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Leaky home - Source: ONE News -
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Bill English is standing firm on leaky homes, saying there is no chance the government will top up the offer of paying 25% towards the cost of fixing damaged properties.
Despite making changes to the building act in the early 1990s, Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson told TVNZ'S Q+A programme the government is not to blame.
"I think the blame game's been played for too long and it's a systemic failure, there isn't any one factor ... if we spend our entire life trying to go back in history we would find it was a systemic failure across the board," Williamson said.
The Bolger government passed the Building Act of 1991, which allowed untreated timber and monolithic cladding to be used on homes.
Williamson said these decisions were made by an independent standards body, rather than cabinet.
"It was decided by a separate agency under the New Zealand Standards Authority, they are statutorily independent. No decision came before a cabinet or any ministers either by way of regulation or legislation."
The government announced this week it will pay 25% of the cost of repairs, local councils will put in another 25% and the home owners themselves will pay the remaining 50%.
