There was no quick solution but “we need to invest in our future”.
Labour had failed the community “across the board” with its housing policies.
“I'm speaking with people on the ground from the real estate industry, from social housing providers to the construction industry.
“Over the last three years there has not been enough support in Gisborne.”
There was a huge shortage in rental properties and emergency housing.
The government's changes to the Tenancy Act had made it harder and more expensive to find rental properties.
“Housing is a critical issue I will be fighting hard to fix.”
Mrs Dean, Opposition spokeswoman for housing and urban development, and for conservation, said National should have built more homes when last in government, but the Resource Management Act (RMA) made it difficult to make land available.
Developers were telling her another issue was how long it took councils to issue consents.
The RMA had to be reformed to increase land supply, the resource consent issue with councils needed to be addressed and “simplifications” (such as consent exemptions) needed to continue.
Councils had to perform “with a renewed focus”.
Asked if councils were being tasked with more responsibilities and fewer resources, Mrs Dean said, “I'm not sure that's a fair argument”.
The 15-year veteran of Parliament and former cabinet minister is also a former Waitaki district councillor and deputy mayor.
She said New Zealand had to have a better Covid-19 policy than putting 1.3 million people into another lockdown as in Auckland.
Responding to Covid-19 was a key issue and the country's borders needed to be made as impenetrable as possible, Mrs Dean said.
National Party policy is to introduce — within 100 days of taking office — a Crown border protection agency.
Mrs Dean said the agency would replace a multiplicity of responsibilities across different ministries.
Ms Tapsell said National would introduce more testing stations which would be committed to being able to perform tests within a hour.
National would also require international travellers to provide evidence of a negative Covid-19 test before arriving in New Zealand.
Replying to criticism that travellers could be infected in transit, or would be tested in New Zealand after three or 12 days (while in isolation), Mrs Dean said any case of Covid-19 detected would be worth it.
Other elements of the party's Covid-19 policy include:
' The compulsory use of contact- tracing technologies by agency employees, border facility workers, and health board staff who treat or test patients.
' The rapid deployment of Bluetooth applications to enhance contact tracing while also exploring alternative technologies, such as a Covid Card.
' Regular testing of aged-care workers and increasing opportunities for testing within aged-care facilities.
