Housing Minister and Whangarei MP Phil Heatley has taken umbrage at the Opposition's housing spokeswoman Annette King calling him a "slum landlord".
Ms King said Mr Heatley's claim in 2008, when he was then in opposition, that state housing was not up to standard and he would do something about it was just "bluster". She has criticised him about cuts to Housing New Zealand's maintenance budget and over the failures of the "faster, fairer, smarter" phone line service which has replaced first-call access to housing managers.
"He is the slum landlord," Ms King said after she visited a large block of Housing NZ flats in central Auckland.
She described the site as "an example of the most appalling neglect".
"If the minister wants to see an example of his lack of action, I invite him to accompany me to 139 Greys Ave, Auckland Central, which houses an 87-flat HNZ complex," she said.