Upston LouiseHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to speak in the first reading the introduction of the KiwiSaver (Foster Parents Opting in for Children in their Care) Amendment Bill that Hamish Walker who's the MP for Clutha-Southland has introduced and had the luck of the members' bill ballot. A bill like this comes as a result of an electorate MP listening to members in their community who arrive in their office with some particular challenges and also with some suggestions.We need to be clear in this House that we are talking about some of the most vulnerable children in New Zealand and ensuring that they have a better future. I'm very proud of the work that we did in our time in office to improve the lives of children in State care and this is another opportunity. It's a very practical sensible piece of legislation that means that if a foster parent wishes to have a KiwiSaver account opened in the name of their foster child they're able to do so. It's quite incredible the process that's currently in place: the chief executive of Oranga Tamariki is the only person who can currently do this. Now the chief executive has an incredibly important role in Oranga Tamariki a relatively new organisation so it is somewhat surprising that this would be the current process. It is absolutely sensible that foster parents or kin carers should be able to open a KiwiSaver account in the name of the foster child in their care. It also relieves some of the burden of the many social workers that are involved in the care of our children who are in State care and I think that anything that we can do to relieve that burden is of course sensible and to be applauded. They do incredible work in our communities—often very hidden but some very very challenging work that they do—so to be able to alleviate a small function like this I think allows them to focus on what really counts with those children. The other thing that I think is important—because the member Tamati Coffey who spoke before me referred to what happens when the child reaches the age of 18. Well I think one of the critical things that this bill makes possible is actually starting a firm financial future for that young person. One of the things that we did in our time was to recognise that when someone reaches the age of 18 it doesn't mean that they should be expected to be fully independent of the parents—in this case the foster parents or kin carers—that have helped guide them through their childhood up to the age of 18. So being able to provide additional support for many young people up to the age of 21 and in some cases up to the age of 25 actually enables this to occur. A child reaches the age of 18 and they have a KiwiSaver account in their name. Our side of the House has an expectation that those foster parents remain in the lives of the children that they have raised to be able to provide guidance and provide advice as they walk through those next critical parts. It might be leaving home going into employment or getting a job and having a KiwiSaver account is of course one of the building blocks of their financial independence. So I think this is a really fantastic bill. It's very simple but also very practical and more importantly it provides a fantastic opportunity for 6000 of our most vulnerable children. I want to again thank Hamish Walker for the incredible work he's done to put a bill into the ballot that we are now debating. I understand some of the comments that the member before me spoke about but I actually don't think he understands the scope of this bill. This is simply about setting up a KiwiSaver account for the opportunity for those foster children across New Zealand and it's great to see that there is at least one KiwiSaver provider that has recognised the special nature of these children in their agreement to waive all fees up to the age of five. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker.