Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will face questions this morning after the Government announced a boost for builders – loosening restrictions on construction products imported to New Zealand.
Luxon will join Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking at 7.30am. You can listen to the interview live from the link below:
Yesterday, the Government announced it would be increasing the number of building products available in New Zealand, including plasterboard, cladding systems, external doors and windows.
Luxon made the announcement with Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk, who said thousands of overseas building products had been given the green light for construction.
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“[This ends] costly monopolies on a small number of products that are currently used in New Zealand,” Penk said.
“It is 50% more expensive to build a standalone home in New Zealand than in Australia. That is frankly outrageous.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon with Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. Photo / Dean Purcell
Luxon is also expected to face heat this week from NZ First leader Winston Peters, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, over his concerns about the number of migrants entering New Zealand.
Peters said he is observing an “alarming development” overseas where “careless immigration policies” are “transforming cities” and “changing centuries of development and social life”.
He referred to his party as “nationalist” while his coalition partners are “globalists”, and believes Kiwis are increasingly worried about immigration issues.
“We intend to turn that problem into a success story, so people do understand that, when you’re coming here, there are some fundamental things you need to sign up to,” he said. “If you don’t want to sign up to it, don’t come.”
Meanwhile, Luxon’s new hotline to curb overzealous road cone use has come under scrutiny, with a chief executive of a traffic management company saying he is very doubtful it will work.
Traffic management planning company Parallaxx helps train WorkSafe staff for the hotline, but chief executive Dave Tilton is sceptical of the concept, partly due to the number of people a report needs to go through before action is taken.
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“We absolutely have oversupply [of road cones] beyond the minimum without question … but I’m very doubtful that this particular thread [the hotline] is going to bear fruit in fixing it.”
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