Parmar Parmjeet: Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParmar Parmjeet: Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 05 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3183. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): It is with pleasure that I rise to speak to support this bill the Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill in its second reading. Eligible New Zealanders can receive New Zealand superannuation and the veterans pension in the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau under the special portability arrangement. However under this arrangement the eligible people are required to be resident and present here in New Zealand at the time of applying for those benefits. This bill is to remove that requirement of people being required to be resident and present here in New Zealand at the time of applying for those benefits. This amendment will allow eligible people to apply for their New Zealand superannuation and veterans pension from any of these three island countries—the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau—at the age of 65.Currently there are around 650 people receiving New Zealand superannuation in the Pacific. Out of these 650 people around 300 are in the Cook Islands. It is estimated that with this amending legislation going through there will be around 245 people who may benefit and there will be an additional 16 people per annum. If you look at this number of 245 people becoming eligible straight away after this legislation has gone through and then the addition of 16 per annum it does not look like a big number but if we look at the population of Niue or Tokelau then it is a significant number.Some of these people from these island countries have a strong desire to go back to these island countries when they retire. What happens currently is that they live here in New Zealand until they are 65. They apply for these benefits and after that those who wish to go back return to the Cook Islands Niue or Tokelau. They do not want to go back to these islands and once they have reached the eligibility criteria have to come here and apply at the age of 65 because that causes disruption in their lives which is understandable. If they leave New Zealand permanently to go to any of these three island countries of the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau before the age of 65 then they lose their entitlement to receive New Zealand superannuation. So the thinking behind this bill is that those people who wish to return to any of these three island countries before the age of 65 in order to contribute to their island countries should be able to do so and they should not be required to wait until the age of 65. By the time they reach 65 even if they had decided originally to go back to their island countries they may be unable to do so because of so many other factors kicking in like the age factor.So this bill is actually going to fix this situation. This bill is going to remove this requirement of people having to be in New Zealand at the time of applying for their New Zealand superannuation or veterans pension. Currently there is a residence requirement. For people to be eligible for New Zealand superannuation they should have lived here in New Zealand for 10 years since the age of 20 including 5 years after the age of 50 which means that people can go back at the age of 55. That is what this bill is about. After this bill goes through it will make it possible for people to return to these three island countries at the age of 55 and they can then apply for their New Zealand superannuation or veterans pension at the age of 65 from any of these three island countries.This change will not be restricted to only citizens of these three island countries of Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau. Other New Zealanders who are eligible for New Zealand superannuation can also go and retire in any of these three island countries and then apply for New Zealand superannuation when they reach the age of 65. So the question that comes up is why this provision is available to only these three island countries and is not extended to other island countries. As other contributors have mentioned this is because of the special close constitutional ties with these three island countries of the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau because of which they enjoy shared New Zealand citizenship and unique legal arrangements. The Cook Islands and Niue have adopted constitutions enabling them to have self-government in free association with New Zealand. This allows Cook Islanders and Niuean people to share New Zealand citizenship while they run their own affairs whereas Tokelau is a non - self-governing territory of New Zealand.Another concern that came up was about the depopulation of these three island countries. That is again understandable because young people and people with special skills are always looking for opportunities and to get those opportunities they migrate to New Zealand but then these island countries want to get these people back because they are facing this issue of depopulation. With this amendment people will be able to return to these three island countries at the age of 55 so in a way we will be able to help these island countries with this problem as well.In the Social Services Committee we received and considered 13 submissions. Six submissions were heard orally. There were some high-profile submitters as we heard before. I am really grateful to those submitters who took time to make those submissions those who came to the select committee and made their concerns heard.One main area that was very widely discussed was this rule of 5 years after the age of 50. Today also we have heard about this. There is this Supplementary Order Paper 71 from New Zealand First and I understand that the Labour Party also has that concern about the 5 years after the age of 50 rule. This came up because these island countries would like to see these people return to these island countries of the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau before the age of 55 so that they are able to effectively contribute to the economy of these three island countries. But even New Zealanders who go overseas and then come back are also required to fulfil this condition of 5 years after 50 so it would be unfair to remove this condition only for people who want to go back to the Cook Islands Niue or Tokelau. It would be inequitable to remove this requirement for these three island countriesonly.It is hoped that these changes will benefit these three island countries. It is very difficult to quantify the benefit that these three island countries will have in dollar terms and it is also difficult to quantify the cost of this amendment to us here in New Zealand. As I said before we know that it is estimated that 245 people will be benefiting from this legislation going through. There will be this cost of paying superannuation to these 245 people. Then there is this rate of 16 people per annum who will be added to the list so there will be that additional cost to the Crown. Also it is likely that more people will be returning to these island countries because after this legislation goes through they will be able to go back at the age of 55. This money that is paid in New Zealand superannuation will not be in our economy’s circulation; it will be in the circulation of their economies so that will benefit those island countries. That is another cost to us. It is very difficult for us to calculate the exact dollar value of the benefit for these three island countries or the cost to us here in New Zealand. Overall this bill is a positive step towards our relationship with these three island countries. I support the bill and commend it to the House. Thank you.