that tenants have confirmed being referred to the sub-standard accommodation by HNZ.

The Minister said last night 'they haven't been advised to go to Kotuku Lodge … they are not advised to go there'.

"But I understand the Minister cannot know what individual staff at Neighbourhood Units are doing. Furthermore, I understand that this is difficult to check because there is no paperwork or any record kept of which private housing providers people were referred to.

"Maryan Street needs to clarify her public denials, to clear up the public perception that she is dancing on the head of a pin."

Last night, Maryan Street also said 'last week there were a couple of stories, ah, there was a story in the Listener, and, ah, one of the families that was named in that, ah, in that article, had got a house by the time that article even got into print'.

"If Housing New Zealand did not know these people were living there, how were they able to contact them and offer them alternative HNZ accommodation?

"This smells very fishy indeed."

Minister's denials on housing 'squalor' questioned

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:09:00 +1300

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley says the Housing Minister's categorical denials that HNZ is sending tenants to live in squalid Auckland boarding houses needs to be explained.

Yesterday, the Housing Minister rejected a Listener article that said HNZ tenants were being referred to the 'rat infested' boarding houses when state houses were unavailable.

"But I understand the Minister cannot know what individual staff at Neighbourhood Units are doing as far as trying to assist people in need of emergency housing. Furthermore, I understand that this is difficult to check because there is no paperwork or any record kept of which private housing providers people were referred to.

"I'm pleased that reports this morning suggest the Minister is ordering a report into this situation, but can't help but wonder whether she should have called for a report before issuing yesterday's denial."

The Mangere boarding facilities are described at length in this week's Listener. The article says 'there is intimidation, terrifying violence and drug deals' … 'children are locked in their rooms for hours, days at a time', and where flea bites, fungal sores and ringworm etch into children's skin.

"The simple fact is that this is what Labour's housing policies have come to. These sort of conditions are a manifestation of the housing supply shortage that Labour has been so reluctant to do anything about.

"Right now, New Zealanders are facing record housing unaffordability, forests of red tape and paperwork, high interest rates, increasing rents and overcrowding.

"So far, all of Labour's much trumpeted housing initiatives have failed to address the big issues facing renters, home buyers and homeowners, such as interest rates, red tape and take-home pay."

Clark's empty promises on housing affordability

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:08:00 +1300

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley says Helen Clark's promise while in Opposition to 'ensure' couples and those on low incomes can afford to buy their own homes has been laid bare as empty rhetoric.

"A report by her own department has made a total mockery of the pledge she made as Opposition Leader. It reveals the Labour Government has stood by as the dream of home ownership has slipped further and further away from those she promised to help."

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has prepared a report which catalogues Labour's eight years of failure on home ownership and overseeing the highest mortgage interest rates for a decade.

The alarming figures include statistics that show the consent process can add up to $55,000 to the cost of building a new home.

The House Price Unit also concluded that a couple would need a deposit of $122,000 and a single person, $170,000 just to get on the housing ladder. It says that in 2000, 59% of renting couples and 11% of singles could have afforded the lowest quartile priced house, but by 2006 that had dropped to 29% of couples and only 2% of renters.

"In recent weeks, Labour has attempted to take some of the heat out of the inevitable criticism that this report would have created by announcing measures which have been described by the media as 'snipping away at the edges'.

"And alongside those, Labour is now telling people they should get used to a lifetime of renting. That is a far cry from Helen Clark's 1995 promise that 'I want our people to have homes they can afford. And I want the Labour Government to ensure that low income people and young couples can buy their own homes again as we always have in the past'.

"Labour's rhetoric on home ownership does not measure up to the reality.

"Its 'affordable' homes in Hobsonville don't pass its own 'affordability' test, the list of Crown land that Helen Clark said would be freed up for affordable housing included the Auckland zoo, and Maryan Street's affordability bill has been rejected by local authorities.

"Instead of tackling the real causes of housing affordability, like the second highest interest rates in the developed world, low take-home pay, and the forest of red tape and paperwork, Labour is more interested in trying to hide its broken promises."

Housing red-tape move is election-year amnesia

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:10:00 +1300

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley says Labour's election-year moves at the margins of housing affordability need to be laid against its appalling record of failure.

"This is a classic case of election-year amnesia.

"Government papers confirm real house prices have increased by close to 80% between March 2002 and March 2007, around the same increase as was recorded across the entire 1962-2002 period.

"In 2000, 59% of renting couples (including couples with and without children) and 11% of non-partnered individuals could have afforded a lower-quartile price house. By 2006 that figure had fallen to 29% of renting couples and 2% singles. It is even worse in Auckland where only 6% of renting couples could afford a lower-quartile priced house.

"And when, house prices have risen at 5-6 times the rate of wages and salaries since 2001*, keeping interest rates under control and lifting after tax incomes must be part of the solution.

"The experts are now telling us the cost of red-tape can add up to $55,000 to the cost of building a new home. That's why Labour should be acting for the majority rather than focussing on the fringes.

"Carving a few thousand dollars off standardised building consent applications, as Labour is doing, is like trying to use a water pistol to put out a raging forest fire. Something is always going to be better than nothing – but the initiatives launched at the weekend would appear to be the very least Labour can do after eight years of denial.

