8121 (2026). Hon Kieran McAnulty to the Minister of Housing

8121 (2026). Hon Kieran McAnulty to the Minister of Housing: Why did he ask a member of his staff to request that Kainga Ora urgently provide the “IAF Hutt City variation request” on 11 March 2025 and was that request the result of any information he obtained, as Minister of Transport, about the Melling Interchange or City Link Bridge from NZTA officials at his meeting with them earlier in that day?

Hon Chris Bishop: The Kāinga Ora Status Report for the period 14-20 Feb 2025 noted that a briefing about the variation request was due to me in February 2025. I read this Status Report on 2 March 2025 and noticed I still had not received the briefing. As such, I requested the advice was provided as soon as possible. It is not uncommon for me to ask for late advice urgently [- for example, on 24 February 2026 I told Kāinga Ora to hurry up and provide me with the Home Ownership Products Quarterly Report for the quarter to 31 December 2025]. The variation briefing had still not been received by my office on 11 March 2025, which was when a member of my staff contacted Kāinga Ora asking for it to be provided urgently. The briefing was provided on 12 March 2025. Regarding the second part of this question, I refer the member to the answers to WPQ 8127(2026) and WPQ 8133(2026).