Labour on target, Ngaro hits own foot
VERNON SMALL
OPINION: Labour already thought it was on a winner using its election-year congress to highlight a crackdown on speculators.
After all, its polling has detected a big surge in concern about housing generally – coming from nowhere a few years back to now being the top worry for voters.
It ranks ahead of inequality, poverty and immigration, all also related to housing need and cost.
But if leader Andrew Little’s speech yesterday was designed to push the right buttons, including levelling the playing field between speculators and home owners, he could hardly have hoped for National to come to his aid. Then along came Alfred Ngaro. The newly-minted associate housing minister, normally one of the nice guys in Parliament, chose Labour’s regional conference in Auckland to launch an ill-aimed scatter-gun attack.
In it, he side-swiped nongovernment service providers, singling out Labour candidate Willie Jackson and his Manukau Urban Maori Authority, suggesting that their contracts could be under threat if they ‘‘bag us’’ on the campaign trail.
It is more than a step too far, and Prime Minister Bill English, as well as accepting an apology, should discipline Ngaro and correct any suggestion that providers’ funding is contingent on toeing the line.
Ngaro didn’t stop there, taking aim at the Salvation Army and accusing some in the media of manufacturing a housing crisis. At the very least, it confirmed housing is hitting a raw nerve in National – and that Little was on the right track.
His policy to ring-fence residential property investment portfolios, so losses cannot be used to offset tax on other income, is aimed at hobbling speculators. It PHOTO: CAMERON BURNELL/ FAIRFAX NZ estimates big investors – including overseas buyers – will be hardest hit although ‘‘mum and dad’’ rental owners will also be affected.
But it hit two birds with one stone, using the extra cash to make homes healthier through a subsidy on insulation and heating.
A disciplined display by Little and a polished speech from deputy Jacinda Ardern will send the party faithful off in good heart – and with a wave of thanks to Ngaro.