Coffey TamatiTAMATI COFFEY (Labour—Waiariki): Malo e laumalie—that there is my contribution to Tongan Language Week. It doesn't get much better than that so with respect I'll leave it there.Let me make my contribution to this the KiwiSaver (Foster Parents Opting in for Children in their Care) Amendment Bill. KiwiSaver is something that we are big fans of over on this side of the House. We want to ensure that the financial health of New Zealanders is good is safe and is strong and that we're setting future New Zealanders up for the best possible financial foundation that they can have. Based on that over on this side of the House we're actually going to support this through to select committee because we see it as being vital for consideration. It pains me the thought that we have to actually stand here and talk about this—that it hasn't already been included—but for good reason we're standing here and we're talking about it now. When it comes to KiwiSaver around 31 percent of New Zealanders aged 17 years old and under are enrolled in KiwiSaver but there's a little stipulation there that actually if you're a foster parent that's not quite applicable to you just yet so that's why we're having this conversation here. The purpose of this bill is to make it possible for any foster parent or kin carer to approach a KiwiSaver provider and to open an account for a foster child in their care. We believe that it's important that children have the ability to be able to set themselves up for a good future—or in terms of foster children that the foster parents have the ability to set them up for a good future—so that's why we're going to support the bill through to the select committee although we do it with a few caveats. There are a few stipulations that we want to suggest that the select committee look into as it moves forward through the process. First of all we would like the select committee to take on board the serious issue around whether there are reasonable benefits of early enrolment to KiwiSaver when those that are under 18 don't receive the compulsory employer contributions or the member tax credit. The member tax credit—let's talk about the last Government and what they did around that. What they did in fact was they decreased it. They took it from $1042 down to $521 they removed the $1000 kick-start payment and they also introduced an employer superannuation contribution tax. So not the best record from their point of view but from our side we're just wanting to know about that particular reason. Also what happens to accounts with little or no money in them—as my colleague Jan Logie said—when they accrue fees? Unfortunately fees can be kind of horrendous when it comes to KiwiSaver accounts. When you've got a young person that has one of these accounts and they're accruing fees and maybe not much money is going into it are we in fact setting them up for a future of failure or potentially a big bill at the end of it? So that's something that the select committee needs to look into moving forward. Is this bill in line with other financial delegations over children in care that rest with Oranga Tamariki and not with foster parents? We also noted in the general policy statement that KiwiSaver provider Simplicity has offered not to charge fees for children in care. So that sounds great but we ask the question: how do you compel foster parents to actually choose that particular KiwiSaver provider and what happens when the child in care turns 18 and is no longer a child in care? These are some of the issues that need addressing. Also I guess at a more technical level we've also identified a couple of things as well. For instance KiwiSaver scheme providers have processes to confirm guardianship of a child but not the position of a foster parent of a child. The bill itself in the general policy statement offers at least two options for how enrolment would practically work but it might need to be investigated just a wee bit more. We're very passionate about KiwiSaver on this side and we look forward to tracking progress through the select committee. We are happy to support it at this stage. I hope that when this bill comes back before the House we will have answers to some of those issues that were raised by the select committee process. I look forward to seeing how it tracks. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I commend it to the House.