Horomia Parekura: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Horomia Parekura: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:241] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 It is a fact that more than 800000 people have signed up to KiwiSaver. I have just heard my colleague from Napier talk about going to workplaces and seeing only one or two people put their hands up to say that they have joined KiwiSaver. There are 800000 people who have put their hands up. 
It was fascinating to listen to the Minister of Finance’s assumptions about those who save. He said that our superannuation scheme is generous. It is generous if people are at the top end of the scale of pay and have a life whereby they can save. But for the 73 percent of Maori in this country who get nothing out of this tax adjustment this is a sad sad day. It is a sad day for Maoridom. I am really sad that the Maori Party has supported this measure. I know that Hone Harawira knows better. I was pleased that at least he was on TV tonight talking about the next exercise which is the 90-day stand-down period bill. Every member of KiwiSaver is worse off under National’s adjustment. 
There will be trouble with portability. It will be very interesting to follow up Mr Foss’ statement that he has it organised. That is hard to believe. Who was he talking to? The bureaucrats or the Ministers? It cannot be sorted out because there is an incompatibility between the structure and design of the two schemes. I think he was telling a short one. 
People are worse off. A Maori who worked in the 1950s the 1960s and the 1970s could never save because he or she was on a low income. The last time Maoris ever got into saving was in the 1950s and 1960s when we had the little pink Squirrel savings books at school. I think Pakeha had them too. Children had to take their threepence or whatever it was along to school every Wednesday and put it in. That is a similar alignment to the design of the National Government’s KiwiSaver programme. 
I go back to the statements made by the leader of the National Party. They were very very interesting. What did he say? He said he was and continues to be supportive of what Labour was doing in relation to KiwiSaver. I am not too sure but I wonder whether the Minister responsible for this measure is waiting for him to trip up. Mr Key said in May 2008: “We haven’t finalised our KiwiSaver programme yet but there will be compulsory employer contributions. They’re likely to be at pretty similar levels to what is outlined in the legislation at this point.” That is what people talked to Chris Tremain about in those coffee shops during their lunch breaks. They talked about those levels. Then Mr Key said: “Well we’ve always said that we’ve got concerns about certain aspects of KiwiSaver we’ve also said that there would be a KiwiSaver. I didn’t like the first version that Michael Cullen had because there wasn’t really much in it and that’s why he beefed it up in Budget 2007.” This is a sinister manipulative calculated move to undermine one of the best schemes in this country. 
Let us talk about low-income people who have never saved. What is wrong with contributing 4 percent? Mr Tremain’s mathematics are quite interesting. He talks about the $1040 but what he does not talk about is the fact that he has taken 50 percent of the injection into the accumulated figure. He has taken it away. He has flogged it. That will put pressure on low-income people who will get nothing out of this. There was a culture that was delivering. People knew that in 7 to 10 years they would have a putea a nest egg that would help them to go forward. Now there is an assumption that if we stimulate business and keep it all up in the macroeconomic area around the big-business boys they will trigger activity down at the bottom and everybody will be right. Never mind the poor people. Never mind the low-income people. That is what Bill English has done. He has gutted KiwiSaver without going to the people without declaring it— 
Hon Bill English 
: We had an election. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Yes National won the election—that is dead right. But that is the sort of arrogance that is starting to spurt out in this House. It is sheer arrogance. They are taking from the poor and giving it to the rich.