Election 2020: Northland New Conservative candidate wants housing costs to be lowered

The Northern Advocate and NZME Northland digital and radio platforms, are giving voters a chance to hear why the candidates standing deserve a vote on October 17.

Northern Advocate reporter Imran Ali and The Hits Northland day announcer Charmaine Soljak have interviewed candidates from the three Northland electorates – Whangārei, Northland and Te Tai Tokerau.

We caught them on video, too, so head to thenorthernadvocate.co.nz and thehits.co.nz to read about the candidates, listen and watch what they have to say.

Over the next two weeks, The Hits Northland, the Northern Advocate, and the Northland Age will introduce you to the candidates, so you can

be well informed before you cast your vote.

Today we look at the first three candidates in the Northland electorate. The rest of the candidates from the electorate appear tomorrow and on Saturday.

Costs of building houses that are regulated by the Government need to come down if affordable housing is to become a reality in Northland, a Northland election candidate says.

New Conservative candidate for Northland, Trevor Barfoote, said it was "just wrong" if it took 12 months to get a building consent and the cost associated with that process, which he said was as a result of failed government policies.

"A lot of the costs that are forced on district councils are forced from central government and then central government bleats about why it costs so much to build a house.

To listen to the Hits Northland host Charmaine Soljak's interview click here

"The government is making a huge amount of tax out of a house. You've got development levies, you got GST on everything. You got GST on the purchase of the land, the development of the land, and every other aspect has GST on it that the end consumer can't pass on," Barfoote, director of Barfoote Construction in Whangārei, said.

He said if a property cost about $600,000 probably the best part of $100,000 was GST.

Another problem adding to the chronic shortage in the region, he said, was getting workers as opposed to getting jobs.

Post Covid, Barfoote said, Northland needed to address infrastructure projects, with the region having to rely on reasonably significant levels of government expense going forward.

"I think it's important that we put our money into projects that will benefit the country in the backside of this, for generations to come. Because it will be the generations to come that will pay for it."

He welcomes moving the Ports of Auckland to Northport, saying any development in Northland was welcomed as it had been a forgotten region over the years.

The loss of hundreds of jobs at Carter Holt Harvey's LVL plant and possible job cuts at Refining New Zealand would be tough for Northland's economy, he said.

On restructure of local government in Northland, his view is to probably amalgamate Kaipara and Whangārei district councils and cut the Far North District Council off on its own.

Asked about whether he supported the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment, Barfoote was he was against it.

"I think we should steer clear at this point. There's a lot of other countries around the world that are banning them. If we need extra production, I think there's other ways to do it."

Barfoote didn't have any answers to the scourge of methamphetamine but shared a first-hand experience of finding someone dealing with it and despite going to the police station three times, he said the officers failed to get back to him.

"When I went to see them at the police station after that, they said they were so busy tied up with family/domestic violence things that they couldn't attend to it. I think maybe if there was a proper taskforce that dealt with it. I believe, in New Zealand we can stamp it out if the want is there," he said.

The biggest influence in his life has probably been his grandfather, although he has enjoyed the company of a lot of older, wiser people that have always given him good advice.
Here are the questions we asked them all:

What is the biggest single issue facing your electorate and how would you deal with it?

What should be done to help the country recover in a post-Covid world?

Do you support moving the Ports of Auckland's work to Northport at Marsden Pt and why/why not?

Do you support three district councils and one regional council for Northland or do you think they should be amalgamated?

Who has had the greatest influence on your life and why?

What needs to be done to address the chronic affordable housing shortage and inequality within Northland?

What is your position on allowing or prohibiting the release of genetically modified organisms and their products into New Zealand's environment?

What needs to be done to overcome NZ's methamphetamine scourge?
Go to the Northernadvocate.co.nz for video.