“Megan Woods’ farcical ‘plasterboard task force’ is just window dressing for the fact she has no idea what to do about the building materials crisis. She should just adopt ACT’s policy for a Materials Equivalence Register,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“I asked the Minister in Parliament today if the Minister could explain “what this ministerial taskforce will be able to achieve that herself and all of MBIE haven’t already been able to do to date?”

“Quite simply she couldn’t, she said it was about “working in partnership with our government, because we’re a government that believes in working in partnership with industry.”

“The industry has already been clear about what the issue is though, they want the government to solve the problem, not talk about it.

“I also asked her why she won’t just let suitable substitute building materials be used by councils, which is the obvious solution and the most likely conclusion her taskforce will come to, and what ACT’s policy for a Materials Equivalence Register addresses.

“She said “if only the world was that simple.” Well Minister, sometimes the simple and practical solution to a problem is the best solution. In fact a recent report from Castalia found that it is the layers upon layers of government regulation and intervention that is causing the problem.

“ACT’s solution cuts through to the central problem, reducing bureaucracy instead of creating it. We know that good substitutes for name-brand plasterboard and other scarce building products exist. Our policy would require councils to accept them and let builders and architects get on with building houses.

“The issue is here now, Kiwis shouldn’t have to wait for a taskforce to go away and deliberate before eventually coming to a conclusion and eventually provoking some action. The Minister should get on and do it.”

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