Minister's visit brings hasty home improvement

It takes just one minister's visit to a state house to change a light bulb.

Last Monday, Housing Minister Phil Heatley visited the Tupai family's state house in Porirua, which was waiting for a facelift as part of the Government's programme to upgrade 18,000 state houses over the next 18 months.

While there, Mr Heatley noticed something per centHousing NZ had missed in its list of required work - a light fitting was hanging out of the ceiling in the children's bedroom and he worried the exposed wires were a hazard.

When the Herald revisited the house to see what effect the minister's visit had had, the long fluorescent tube fittings in both bedroom and living room had been replaced by fittings with environmentally-friendly bulbs.

Tenant Gogo Tupai said the electricians had turned up to do the work the day following the minister's visit.

A Housing NZ spokesman said the tenants had installed the fluorescent tubes and Housing NZ had not known about it. However, it was more than happy to replace them.

The swift action also got Housing NZ back into the minister's good books after it blotted its copybook last week when two of its Auckland-based staff gave a submission to a select committee without his knowledge. The corporation's head, Dr Lesley McTurk, had to apologise to him for the breach of rules and the submission was withdrawn.

On Friday, Mr Heatley said he was delighted the corporation had moved so quickly on the light fittings and he was looking forward to seeing how the rest of the modernisation went.

Housing NZ said the remainder of the work would begin within a fortnight and was expected to be completed by the end of June. It included carpeting, bathroom ventilation, installation of a heat pump and some outside fencing as well as a carparking area on the bare ground outside.