An angry Queenstown-Lakes mayor has hit back at National Party leader Christopher Luxon’s election pledge to "help" his council consent land to house a proposed greater influx of migrant workers, saying the council needs help with housing infrastructure, not planning.
Mr Luxon used Skyline Queenstown gondola’s observation deck as the venue to announce National’s $22million, six-point plan to boost tourism yesterday.
One of the plan’s components is easing restrictions on migrant workers, including lifting the upper age for working holiday visas from 30 to 35 years, and allowing people to apply for a second and third work visa.
Mr Luxon said he hoped the measure would bring thousands more migrant workers into the country each year.
When pressed on the measure heaping further pressure on the crisis-level shortage of worker housing in Queenstown, Mr Luxon said a National government would ask every council in the country to consent 30 years’ worth of land for housing.
"At the moment, council’s not helping the issue by not consenting land to actually add and build houses into Queenstown to support those workers," he said.
However, Queenstown-Lakes Mayor Glyn Lewers told the Otago Daily Times he challenged the notion his council was not consenting enough land for housing.
"We don’t need help with consenting land, we need help funding infrastructure [for housing] for that consented land," Mr Lewers said.
"If we look at the end of this calendar year, it will be a record year for immigration, no matter who’s in power.
"How we house them is the fundamental issue we’ve got to deal with, and it’s not an issue we can deal with in two to three to four months.
"It’s [caused by] structural problems that [have] happened over 20 to 30 years."
Mr Luxon said it was important to have a programme that linked together infrastructure and immigration with economics.
He referenced previously flagged policies to unwind the bright line test and interest deductibility and create build-to-rent programmes as ways to bolster housing availability.
Part of National’s solution would be to fund "really good housing providers" such as the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust — "one of the best housing trusts in the country".
Housing trust chief executive Julie Scott, who attended the briefing, said as of Wednesday there was a record 1048 eligible households on the trust’s waiting list for a roof over their head.
"That number’s going up every day — every day’s a new record."
The trust was unique in that it operated across the housing continuum, and "we need from government a long-term pipeline of social investment ... to support all aspects of that".
"I am reasonably confident National are keen to do that."
Mr Luxon also used the announcement to rule out a National government introducing a "bed tax" to levy tourists to help low-rating base destinations such as Queenstown pay for infrastructure needed for tourism.
"The reality for us — in the cost of living crisis — [is] that is not the right answer for New Zealand at this point in time," he said.
But Mr Lewers "fundamentally" disagreed with that stance.
"Their argument is that it taxes domestic tourists, but domestic tourists have a choice about whether or not they want to come to Queenstown," he said.
"I think it’s a spurious argument frankly, if we don’t actually price the people that create the demand on our infrastructure."
The bed tax was needed as a "circuit breaker" for the increasing demands on ratepayers to fund the growth of tourism in the district, the mayor said.
"When you look at our forward projections where residential growth is at 1.9% for the next 10 years ... and our tourism growth’s running at 3.9%, that burden on ratepayers is going to get worse."
National intends to use unallocated revenue from the International Visitor Levy to boost tourism over four years.
The plan also includes.—
■Creating a new 80km Great Walk in the South Island at Waiau-Toa Molesworth.
■Electrifying the New Zealand Cycle Trail, with $3m to co-invest in e-bike chargers.
■Investing $5m over four years to promote regional events.
