Hayes JoJO HAYES (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. I stand to take a short call on the Social Assistance (Residency Qualification) Legislation Bill at this third reading. Like my colleagues on this side of the House yes we do support this bill. It has been a long time coming and I admit that but I think the work that Sir Bill English did while he did his tours last year to the Cook Islands was the setting of this particular bill and it was some of the hard work that went in behind it. It's all very well having a bill come but it needs a whole lot of work done behind the scenes and this is what this side of the House did pre-election.The purpose of this bill is to alter the residential qualifications for New Zealand superannuation and the veteran's pension"—as mentioned before—"to allow the requirement that a person also have 5 years' residence and presence in New Zealand over the age of 50 years to be met instead with residence and presence in New Zealand the Cook Islands Niue [and] Tokelau or any combination of those countries".I think this is a very good bill in that it recognises our relationship with those Pacific nations with our Pacific brothers and sisters from the Cooks Tokelau and Niue. It also recognises that yes they are also taxpayers of our system as well and that they too should also have access to our New Zealand superannuation. I guess what I'm saying here is that even though there are the time frames of 10 years' residency over the age of 20 years of age to be able to move back to the Cooks or Niue or Tokelau spending five years post 50 years in those particular countries and Islands will qualify them for New Zealand superannuation or the veterans pension. It actually shows the relationship and the closeness of that relationship between New Zealand and those Islands.Very quickly I just want to talk a little bit about the couple of options that were considered by the Social Services and Community Committee who did a very good job on this. It was option one where "Applicants who move or return to the Cook Islands Niue or Tokelau after … 10 years residence in New Zealand can be eligible for [New Zealand super] after completing five years"—as I've said—"over … 50". Option two though which was never considered for many reasons was that "Applicants would need 10 years residence in New Zealand over the age of 20 if applying from the Cook Islands Niue or Tokelau." There are some slight differences around that: "In this instance the 'five years over 50' rule would not apply to residents in the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau and 10 years in New Zealand would be all that is required."So when we start looking at the two options it was obvious that option one was going to be considered the best option. It was fair it was affordable and it reflected the contribution of people which I talked about just before who have connections to New Zealand and the Cook Islands and Niue and Tokelau. The core residence rule of New Zealand superannuation would not be compromised. These were some of the tests that actually chose option one. Option one would also address the problem by making it easier for people to receive New Zealand superannuation in the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau.As some of my colleagues over here have also said a person who has accumulated 10 years' residence in New Zealand after the age of 20 years would be able to live in the Cooks in Niue or in Tokelau and would be able to use the residence after the age of 50 in those particular Islands to allow them to also qualify for New Zealand super thereby mitigating the depopulation of those Islands that they were suffering through the previous rules. So once this bill reaches its Royal assent then these rules will start to set in and the families or the members that will qualify for superannuation or the veterans pension will be able to stay in those Islands thereby mitigating depopulation.So I too on this side of the House support the bill. I think that it's good that the member the Hon Carmel Sepuloni has been able to pick it up and carry it through and that the Social Services and Community Committee have been able to shepherd this right through to this stage. So it is my pleasure to say once again to you that I wholeheartedly support this bill and commend it to the House. Kia ora."