Nail in housing coffin from own officials

The Government’s 2014 Budget tariff removal bribe was nothing more than a gift to property developers, according to its own officials, Labour Leader Andrew Little says.

“Advice to ministers from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment last November – and only recently released publicly – states that any savings from the dumping of tariffs and duties on building supplies are “likely to be captured by developers rather than passed on to consumers”.

“This shows National’s Budget centrepiece was simply more smoke and mirrors, and will do nothing to help Kiwi families own their own home.

“The Government is so removed from what’s happening in the real world that John Key had a straight face when he told Parliament today there was no housing crisis.

“The advice, titled Housing Affordability: Outlook and Opportunities, also states the impact of the Government’s special housing projects is negligible.

“MBIE also warned RMA reforms alone won’t be enough to incentivise the $11 to $13 billion of investment in residential property needed to address the Auckland housing crisis.

“The Ministry also said a large public sector house-building programme is ‘the most likely means to overcome the majority of Auckland’s swelling shortfall inside 10 years’. This is exactly what Labour’s KiwiBuild policy proposed.

“No wonder the Government wanted to keep this advice secret. It proves the Government’s tinkering is doing nothing to solve New Zealand’s urgent need for housing and that the solutions proposed by Labour will work,” Andrew Little says.

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