Muller Todd: Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMuller Todd: Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 04 November 2014. Volume:701;Page:554. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty):I am delighted to stand here in support of the introduction of the Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill. It is a great to be talking to a bill that has got such cross-party support and clearly it is going to deliver significant value to the communities of Tokelau Niue the Cook Islands and of course the community of broader Aotearoa.I strongly support the fact that it actually gives portability to New Zealand superannuation and war pensions. I think that has been well covered. It is great to hear that this has been a longstanding debate and discussion which finally this Government is giving effect to. We are obviously very supportive of that. It reflects our longstanding and close constitutional ties with those three countries. It acknowledges their contribution to New Zealand. I think that has already been well canvassed on both sides of the House this evening. But it also reflects this Government’s commitment to ongoing economic and social development.I think this will be a popular bill particularly across those three communities. It is something they have wanted for a while and we are now giving effect to that. I think the opportunity to be able to return home for those communities from the age of 55 and be able to then of course call on superannuation at 65 and in the meantime be able to contribute their skills and expertise is going to be of real benefit to those three countries. Of course it has to be noted that for those communities who currently live in the Bay of Plenty electorate it is highly unlikely they will take up this opportunity because when given the opportunity of Tokelau Niue and Cook Island beaches versus the beaches of Papamoa and Mount Maunganui I do expect that ultimately upon consideration they will stay in the Bay of Plenty.Kris Faafoi: Oh I don’t know about that.TODD MULLER: I am very sure about that. You need to come to Mount Maunganui and see it for yourself.But in all seriousness I do have a good friend of mine who is an educator and teacher from Niue who has been over here for a number of years. He is Niuean born. He tends to go back to his home community every 2 or 3 years. I know specifically in respect of this the opportunity for him when he gets to the age of 55 to be able to go back to his home community and contribute in a more meaningful way with the potential of that portability from the age of 65 onwards I know will be attractive to him. Hopefully many others like him will see the opportunity to potentially move home but do so at a time when they have still got the opportunity to contribute significantly to the economic development and community development of their home countries.It is great to be able to support a bill like this. I look forward to supporting it and to the further discussions that will occur in the Social Services Committee. Thank you.