Ms Lisa Hone:

Unfortunately I have to say that the way it was interpreted was that there was an insidious undertone to it. The message was that these mica homes would cost the taxpayer. At the time it felt like it was a tactic to try to divide the country into those who were affected and those who were not to ask why those who were not affected should have to pay. I return to the root cause because that is what it is about. It is not the affected homeowners who are costing the taxpayer; it is the failure of regulation and the lack of governance and accountability. As I said in my statement, there is nothing in place to deter this happening again. There are no consequences for the offenders and the governance has not changed. On building regulations, there was a Building Control (Amendment) Regulation in 2014 and that has amended the way building projects are supervised and governed but that does not affect products like a concrete product from a quarry; it is irrelevant. There is the same situation today that existed when the defective products were produced, and on we go.

It is no exaggeration when I say that taxpayers are being asked to sign a blank cheque because the Government is not acknowledging the root cause of this issue. There is no appetite to chase the offenders or to amend the governance. There needs to be independent regulation. There are many industries that operate in this country that have independent regulation. This is so serious; it is about the fundamentals of the State. Housing is one of the fundamentals of the State and if it goes wrong it is a catastrophe. We are living with a catastrophe. How can a Government sit back morally and allow this to continue, knowing that this devastation will land on future homeowners? As an affected homeowner and speaking for every affected homeowner I know, they would not wish this on anybody. We want to escape this scourge but we also want to make sure that nobody else in this country ever has to go through what we have been through. It has to stop now.