Hawkins George: Social Assistance (Payment of New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Overseas) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hawkins George: Social Assistance (Payment of New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Overseas) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 20 October 2009. Volume:658;Page:7298. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 I will take a short call; there are some points I want to make. This Social Assistance (Payment of New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Overseas) Amendment Bill was tabled by a Labour Government and it was good to hear the Hon Ruth Dyson speaking earlier. This bill will give some certainty and it is interesting that we are using urgency to pass it through all its stages. That is a really good use of urgency because it will give some certainty to a lot of elderly New Zealanders. I congratulate Paula Bennett the sole member of the executive here in the Chamber. I think it would have been good if she had led the debate but John Carter did a very good job as the Minister for Senior Citizens. He got up quite enthusiastically. 
This bill will give a lot of certainty to some people mainly to those who draw superannuation but also to veterans. Of course many other New Zealanders may not have the same certainty. What will happen to New Zealand superannuation? I heard a rumour this morning that in the long term the Government—if it ever gets re-elected; I do not suppose it will be so we should not worry about it—will raise the age of superannuation to 67 or even 68. If I were a young person in my 50s I would be really worried because that could happen. I think that people need to be aware that today we are giving certainty to one group but we are not giving complete certainty. What will happen to New Zealand superannuation in the future? That is the real question that will be bothering people who have their ears close to their transistor radio or as John Banks used to say to their crystal set. They will be wondering what is happening long term to their superannuation. We have seen National not support the Cullen fund and that must be a warning sign. 
Hon Damien O’Connor 
: No vision. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Absolutely no vision! If National does not support the Cullen fund and money is not going into it what will happen to those people relative to others? Of course relative to others for those on superannuation whether they get it in one of the 22 Pacific Island countries or in New Zealand things will not be too rosy in the future. When Ruth Dyson tabled this bill there was not the uncertainty there is now. What will happen for those people? Yes it will be great for those who want to live in a Pacific Island country in their retirement. In my electorate Manurewa we have a large Pacific Island community and they will welcome this bill being passed because it will give them choices. It will give them the opportunity to go back home to one of the Islands if they want and enjoy their retirement there. I imagine that that is probably true of people who live in colder parts of New Zealand rather than in the warmer parts that I represent. 
But in the end people ought to be very very suspicious of what will happen with the superannuation scheme in total. I think people will get worried about that when they start to get mixed messages from the Government. John Key said that if anything happened to the scheme he would resign. Bill English might like that. He might think that is quite a good idea. Maybe that is why they have differing opinions on it; I do not know. In the end I think this bill will put current superannuation entitlements into an area that people will not be sure about. 
I am very pleased that Parliament is joining together to pass this bill. It is a small step but it is a very good use of urgency to get the bill through all stages today. I think that is something people will welcome. 
Bill read a second time.