Hawkins misleads House on rotting homes

Dr Wayne Mapp - National Housing Spokesperson

Today in Parliament National revealed that Internal Affairs Minister George Hawkins has known about the rotting homes problems for more than 12 months despite his claims that he only found out in April this year.

National Housing Spokesperson Dr Wayne Mapp said Mr Hawkins should resign.

“George Hawkins admitted in Parliament that he asked the Building Industry Association for advice on the issue in a letter dated 28 August 2001, when he has previously told Parliament, answered in written questions and reiterated today that he was first advised of the problem on April 30 this year.

“The Minister has mislead Parliament as to when he was first informed about the leaky homes syndrome. Helen Clark clearly looked very uncomfortable in the House defending George Hawkins. You would have to ask how much longer is she prepared to be embarrassed by his incompetence?

“The Government is ignoring how large the problem of rotting homes is throughout New Zealand. George Hawkins also told Parliament today he had only had 15 homeowners contact him about their rotting homes. It is not surprising no one trusts him to solve the problem.

“National has had thousands of inquiries to its www.leakyhomes.co.nz website, hundreds of submissions from heartbroken homeowners and hundreds of homeowners attending the six public meetings it has held.

“Perhaps not many people are contacting the Government because they know they will hit a brick wall that doesn’t want to know about, or solve the problem,” Dr Mapp said.

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