Bennett Paula: New Zealand Superannuation and Veterans' Pensions (Entitlements of Spouses and Partners of People in Long-term Residential Care and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee 
Bennett Paula: New Zealand Superannuation and Veterans' Pensions (Entitlements of Spouses and Partners of People in Long-term Residential Care and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:631;Page:3504] 
PAULA BENNETT (National) 
: 
 It is with great honour that the National Party supports this bill. I suppose the first thing we should say about Part 1 is that thank goodness we are here to have a debate and to discuss something that should have happened many years ago. It is quite disturbing and quite upsetting to hear that my colleague Nick Smith’s amendment will not go through because it was when he brought this issue to the Human Rights Commission that we saw the Government finally do something about it. This tired Government finally felt that it might do something about this issue. 
Dr Smith had a constituent whose partner was in long-term residential care. He was getting less money than if he were receiving a living alone allowance even though the couple was not living together. It is a tragedy for the elderly people of New Zealand that they have had to wait so long for this bill. It is a tragedy that we cannot back-pay some of them so that they can see this happening. 
Members opposite can sit there and make gestures and think this issue is not important but it is incredibly important to a lot of people who are in the situation whereby they would have to divorce or declare themselves unmarried in order to be eligible for additional payment. This is one of those common-sense changes that needed to happen and it is a tragedy that this Government has taken so long to make it happen. 
I have been wondering whether perhaps the Government just did not think the money was important. In all respect it is not a lot of money that we are talking about. Part 1 which we have changed refers to a payment of some $20 to $30 a week to people. For elderly people who are living in their own homes that can make all the difference for them to be able to get services they really need—for them to be able to buy bread each week or the local paper if they are looking for something a bit more. The situation in terms of Nick Smith’s constituent was that the wife was in a rest home and because the couple still recognised each other the husband was not eligible to get the living alone payment. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: It’s appalling. 
PAULA BENNETT 
: The member is right it is appalling. Because the wife still vaguely knew her husband even though the husband was living alone he was not eligible to get the living alone allowance. We are finally seeing some changes in respect of that. 
The Hon Nick Smith needs to be commended for bringing this issue to the attention of the House. It is ridiculous that Dr Smith had to complain to the Human Rights Commission about this absolute miscarriage of justice as a last resort. A week later interestingly enough the bill was introduced by the Government. Government members now get to spout forth on how important this bill is and what a great job they are doing but I point out that it has taken over 6½ years—6½ long long years. As a new member I constantly hear about what the National Party did wrong in the 1990s and about everything else. We are in a new century and the Labour Government has had 6½ long long years to bring this issue to the attention of members and to do something about it. Without any doubt this issue has not been a priority for the Government. 
Thanks to Nick Smith we are able today to look at this bill and to consider the issues raised. As a member of the Social Services Committee since the last election I would like to say what an outstanding job the committee has done in bringing the bill together and writing it. The experts have put it together well and members have been able to understand it. The bill has been kept relatively simple which I think is important. Simplicity is not something that this Government in particular is generally very good at. It normally likes to complicate things as much as it possibly can and make things difficult for people to understand but in this case it seems to have got it relatively right because it has obviously listened to the officials. 
This legislation should make it quite easy for people who are eligible for living alone payments. Clause 13 relates to a person who is not considered to be living alone if he or she shares household expenses with another person. That is where it all starts to get a bit confusing and that is where people have been let down in the past. That clause is about the sharing of expenses. The reality is that it does cost more to live alone than to live with someone else. When a person is living alone then he or she is the only one who is paying the power and power use does not halve which may be a surprise to some people. A couple’s expenses do not halve because one person has moved out of the house.