"For instance, while the cost of materials used on an average house has risen by 25% in five years, the cost of infrastructure levies and fees have increased by around 900% and consent fees have increased by about 58%.**

"Labour's own housing unit agrees that the measures unveiled at the weekend are unlikely to make much of a difference to the majority of new home buyers. Alongside fixing the Resource Management Act and the Building Act, more has to be done to free up land so the price of sections can come down to a reasonable level. The cost of land for an average house has doubled in the past five years**.

"For years, National has been warning Labour about the costs of its red-tape and bureaucracy. It is a handbrake on the economy, and a drain on the public purse.

"Labour now appears to be trying to disown its legacy on housing unaffordability. Struggling home buyers should not let them."

*From the Salvation Army Social Policy and Research Unit (June 2007)

Click to download Word format table compiled using building industry figures

Labour scores 'F' for housing affordability

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:10:00 +1300

Labour's failed record on housing affordability is a disgrace, says National's Housing spokesman, Phil Heatley.

"After nearly nine years, the Kiwi home ownership dream remains elusive because Labour has failed to come up with any significant and meaningful propositions to address the problem.

"All of Labour's housing affordability schemes have had false starts or are fundamentally flawed. Its shared equity scheme has been rolled out at least 12 times since 2004 but still hasn't arrived; Labour's Welcome Home Scheme accounted for just over 1% of new home mortgages in 2005/06; and its flagship affordable housing scheme on the Hobsonville site received a cold dose of reality when both Housing NZ and the Housing Minister confirmed that the '500 affordable houses' will cost around $350,000 each and that first home buyers will have to be earning at least $70,000 a year to get into one.

"In addition, Labour's promise to free up more Crown land in Auckland for housing was ill-thought out. Ninety-nine per cent of residential land for housing is in private ownership so why doesn't the Government simply make it easier to free up that land?

"Now Labour is demanding that builders provide up to 15% of cheap homes on their developments. Experts say that will do little or nothing to address housing affordability.

"The latest initiative is to streamline the building consent process for desperate homeowners who are prepared to live in a Helen-approved 'starter' home. Why isn't Labour improving the consent process for every type of home in every neighbourhood?"

Mr Heatley says New Zealand's record of home ownership under Labour has been a total failure.

Labour's own House Price Unit says 'a wide range of measures of affordability show that affordability has declined in the past four to five years…all measures of affordability have declined'.
The 2008 Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey found New Zealand rates alongside those countries with the least affordable housing, and when interest costs were added, New Zealanders were in the worst position.
A study by the Centre of Housing Research found last year that the number of working households in Auckland that can no longer afford to buy at the lower quartile house price has grown 169% in the last decade.

"But Labour has been slow to recognise there is a problem. It even initially dismissed National's call for the current parliamentary inquiry into housing affordability, eventually offering reluctant support.

"Labour refuses to make it easier for private landowners to subdivide their land; it won't reform the RMA or streamline the Building Act to reduce compliance costs for every type of home, and it isn't addressing two key issues facing families struggling with crippling mortgage repayments: low take-home pay and some of the highest interest rates in the world.

"National will introduce a suite of initiatives to address the problem. We will be better managers of the economy, get interest rates under control, ensure people's take-home pay puts them in a stronger financial position, free up the supply of residential land, and slash compliance costs by reforming the RMA and Building Act.

"Chris Carter said in October last year 'Housing: our patch, our issue, our brand: Labour owns this territory'.

"Well, in the state it's in, they can have it.

"National will claim a different territory – one in which home ownership for Kiwis isn't a dream but a reality."

Affordable Housing Bill backfires

nospam@example.com (admin) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:11:00 +1300

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley says Housing Minister Maryan Street should withdraw her Affordable Housing Bill.

"If it makes houses more expensive, what's the point?

"This Bill is drawing strong criticism from those that would have to implement it. They're telling us it simply won't work. Industry groups, such as master builders are also opposing the bill."

Mr Heatley is commenting after stinging criticism from Local Government New Zealand, alongside councils in Auckland, Christchurch and Nelson.

"When the purpose of the bill is to make housing more affordable, and the councils who would administer it are telling us it'll leave some New Zealanders paying more for their homes – there is a fundamental flaw.

"It's time for the taxpayer to cut its losses on this piece of legislation as it stands."

Mr Heatley says this is yet another area where Labour's over-promised on home affordability and under-delivered.

"Take home equity. It has been announced a dozen times since 2004. However, we still don't know how fundamental components of this scheme will be organised, like how will the capital gain, or loss, be shared?

"Or take the flagship Hobsonville housing project. It has been in the pipeline for years, and at $350,000 a pop, the homes don't even meet the Government's own affordability test."

Mr Heatley says after more than eight years in office, Labour's being pressured into making election year announcements on housing which are largely Band Aid measures.

"Shane Jones is now promising even more changes to the Building Act which has already been back before Parliament twice. Labour's 'new' policy is to unpick some more of the bureaucratic nonsense it put in place. In other words, Labour got it wrong, and it now wants home buyers to be grateful.

"It appears to have taken until election year for Labour to discover the mess they have made for home buyers who are now up to their necks in debt because government policies have piled on the costs.

"When you weigh up the size of the problem, Labour's re-packaged policies are sadly going to be too narrow to make a real difference to the vast bulk of home buyers. They are a belated admission of failure."