Wedd Catherine; O'Connor GregCATHERINE WEDD (National—Tukituki): It's a pleasure to rise and speak in support of this bill. As the member across the House the Hon Dr Deborah Russell has already said it makes sensible and practical sense and so we certainly agree on that. It's all really about providing more investment opportunities throughout New Zealand which of course on this side of the House is what we're all about in terms of looking at strengthening our economy and getting it back on track. This will be very positive for New Zealand industries and infrastructure and really helps provide further jobs and opportunities. So overall it's a very positive move because the amendments will remove the restriction on the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and allow it to take a controlling stake in entities in the future.As we've already heard from members the New Zealand Superannuation Fund has been very successful. It's sitting at about $70 billion and is projected to reach $110 billion by the end of the decade. It has a healthy return of 11.9 percent and we've already talked about returns and diversity and making sure that we are diversifying investments to get better returns for New Zealanders. We've heard about that diversity and we've heard that the bill needs to make sure that we are leaving it to the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation to be careful around those investments in ensuring that diversity but the bill will also allow for the Guardians to hold a controlling interest in a business and to take a controlling interest in more operating companies. This is positive because it's removing the control restriction which will enable the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to access a wider group of viable investment partners and opportunities particularly here in New Zealand which is where we want to see more investment and more capital because that's what's going to help grow our economy. Removing the control restriction therefore provides the Guardians with that added extra flexibility and the ability to invest in more projects and more infrastructure and this approach is consistent with the Guardians' mandate I believe to invest the fund on a prudent commercial basis and in doing so manage the fund in a manner consistent with best practice. That's all about again that diversification of investment. But this bill will also promote operational efficiencies and we're all about efficiency—we want to see more efficiency because for the past six years we haven't seen a lot of efficiency—and we will help ensure the New Zealand Superannuation Fund assets are being managed in an optimal way which is what we want to see particularly if we're going to invest in the future for all New Zealanders as we've already talked about with that ageing population. The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has shown since its inception remarkable growth and maturity significantly enhancing its size and its capability and its operational model which is a success story and we agree with that. But there's obviously always room for improvement and that is what this amendment bill is going to achieve by opening up for more investment in New Zealand and opening up more opportunity for capital. This change is pivotal for attracting institutional investors who have confidence in the Guardians' due diligence around investment acumen. When we heard through the select committee the annual review of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund they did talk about this due diligence and they talked about the success of the investments but also it amplifies opportunities for domestic investment. I think the key is the domestic investments because it's all about strategic infrastructure and deepening that capital opportunity. I'd like to take this opportunity to look at a couple of the investments because we've got a few case studies in the annual review here and they look at some of the industries that the New Zealand Superannuation Fund is investing in in New Zealand. I was particularly interested in the agriculture investments which we're seeing in the sector in New Zealand and there are dairy investments in here there's horticulture there's viticulture and hops—Dan Bidois: Fruit bowl.CATHERINE WEDD: Absolutely—as we've already said it is good for Hawke's Bay and for Tukituki Hastings the fruit bowl of New Zealand because that is where there has been some investment. There's been investment here in our apple orchards in our intellectual property apple varieties which fetch a premium in the international markets.This industry really needs investment at the moment because this capital helps add value to the produce that we export to our global markets around the world and that's what we're trying to do. It is to always fetch a higher premium for our products on the global stage. The partnerships which they talk about in here that the New Zealand Superannuation Fund has have given our exporters that capital to invest in global growth strategies and it's given them the ability to increase per hectare returns which again is very positive and is a long-term investment in land. But it is also to introduce new orchard management techniques and other new agriculture innovation which all takes capital and investment. This is what creates jobs and opportunities in our regions. So this type of investment is really important and particularly at this time in our primary industries and within our agriculture sector where they've been doing it very very tough for these past six years. It's been very challenging and I'm hearing all the time that there's a lot of red tape and regulation and we have to remove that to get these businesses moving. But also they want to see more access to capital and that's what this comes back to too. If we open up this opportunity there's going to be more access to capital in New Zealand which means that we've got a better opportunity to strengthen our economy but also futureproof for the future in terms of New Zealanders and that access to superannuation.We all know we have major infrastructure needs in this country which is another area where we may see some benefits when it comes to financing through the Superannuation Fund and it's likely that an entity like the New Zealand Superannuation Fund would in future choose to invest in the controlling entities in these sorts of assets and in many other assets that are targeted at infrastructure in New Zealand. We've already talked tonight about the roading and obviously we need better roading and infrastructure in New Zealand because we have an infrastructure deficit. So this certainly opens up more opportunity there for capital in terms of that investment. But granting the New Zealand Superannuation Fund the ability to hold controlling interests aligns with the practice of many global sovereign wealth funds that have transitioned to managing more capital in-house as they mature. So this aligns internationally and I think that's really really important as well because we need to be looking globally and looking internationally because that's where there is opportunity.Coming back to superannuation: as we all know here in New Zealand New Zealanders aged 65 and over receive New Zealand superannuation payments which are paid for by our taxpayers today. But over the next decade the New Zealand population will age significantly as we've touched on here and Statistics New Zealand—I just thought it was interesting to maybe touch on a few stats because I think that they are quite mind-boggling when you do think about these stats and what we're facing into the future. During the 2020s almost a quarter of a million more New Zealanders will reach 65 and over and will be claiming that super and so by the late 2050s they're predicting that we're going to see that one in every four New Zealanders will be 65 or older. Now this means that in the future New Zealand will have more people of retirement age as a proportion of the population than ever ever before and so there will be fewer working-age people to pay tax to fund the greater cost of retirement. These projections have significant implications for the ability of future Governments to fund not just a universal superannuation benefit but other vital areas such as health welfare education and law enforcement. I'm the chair of the New Zealand Population and Development Committee and our population make-up here in New Zealand is changing because of our country's fertility rate at the moment. We have record-low birth rates. At the moment we've got 1.56 births for every woman in 2023 so our country's fertility rate has been a lot lower than the replacement rate of 2.1. I talk about this because it is actually quite relevant to what we're talking about because we are seeing an ageing population where we are going to have to think about our healthcare workers and the superannuation that our over-65s will be claiming. Look in my home region of Hawke's Bay 19 percent of our population there is over 65 which is higher than the national average of 17 percent. So this is certainly an area that we have to think about. Superannuation is key to the stability of this country and that is why I commend this bill to the House. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Thank you and I'd just say Ms Wedd if you're going to drift off the bill like you did at least make it interesting and pertinent to the Speaker. So thank you—and here's a challenge for the next speaker.