King Annette: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
King Annette: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 19 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5380. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Labour—Rongotai) 
: 
 Today Women’s Suffrage Day was a chance for the Government to put up some strong women speakers to praise the women of New Zealand and to congratulate them on 119 years since we received the vote and the work that women have done in this country. But what did we get from the National Party? We got “Crusher” Collins who stood up and insulted everybody and then we got the member for Tauranga Simon Bridges whose only role in this House is to have patsy questions asked about issues that no one has any interest in—lots of insults yelling ranting and raving. 
Well I want to say that some of us are celebrating women’s suffrage today. I started with a celebratory breakfast in good company and lively discussion because 119 years since New Zealand women got the vote is worth celebrating. We were the first country in the world to give women the vote and it is something that we as a nation have been particularly proud of. You only need to look at a country like Switzerland which did not give women the vote until 1971 to know that New Zealand has been a leader in social and economic reforms throughout our history. You only need to go back to the first Labour Government of 1935 which put in place our health system our social security system and our education system much of which has survived today even though we have had periodic attacks by right-wing Governments in the past. We have been international leaders in many issues—nuclear-free New Zealand smoke-free legislation and human rights legislation. For a small country we continue to show leadership in many fields driven by committed compassionate and determined Kiwis. 
But it is not good enough to wallow in the past or to rest on our achievements built up by others who have been prepared to make the right decisions. It is time to look to the future for New Zealand women to look forward say 50 years when a 15-year-old young girl today would be going into retirement. I know that some politicians in this House like to live in 3-year election cycles and to find out if they can get themselves back into power but we should start looking at the growing signs that we have of future problems that are appearing right now that are going to affect young women in the future. 
One of them has to be the cost and the availability of housing for single women. There has been a rise in the homelessness of women. Women are sleeping rough in the streets not just in the big cities of Auckland and Wellington but in places like Nelson. The warning signals are being sent out by those social agencies right now. They are the people who are on the street and who are seeing what is happening day by day. For decades we have had homelessness amongst men. We have accommodated them in night shelters. But now we have a new problem emerging: homelessness amongst single women of all ages. In fact the problem has got so big in Nelson that the Salvation Army is undertaking a major piece of work to focus on why single women are becoming homeless and what plans it could have for housing in the future. It has found increasing numbers of single women are sleeping in cars are couch surfing or are in short-term hostels. 
One of the reasons it has found is housing affordability. It is getting worse. There are fewer low-income homes available. Here in Wellington there is a growing number of homeless women and it is being put down once again to the cost of housing a housing shortage and a lack of jobs. Contrary to the popular belief many of these people are well-educated women. They are not the stereotypical dropouts or checkouts of society that some people may think. 
Look forward 50 years and we are looking at women living to almost 89 years of age. Women will retire on less superannuation than men. Women will still have student loans outstanding when they retire and many of them will not own their own home at retirement age. Combine that with the growing crisis of a lack of affordable housing and the picture is one of poverty in older New Zealanders particularly for women in the not too distant future. Is that a legacy we want to leave to the women of New Zealand?