工党发言人：该你采取行动了，英格里希先生

　　政府对新西兰人是否负担得起住房的担心是没错的，而实际上他们自己也有权释放出土地用来盖房。　　针对比尔•英格里希威胁市议会要求后者释放出更多土地用于建房，工党房屋事务发言人安妮塔•金发表上

　　针对比尔•英格里希威胁市议会要求后者释放出更多土地用于建房，工党房屋事务发言人安妮塔•金发表上述评论，并指出：政府手中握有房屋生产率报告长达半年之久，人们得到却还只是关于住房支付能力的一堆空话，看到政府在把责任完全怪到地方政府头上。然而归根到底，决定权就在比尔•英格里希手里。

　　奥克兰地区对新屋的的需求最大。每年奥克兰市对新屋的需求是12000幢，可是实际只建了2000至3000幢。如果政府真的关注奥克兰的住房危机，那么他们大可以把大量掌握的政府土地拿出来建屋。

　　政府明知这不仅关系到释放土地，也关系到地价是否让人负担得起。这是两个亟待采取行动的先决条件。

　　国家党之前反对住屋的混合模式――如工党曾提出在Hobsonville兴建的那种类型。当约翰基处于反对党之位时，他反对在Hobsonville建造哪怕一幢公屋，称之为“经济意义上的破坏他人财产”。

　　而自从国家党当政以来，他们已经取消像“网关”项目这样的一些计划，并眼睁睁看着堪称新西兰有史以来最大批的建筑工人外流到澳洲和海外其他国家――在2011年3月的这一财政年度，就有超过750名建筑业的劳工离开。

　　想到要建筑业孤军应对基督城重建工作的需要，不少人感到强烈恐慌。业内人士也指出目前的经济萧条至少还会再持续3年。

　　我们现在需要的是行动，而不是去恐吓市议会。（霍建强议员办公室供稿）

　　21 August 2012                                                              MEDIA STATEMENT

　　The ball’s in your court Mr English

　　The Government is right to be concerned about housing affordability in New Zealand, but has the power to release land itself, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Annette King says.

　　Her comment follows Bill English’s threat that councils must make more land available for housing or the Government will change the rules.

　　“The Government’s had the Productivity Report on housing for six months, yet all we’ve had is a lot of hot air around housing affordability and a whole heap of blame shifting  - particularly onto local government. Ultimately, however, the ball is in Bill English’s court.

　　“Auckland is the area most in need of new housing. The city needs 12,000 new homes a year but there’s only 2 – 3,000 being built. There are large tracts of government land available which could be used if the Government was serious about the housing crisis in Auckland.
　
　　“The Government knows that it’s not only about releasing land, but it’s also about the affordability of the land. Urgent action is needed on both those fronts.

　　“National has previously opposed efforts for genuine mixed housing models such as that proposed by Labour in Hobsonville. In Opposition John Key argued against any state houses being built at Hobsonville, calling such construction ‘economic vandalism’.

　　“Since National has been in Government it has cancelled initiatives such as the Gateway project and has also overseen the biggest exodus of construction workers to Australia and other countries in living memory - in the March 2011 year over 750 of the sector’s workers left.

　　“The construction industry has raised strong fears that it will struggle to meet the demand for Christchurch alone. It has also pointed out the current slump could last for another three years at least.

　　“It is action, not threats, that is needed,” said Annette King