Newman Muriel: Social Security (Long-term Residential Care) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Newman Muriel: Social Security (Long-term Residential Care) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:622;Page:17356] 
Dr MURIEL NEWMAN (Deputy Leader—ACT) 
: 
 I rise to give a contribution on the title of this bill. The title that springs to mind is “Another Labour Party Broken Promise Bill”. This bill is a Labour Party broken promise and a half-hearted attempt to try to get it through before the election. However we know that this legislation does not come into force until July and also that the asset testing that will be addressed is simply a minimal part of what Labour promised at the 1999 election. I do think that a more appropriate title for this bill would be the “Crippling of the Aged-Care Sector Bill”. We heard from many submitters that if this bill goes through it will cripple the sector and drive many of the providers out of business and that there is already a crisis in the sector. This is a crisis for those organisations that one could call social providers. They are the churches the charitable groups—I raise a point of order Madam Chairperson. What appears to be rather a robust conversation is going on. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: When members are speaking from the cross benches it is really difficult for the speaker. 
Dr MURIEL NEWMAN 
: The social providers are being crippled by this Government. The interesting thing is that a healthy society needs a vibrant and flourishing civil society. Social providers like The Salvation Army and Presbyterian Support New Zealand are organisations that are absolutely fundamental to the strength of civil society and the Labour Government wants to close them down. I do not think that anyone would mind if it did it in an open and honest way and just shut them down but Labour does it by stealth. It stabs them in the back and crushes them by stealth. How does it do that? It squeezes them out. 
We heard from organisations that told us about the costs involved such as $36000 for an audit and $100000 for certification. They talked about the increases in accident compensation levies that had been introduced by Labour the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Service the costs of the Employment Relations Act the Holidays Act and so on. It became very obvious that the sector which did not have any increases at all at a time when Labour was increasing costs was caught between a rock and a hard place and as we know it had nowhere to go. 
The Labour Government is squeezing those charities and organisations—which have been there for years—out of the sector. It is nationalising aged care in New Zealand by stealth. I believe that the Government should at least be honest. This bill should be called the “Nationalisation of Aged Care in New Zealand Bill”. If it had a title like that then every Kiwi would understand what Labour is trying to do. The fact that the Minister has not taken even one call in this debate during the Committee stage means that we have hit the nail on the head. So the thoughts we have been promoting about how Labour wants to close down those social service providers are correct. Maybe the Minister in the chair will take a call to correct the record. Otherwise what we know is that Labour intends to nationalise aged care in New Zealand and all those other providers will just have to wait. Their time will come and they will be squeezed out as well. 
It is a sad day when members have to take calls in debates like this. This is poor legislation. It is not good law. It will be incredibly costly to taxpayers in New Zealand. Many of them are already struggling. They do not need legislation that is designed to buy votes for Labour at the next election. That is not what the House should be all about. We should be passing good laws that are needed by our community and our society. We should not be passing laws that are simply aimed at trying to give the Labour Party another term in office. This is a sad day for New Zealand.