Logie Jan: KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3848. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green):I rise to take probably a fairly short call on clause 3 of the KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill the amendment to the principal Act the KiwiSaver Act 2006.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Oh you’ll spin it out.JAN LOGIE: I may not Mr Brownlee. I may not spin it out. There is a valid point I would like to make in relation to this. This is just about amending the KiwiSaver Act 2006. As has been mentioned earlier it relates to the purpose of that primary Act which I also want to refer to. The purpose of the KiwiSaver Act is to encourage a long-term savings habit and asset accumulation by individuals who are not in a position to enjoy standards of living in retirement similar to those in pre-retirement. That is a key point I would like to address. By amending this Act we need to consider the purpose of the original Act and the role that the $1000 kick-start incentive plays in achieving that purpose.The advice that I am looking at from the Inland Revenue Department from 2011 when it was considering the removal of that kick-start programme was that “this could damage KiwiSaver’s attractiveness to new members. There is a strong psychological boost attached with such an early initial increase in a member’s funds and on balance the potential damage to public perception and to the initial attractiveness of KiwiSaver outweighs the diminishing value of fiscal savings made by reducing or removing the iconic kick-start payment.” So there we have just a few years ago advice directly from the Inland Revenue Department on evaluating the scheme and potential cost-benefit analyses of removing this exact provision of the kick-start contribution. The department is telling us pretty clearly that there is the potential to undermine the entire purpose of the Act. And here we are in Parliament passing this bill under urgency with no ability for the Inland Revenue Department to inform members of Parliament around whether it has potentially changed its mind since then—give it some benefit the Government—or not and there is no ability for the public either to contribute to that point.I feel compelled as well to mention the point around ethics in this provision. This is focused on individuals who are not in a position to enjoy standards of living in retirement similar to those in pre-retirement. I do feel compelled to mention because it has particular value in relation to the kick-start the increasing number of New Zealanders now for whom superannuation represents a step up rather than a step down in terms of their incomes. All too many people with disabilities who are locked out of the employment market or who for reasons of sickness are on a benefit are living below the poverty line. When they reach the age of retirement to them superannuation is just so much more generous than the conditions that they are living in on a daily basis. We have such low poverty in our older population relative to our younger population—a rate of 3 percent compared with over 20 percent in our children—that we do need to be looking at that issue and we do need to be looking at levels of debt in this country and savings is a key aspect of that.The most recent research that we have available to us shows that the top 10 percent in New Zealand own over 51 percent of the wealth and the bottom 20 percent of New Zealanders—and you know that is a fifth of our population 20 percent stating the obvious—have zero or little wealth and are often in negative. They are in debt. This $1000 this whole purpose of KiwiSaver is in some part to shift that round. It is actually just to say that as a society we are all better off the more equal we are. It is the role of Government when the market fails and actually I would just say in terms of helping us look after each other to recognise that we are all in this together. There is a role for Government and that relates to the purpose of this clause the bill and the purpose of the KiwiSaver Act 2006. Thank you.