Winston Peters delivers post-Cabinet press conference, Govt to streamline rules around building ‘granny flats’

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says whether or not the Government should buy a new Defence Force aircraft to ferry the Prime Minister and official delegations overseas is a question for the Defence Minister.

Peters fronted the post-Cabinet press conference today as acting Prime Minister while Prime Minister Christopher Luxon travels overseas.

Yesterday, the Defence Force 757 aircraft broke down on a refuelling stop in Papua New Guinea, forcing Luxon to take a commercial flight to Japan and stranding a delegation of business people and media overnight.

Defence Minister Judith Collins today labelled the repeated breakdowns of Defence planes as “embarrassing”.

Govt to ease rules around building ‘granny flats’

A pledge to make it easier to build “granny flats” was part of the New Zealand First-National coalition deal.

NZ First leader Winston Peters used his first post-Cabinet press conference as Acting Prime Minister this term to announce the Government was consulting on how to implement that promise.

“Making it easier to build granny flats will make it more affordable for families to live the way that suits them best,” Peters said.

“Over a quarter of households that do not own their home spend more than 40 per cent of their income on housing. High housing costs have a greater impact on Māori, Pasifika and people with disabilities, as well as seniors – so unlocking the space in the backyards of family members opens the door to new ways of living,” Peters said.

The Government has proposed a National Environmental Standard, a document under the Resource Management Act (RMA), which would say that “minor residential units” are a permitted activity, meaning they would no longer require resource consent.

The flats would need to comply with “permitted standards” like maximum building coverage and minimum permeable surface requirements, which will be needed to manage stormwater runoff and flooding risks.

The discussion document includes a range of options for requiring a setback, which is the amount of space between the flat and the boundary. One of the options is requiring no minimum setback, maximising the space someone could potentially build on.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Housing Minister Chris Bishop at Parliament for today's post-Cabinet press conference in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Housing Minister Chirs Bishop said the news “fits within the Government’s wider package of work to streamline the building consent system and address the housing crisis through our ‘Going for Housing Growth’ agenda”.

He said today’s announcement on granny flats would remove “red tape” and save people time, money and resources.

All buildings needed to comply with the building code, so there was “no change there”.

He said the Government had “thought quite carefully” about the move to make sure it produced healthy, durable homes.

Bishop said there was an increasing demand for smaller homes. Today’s announcement was in line with international processes.

“Many district plans already allow granny flats without resource consent, but there’s a lack of consistency and different standards across the country.

“We’re proposing a National Environmental Standard (NES) to require all councils to permit a granny flat on sites in rural and residential zones without resource consent. An NES means changes can come into force quickly,” Bishop said.

“Removing the regulatory red tape will not only speed up the build process, it is also estimated to save up to $6500 just in the standard building and resource consenting fees per build, not to mention all the savings in time and resource,” he said.

Final policy decisions will be made later this year, with the legislative changes expected to be in place from mid-2025.

NZ house prices ‘severely unaffordable’: Bishop

Bishop said the Government was “determined to cut through the red tape” holding our housing system back.

“We are determined to get on top of how expensive it is to build a house in this country.”

He said there was no silver bullet to the housing crisis. Today’s announcement was one useful thing and liberalised the country’s housing planning rules.

Bishop said the Government wanted to consult with builders, the industry and to some extent councils on the move.

“Housing is too expensive in New Zealand,” Bishop said, “they are severely unaffordable” by international comparisons.

Bishop said a whole generation of Kiwis had been locked out of the housing market because house prices were too high.

There was a flipside, however, for homeowners who may be worried about dropping prices.

Bishop said he woke up “every day” to improve housing affordability.

Build-to-rent was one part of the solution to get houses built but he was not pretending it was the solution to the country’s housing crisis.

Peters wished Greens co-leader Marama Davidson a “speedy recovery” as she faced breast cancer. He said their thoughts were with her.

On funding of cancer drugs, Peters said the work, once Health Minister Shane Reti got into it, was much more “complex”.

He said the Government would deliver on the promise this year.

Peters said the recent visit by Chinese Premier Li Qiang was a success.

Boeing embarrassment

The Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft that broke down in Port Moresby on its way to Japan suffered two blown fuses. It forced Luxon to continue the journey flying commercially via Hong Kong. The rest of the delegation flew to Brisbane before catching a diverted Air New Zealand flight to Tokyo.

Collins said the Defence Force capability review, which had been had been brought forward from September to June, would look at the issue of planes.

“New planes will have to be weighed up against the current economic climate and the fact that we’ve got so many families who are facing challenges,” the Defence Minister said.

“It’s a hell of a lot of money.”

Green Party co-leader Davidson said her cancer, which was picked up during a routine mammogram about a month ago, required her to undergo a partial mastectomy and she would be off work for about four months.

She urged other wāhine to get checked themselves, acknowledging the level of breast cancer was disproportionately high for Māori women.

“I have held off telling people about my diagnosis while I continue to focus on parliamentary work,” she said today.

Peters has clashed with the Greens in the past, but after Davidson’s news, leaders from across the House have offered supportive words.