Brown Peter: New Zealand Superannuation and Veterans’ Pensions (Entitlements of Spouses and Partners of People in Long-term Residential Care and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading 
Brown Peter: New Zealand Superannuation and Veterans’ Pensions (Entitlements of Spouses and Partners of People in Long-term Residential Care and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:629;Page:1635] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I do not know whether it is good news or bad news for Mr Key’s wife but after listening to that speech I have to tell the good member’s wife that she will not have to wait 57 years for John Key to become gaga—I think he is well on the way. As for Nick Smith standing up for the people of Nelson if my memory serves me correctly within a fortnight of being made deputy leader he could not stand up for anybody. He was carried out of here—and I think he was actually carried back in. 
There is an old saying—at least I think it is an old saying; if nobody has said it before me I will say it now—that we should judge people not by what they say but by what they do. What did that crowd on the National benches do when it was last in Government? It scaled back superannuation to 60 percent of the net average wage and it wanted to means test superannuation and raise the age of entitlement to 70! And now National is trying to say it is the party of compassion. The only compassion National members have is that they feel sorry for themselves and they will spend a long time sitting there feeling even sorrier. 
Taito Phillip Field 
: Three years. 
PETER BROWN 
: Three years? They will be there for a long time if they try to fool the people of New Zealand with the sort of carry-on that John Key has just indulged in. His contribution was really more about wishful thinking than anything with substance. 
New Zealand First members welcome the New Zealand Superannuation and Veterans’ Pensions (Entitlements of Spouses and Partners of People in Long-term Residential Care and Remedial Matters) Bill. We are absolutely delighted with it. We do question why it has taken so long but now it is here and we hope it will be fast tracked through Parliament. It is very very sad for some New Zealanders whose husband or wife or partner has lost the ability to communicate for one reason or another and ends up in a rest home. The sound member of the partnership is left to cope as best as he or she can on less than adequate funding. The bill will address that problem; it will make it fairer. Those people are living single people’s lives with added responsibility and it is about time we delivered on the issue. It is about time we looked at the issue for war veterans as well and the bill will tidy that up. New Zealand First is pleased also that the period of pension entitlement will be increased from 52 weeks to 156 weeks for mature people who work overseas and give their time and effort for very very good causes. New Zealand First thinks that is a very important issue also. 
But there is much to be done. This is but the start. To quote Winston Churchill—and this quote I think applies to this issue as well as it applied to the one about which he spoke—“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is perhaps the end of the beginning.” That is the case as far as elderly people in this country are concerned. We are at the end of the beginning of addressing their needs. New Zealand First will start a golden age card in this term and that will give— 
David Bennett 
: Oh! 
PETER BROWN 
: Oh the member rubbishes the idea! The member sits there and groans and thinks it is an uncaring idea. Well let me just tell the member that the golden age card will come and it will come in this term of Government—thanks to New Zealand First and in particular thanks to Winston Peters who will steer it through and lead the way on producing a golden age card for New Zealanders. Additionally—and this will happen before the bill comes back—the 65 percent of the net average wage that married couples are currently entitled to will increase in April to 66 percent and it will go up progressively thereafter. It is my understanding that that can be done by regulation for a superannuitant now but that it cannot be done by regulation for a person on a war veterans pension. The bill will tidy that up. The war veterans will receive the automatic increase that superannuitants receive. 
The bill has been a long time in coming. I will not give one iota of credit to any member of the National Party. I am encouraged that National members will support it but when it comes to addressing the problems of the elderly and the aged of this country they have been totally and absolutely remiss—so much so that they should be hanging their heads in shame. When they had the opportunity to address some of the concerns that face elderly folk in this country they walked away they turned their back and they said they would not help at all. In fact they did worse than that: they hindered things and tried to scale back superannuation as I said earlier on. 
We have an ageing population. The aged sector is about 12 percent of the population right now and by the year 2051 it will be closer to 25 percent. It is a sector of our society that we must help. This is the start but it is not the end. New Zealand First will ensure that the concerns of elderly people are uppermost in everybody’s mind in the House. John Key might like to speak light-heartedly in this particular debate but I can assure members that by the end of this session he will be taking it very seriously indeed. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Bring back the leader whoever that is! 
PETER BROWN 
: There is no hope for Tau Henare—no hope whatsoever. But for John Key there might be a glimmer of hope. I can see he is taking what I say seriously and maybe the next time he speaks he will not be so frivolous when he talks about the concerns of the elderly. 
New Zealand First is 100 percent behind the bill and we hope to see it fast tracked through Parliament through the select committee process and back in the House with unanimous support—and genuine support not the rather flippant and frivolous support that the two National members presented. New Zealand First is 100 percent behind the passage of the bill.