Ngaro AlfredHon ALFRED NGARO (National): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. I rise to take a call in the third reading of the Social Assistance (Residency Qualification) Legislation Bill. It's a proud day for myself being a descendant of the Cook Islands and also too I want to acknowledge Poto Williams the Assistant Speaker who also is a descendant of the Cook Islands as well. I want to acknowledge the Hon Kris Faafoi who is a descendant of the island of Tokelau and being that there's no one in the House of Niuean descent I might just claim that because my wife is half-Niuean as well—from the beautiful island of Niue the village of Mutalau and from the Fuemana family. Hon Carmel Sepuloni: So is my son—from Mutalau. Hon ALFRED NGARO: Oh sorry I want to acknowledge others on the other side that may have some connections as well. Those three nations are acknowledged as nations of the Realm and they have a very special relationship. In fact it's so special that when people sing the national anthem they may think that in the words where it says to Guard Pacific's triple star" those are the three nations of the Realm that are regarded in that vein because it is not only a protectorate relationship but also a provision of support right across not only the House but also too in our relationship throughout the Pacific region. This bill is significant and I want to commend the Government of the day for supporting this work which actually began in 2014. At that time the Hon Murray McCully had been petitioned for some time and he was asked about changes that could be made around the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act of 2001 and also the Veterans' Support Act. He was asked if they could be amended be changed in order to give portability of the pension especially around the issues of depopulation for those particular three Realm nations where the impact to the economy and the impact to the social fabric of those communities and those very small Island nations was dependent on a return. That was the hope—that they would return back someday to their homelands. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case. So the hope of this bill of this change and of these amendments is to try and address those issues. I put that on record and I think that's critically important. I also too want to acknowledge that the changes that were made in 2015—and I was fortunate to be able to chair the Social Services Committee at that time. I have to say on the record that I'm not sure whether in this Parliament we have actually ever had two heads of State—we had the Hon Henry Puna from the Cook Islands and the Premier of Niue the Hon Toke Talagi who came and presented their submissions to the select committee. Again I think it's a rare occasion but on that occasion they made their submissions and their submissions were based on the principle that this portability of the pension would allow their people who have left the Islands to return back home and again bring back with them experience expertise and qualifications that would benefit the welfare the well-being the prosperity and the peace of those Island nations as well. So that's why it became critically important to us in this regard. I think what's also important again is that this relationship has been valued to the point that in 2017 the Hon Murray McCully actually wrote a letter to the Minister for Social Development at that time and I actually think it might have been you Madam Deputy Speaker at that time which—I'm not wanting to bring you into the debate. But it was to actually petition the cause that when the Act came into force in 2015 there was a provision to review that within two years. Now the costing around that—potentially it would have cost the New Zealand taxpayers around about $5 million. In fact over two years it only cost a million dollars. So on that principle also too with added lobbying from the three Realm nations it was felt by the Minister of Foreign Affairs at that time that we should actually make the changes to remove the ability to be present and resident in New Zealand so that those of the Realm nations could return back having served 10 years of residency and having been present in New Zealand and could then actually serve the rest of those five years to be eligible for the superannuation in those realm nations—in fact the bill actually states that it can be a combination of all three of those nations as well. So I want to state that I think and believe that that's critically important and this bill has had a long history. It's a history that we would say can be shared right across the House now because this current Government is now continuing on the roles that are really important in that regard as well. I want to also too put on the record that in recent times people have questioned the contribution of those in Pacific. In fact not just in recent times but over a number of years people have asked what is the contribution to the Pacific nations and what have they actually contributed to both New Zealand as a society and also its history and its heritage. I go back to the fact that in 1917 and in fact in this very House—and the Hon Peeni Henare was here when we re-enacted the service that was held there in this House in this Chamber to acknowledge the Rarotongan regiment the contingent that first came through here. It was acknowledged—the fact of their contribution—when Sir Māui Pōmare realised after Gallipoli that there was a shortage of those who could contribute to the war efforts of World War I so he went across to the Realm nations. He went to the Cook Islands where they contributed up to 500 throughout that period of time over the next three years. He then went to the island of Niue where they contributed over 147. So if one was to calculate per capita what the Pacific contributed even though New Zealand contributed over 100000 and lost 18000 men and women over that period of time the Pacific region per capita contributed more. I want to acknowledge that and I want to put that on record. So its contribution is actually one that should be noted and it has contributed over that period of time. In World War II when there was a workforce shortage again it was New Zealand that went across to the whole of the Pacific region and one will see that from the migrations from 1946 right through to the 1950s and 1960s we had a number from the Pacific region who came and made a contribution. So we would say that at that period of time the contribution to the workforce and to the development of New Zealand was contributed by our Pacific neighbours who came along as well. So they certainly deserve to be able to be acknowledged and recognised and this also recognises the special relationship that they have as well. During the submission process it wasn't all plain sailing. There were a number of submissions that actually started to question the impact that this would have. I want to note that from the island of Niue one of the concerns was the fact that more Niueans may return back to New Zealand and serve 10 years after turning 50 which would adversely affect Niue itself. Niue has a population of around 11000 to 12000. There were concerns that they would return to New Zealand and that Niue would depopulate to the point where their public services would actually suffer and so forth. However what was confirmed with both the officials and with our response through our select committee report was that we didn't believe those concerns would actually materialise because we believed there were a number already here in New Zealand—Niueans who had come to New Zealand to gain qualifications development work and expertise—who would return there. In fact that is currently the case. The population of Niue has stabilised and in fact has actually increased over that period of time. So we think that is an important contribution as well. One of the other impacts that was talked about was just in regards to other New Zealanders that were overseas that may have been from the three different nations of the Realm and what would be the impact upon them. The fact is that they had lived overseas over that period of time. What we can say from the officials' advice that we've been given is that as long as they are in countries that have a reciprocal social security agreement then their period of time of residency in those places will be counted in the 10 years after the age of 20 and before the age of 50 and then it could also be contributed to their five years after turning 50 as well. We wanted to put that on record so that it allayed some of the fears over there as well. I think that again right across the House we would agree that this is an important bill. It's a bill that recognises for those small Island nations the importance of the roles and responsibility that they have. In the last few speeches in this House over the last week I've been noted to be able to bring a song with some words to the speech and I want to continue that. I may not sing the song but what I will do is—there's a Cook Islands song that actually was brought to light and it was sung over many times often at parties and in places and everyone thought it was just a party song a great love ballad but in actual fact the song was actually written during World War I. It was written by a wife who was actually serenading her husband as he went off to war. The song talks about: "Aue tāku tane aue taku 'inangaro" ["Oh my dear husband oh my love"].So what it talks about is "Oh to my beloved one. As you go out to the seas we ask that you will return one day". What they used to do in the tradition was they would have two leis that they would give—leis with flowers. They would put one on their beloved one and as they went off they would throw the other one out into the sea. The belief was that one day if the other lei returned back they would return back to them. So this bill talks about the returning of Pacific nations Pacific people back to the homelands to contribute to the welfare well-being peace and prosperity of the Island nations. I commend this bill to the House."