Despite the Government being aware of widespread building materials shortages in June last year, they did nothing to fix the problem, National’s Building and Construction spokesperson Andrew Bayly says.

“After questioning from National, then Minister of Building and Construction Poto Williams conceded to Select Committee in June last year this was a “live issue for everybody”. But despite claiming that “we’re not going to let this lie”, the shortage in building materials has only become worse.

“Builders are now suffering because Labour got lazy and did nothing for 12 months except create another working group.

“Megan Woods could have chosen to back National’s legislation to authorise imported plasterboard that meets New Zealand standards, or offer another solution of her own.

“Having had ample time to understand the issue and talk to the sector – Labour has no concrete proposals to tackle the problem of plasterboard shortages.

“Concerningly, the Minister conceded at Select Committee this morning that members of the taskforce were only asked to join on Monday – just hours before the group was made public.

“It’s obvious the Government only announced the taskforce in a weak attempt to distract from their own failure on this issue.

“Despite being aware of problems in the building materials industry more than a year ago, the Government sat on its hands and did nothing. Changing the Minister and announcing a working group is just window dressing and won’t do anything to fix problems in the sector.”