Commonsense Must Prevail
Monday 17 Nov 2003 Deborah Coddington Press Releases -- Economy
ACT New Zealand Economic Development Spokesman Deborah Coddington today described proposed changes to the Building Bill
- that would restrict the rights of home-owners to work on their houses without supervision - as yet another nail in the
coffin of commonsense.
"New Zealanders spent $1.1 billion on alterations and additions to their homes, and more than $4 billion on
renovations, in 2002 - DIY is an essential part of the Kiwi culture. But bureaucratic busybodies couldn't leave well
enough alone," Miss Coddington said.
"Officials from the Economic Development Ministry have stepped in and suggested setting a limit on the value of some
types of work - likely to be $10,000 - that could be done without supervision.
"Enforcing a dollar limit would be a nightmare. Home-owners would be forced to do their renovations in secret, in a bid
to avoid the heavy hand of the nanny state - and I doubt Labour has even considered the problems associated with the
shortage of qualified building inspectors who will be expected to supervise DIY work.
"This is just another example of the Labour Government attempting to interfere in peoples' lives. It's high time we put
an end to this outrageous nonsense. New Zealanders are crying out for less red tape, not more of it - commonsense must
prevail," Miss Coddington said.
ENDS
For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at
act@parliament.govt.nz.