The Housing Minister has been scolded in Parliament after providing "completely unacceptable" answers to questions from Judith Collins, which Speaker Trevor Mallard called an "abuse of the written question process".
National Party housing spokesperson Judith Collins and Phil Twyford had a heated debate on the topic of KiwiBuild yesterday.
Of the some of the questions Ms Collins submitted during June, she asked:
"Has there been any decisions made since then regarding whether KiwiBuild homeowners be allowed to rent out rooms for profit in their KiwiBuild home?"
Foreign investment into New Zealand homes was a topic of discussion between the Housing Minister and the National Party MP.
Mr Twyford replied: "The Member will have to wait until announcements are made, but if the Member is volunteering to peek in the windows of her constituents, I will take that under advisement."
Ms Collins asked: "How many electricians will the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development employ?", to which Mr Twyford added to the end of his answer, "If the Member is on the look out for work, she should keep an eye on the classifieds."
She also asked, "how many more sleeps are required before a decision is made regarding KiwiBuild eligibility rules and income testing?", which the Housing Minister answered: "It depends on how frequently the Member sleeps."
Ms Collins' last question was, "When he said in answer to Oral Question No 4 on 23 May 2018, 'I'm surprised that that member is suggesting there should be income limits', does this mean that there should not be income limits?"
Mr Twyford replied: "It meant I was surprised that the National Party, which wanted to give a thousand dollar a year tax cut to millionaires, was suddenly interested in income limits."
In Question Time today, Mr Mallard said the Housing Minister's answers had been drawn to his attention and called Mr Twyford's replies an "abuse of the written question process".
"In my view they show a contempt of accountability which a Minister has of this House. The Minister knows that they would be completely unacceptable as answers to oral questions and the same rules apply."
Mr Mallard said Ministers should "endeavour to give informative replies".
The Speaker made Mr Twyford re-answer the questions and gave the Opposition 20 more supplementary questions.
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