Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): If the House will indulge me this is the first time I have spoken in the House in some time and I do want to acknowledge the grave situation we face as a world and a country as coronavirus spreads. I simply want to say that we can help keep ourselves safe. I know many New Zealanders are undertaking significant efforts to do that. We do also have some of the most incredible doctors and nurses and medical professionals in the world and I simply want to say that we back their efforts we back those businesses who are trying to get through this and we will indeed get through this.This is a good bill. The reason it is a good bill is because it does the kind of fixing up and remedying of little issues that can happen in the law that don't account for circumstances that we then see down the track. The particular circumstance which I want to focus on in this contribution is that of those people who for reasons which are fundamentally unjust have previously been prevented from accessing their KiwiSaver funds before they die. This is something that I don't think lawmakers had anticipated but as it has played out we've been able to respond to it. Other contributions in this debate have talked about it and the clear example that brought it to light as is so often the case was the advocacy of Joan Fairhall and Tim Fairhall. Tim who's Down syndrome is likely to live for less time than most people and has feared that he would be unable to access his KiwiSaver funds that he has worked hard for many years to contribute to and to grow. This problem was made apparent to the lawmakers of this Parliament and the lawmakers of this Parliament set about thinking about how we could confront that situation.I have had a small role in this in that when I saw that injustice I quickly rang Joan and said Well let's make a bill. Let's see what we can do to fix this because it's just wrong." And I did draft a bill. Today I'm pleased that this piece of legislation will pass and will mean that my bill is no longer necessary. It means that we won't have to have the delay of waiting for my bill to be drawn from the ballot and in fact people like Tim Fairhall will be able to make an early withdrawal of their KiwiSaver funds.I want to commend the House on coming together to make this amendment because too often in this Parliament things can become about who thought of the idea first and we can have silly games. Actually let this be an example of how we can make faster change when we cooperate and take suggestions from both sides of the House.So here today we should acknowledge that for Tim this is important but also it is important for a wider group of people because there are many in New Zealand who have life-shortening conditions who will for some reason or another want to access their KiwiSaver funds before they die—to enjoy them. I think it's particularly useful that this bill doesn't preclude those people continuing to work while they use those KiwiSaver funds. There had been a suggestion from the Minister that they should have to retire from paid work in order to access their KiwiSaver funds. Of course that would have been unjust because those of us who are going to live long lives—or wish that we will live long lives—are able to keep working once we access our KiwiSaver funds. Why should it be any different for people who for circumstances outside of their control may not be able to lead those long lives?So I am pleased that Tim cannot only under this bill access his KiwiSaver funds and take that overseas trip that he so wants to take to see his brother and to see his friends but that also when he returns he can keep working at Countdown because that gives him great purpose and great joy. Actually from everything I've seen and heard it gives the people who shop at Countdown and his co-workers great pleasure and great joy.I also just want to take a moment to commend the role of the advocates in our community who make us lawmakers aware of these loopholes and problems in our law that sometimes we can be blind to. In this case Tim has been his own wonderful advocate. His mother Joan has been absolutely ferocious and ongoing in her advocacy and to me is a symbol of what a mother's love can achieve which is not only highlighting the case of her son and the greater injustice that that presented but also making a change for many others by simply appealing to the compassion and empathy of lawmakers. I will never forget going down to the West Coast a year and a half ago now and spending a few hours before Christmas with Joan Tim and his dad and the look in their eyes when they said to me "Nicola just do what needs to be done. Get this done. Make people listen. We need to make this change." Well today Tim and Joan we're making this change. Parliament has worked together for the better of us all. Thank you.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson): The next call is a split call. David Seymour."