Housing Minister Phil Twyford has pulled out of the KiwiBuild Summit as he has papers before Cabinet.
Housing Minister Phil Twyford has pulled out of the KiwiBuild Summit as he has papers before Cabinet.
Housing Minister Phil Twyford has pulled out of a speaking engagement at the KiwiBuild Summit later this month ahead of the policy's reset.
He was scheduled to be one of the keynotes speakers at the event in Auckland on June 24, but a spokesperson said he had papers before Cabinetthis month so he needed to be in Wellington on that day.
In January, Twyford announced that the KiwiBuild policy would undergo a reset after it did not achieve the numbers that had been anticipated in the early months of the programme.
By next month, Twyford had expected 1000 KiwiBuild homes to have been built but this morning he revealed just 120 have been constructed since the policy was launched.
The KiwiBuild reset was expected to be unveiled this month – but Twyford this morning would not go into detail about timing.
Asked if Twyford had pulled out of the event because the papers he was preparing for Cabinet were to do with the reset, the spokesperson said: "the Minister doesn't discuss what happens at Cabinet".
National Party MP Judith Collins: "It is starting to look like Phil Twyford is trying to reshuffle himself out of the Housing portfolio." Photo / Mark Mitchell
National's housing spokesperson Judith Collins said Twyford pulling out of the summit at a time when the policy is in such trouble showed "a lack of leadership and belief in his own policy.
"It is starting to look like Phil Twyford is trying to reshuffle himself out of the Housing portfolio."
The KiwiBuild Summit's website has changed in recent weeks to remove any reference to Twyford being at the event.
But cached versions of the same webpage from May show Twyford was going to take the stage at 9.55am to deliver a "KiwiBuild Overview".
"KiwiBuild is working to deliver 100,000 modest, affordable homes over the next decade. A review of the last 12 months, progress made and new initiatives to assist the industry to deliver," was scheduled, according to the description of his speech on the site.
Since then, Twyford has backed away from that 100,000 figure and wouldn't comment on a target until after the reset has been announced.
Minister of Building and Construction Jenny Salesa is scheduled to attend the event but will not be speaking.
Other speakers at the event include Fletcher Building residential & development chief executive Steve Evans and head of Kiwibuild Delivery Helen O'Sullivan.
Twyford was meant to be on a panel discussing KiwiBuild standards but is no longer listed as one of the panellists.
