Carter DavidRt Hon DAVID CARTER (National): Oh Madam Chair Tolley thank you very much. I want to acknowledge the Minister of Revenue the Hon Stuart Nash in the chair and I hope that he will help me with a few answers to the questions that I raise. The first question I have is a very basic question: why is it called the winter energy payment—why is it called the winter energy payment? Because when I look at the purpose the purpose of the winter energy payment is to provide targeted—and I want members on the other side of the Chamber to note that word targeted"—financial assistance to help certain people meet their household heating costs during the winter period.Now Mr Nash when he took his earlier call talked about targeting 40000 kids who lived in unacceptably cold houses through the last winter. If it's targeted to those people and only to those people he's got my support. But I don't think it is targeted. Because maybe the Minister is not aware but I'm going to receive it and I don't think I do live in a cold uncomfortable house in the winter. I don't need it and therefore I cannot see that it is targeted.My second point—reading the purposes—is it says it is for people to meet their household heating costs. How will the Government ensure that the payment of $750 to a superannuitant is used to meet their energy costs? Because I suspect some might look on the internet and see an Air New Zealand Grabaseat option to go from Christchurch to Nadi for a couple of weeks in Fiji. And that's what they could use their $750 for and I want the Minister to tell me how he will know that that won't happen.Then the other one that's been raised in the committee today is the question of superannuitants who are then out of the country for more than 28 days and whether they will continue to receive the payment. The Minister in his earlier comments said that there's a memorandum of understanding between Customs Service and the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). So I want the Minister to tell the committee how effective that memorandum is. Does it catch 100 percent of superannuitants who last year took a good Grabaseat fare and took that flight from Christchurch to Nadi? Did it catch them if they were out of the country for more than 28 days?Because I've got to say as a recent superannuitant I didn't know about the need to inform MSD if I was out of the country for 28 days and I suspect a large number of other superannuitants don't know that either. So I want the Minister to tell us to get to his feet and explain to the committee succinctly: how effective is this memorandum of understanding and how many people did it catch last year who left the country and did not inform MSD that they'd done so? Because I suspect it's not an effective mechanism and if it's not an effective mechanism then people will continue to take this payment whilst they're out of the country.The other question I want raised and clarified—and it would be better if it was done early in the debate rather than later—listening to the comment from the earlier speaker Matt King is there is confusion about whether there is auto-enrolment or whether it's a matter of going to MSD to enrol. I think superannuitants need to have that clearly said to them today in this Chamber. Is it auto-enrolment for all superannuitants whereby effectively they get a winter energy payment but it is not necessary for winter heating costs; it's an addition or a discretionary spend.The other question I have for the Minister—so I hope he's making note of all these—is: what adjustment is there to be made to this winter energy payment for different parts of the country which have different mean average temperatures through the winter? The member comes from Napier. Let him tell the committee today: what is the mean monthly temperature in Napier in August as compared to my city of Christchurch or as compared to Sarah Dowie's city of Invercargill? I can tell that Minister. He may not have the figure so let me help him: 10.3 degrees is Napier 7.9 degrees is Christchurch and poor old Invercargill shivers all winter at 6.6 degrees—and sometimes that's not only for August; that could also be for December. So what is the adjustment that's truly made to equate this payment to the actual temperatures that people face?In the last question was any consideration was given to Shane Reti's people who will actually be constituents and pensioners who find they need it in the summer not in the winter?"