Logie Jan: New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill Taxation (New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income) Bill — Third ReadingsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill Taxation (New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income) Bill — Third Readings[Sitting date: 20 October 2015. Volume:709;Page:7375. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green): I rise to take a short call for the Green Party on the legislation arising from the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill. Firstly to engage with the last speaker Jami-Lee Ross and the comments about the Government’s reasons for suspending payments into the New Zealand Superannuation Fund I say that the Green Party actually supported that decision at the time. We do recognise that when you are running a deficit it may not be advisable and the best use of money to continue to put money into a superannuation fund at that time. But at the point where that Government cut the top tax rates we entered into a different situation and from our perspective of putting the focus on future generations and looking to the long term in our decision making in this House we believe that it would have been in the best interests of our society as well as our economy to reinstate payments to the Superannuation Fund at that point rather than to cut the top tax rate.What this legislation does that the Green Party is opposing—and the primary reasons have been outlined by my colleague Julie Anne Genter in her speechpreviously—is it gives the Superannuation Fund more flexibility to invest and maximise returns through the use of fund investment vehicles. For most people in this country who do not typically engage with investment strategies—and we have had interesting research recently around KiwiSaver thattold us that actually we need to be engaging a bit more in the types of investments that we hold—I say that these vehicles will enable amongst other things the greater use of tax havens for tax efficiency and will therefore help limit Crown liability in certain circumstances.So for us we were presented with deciding in relation to this legislation whether our primary focus is on ensuring that return for the country in terms of the Superannuation Fund in this limited perspective or whether we needed to consider wider issues. The fact is that New Zealand as well as the OECD has been engaged in a global and national campaign to protect tax bases for sovereign countries to actually try to rein in the use of tax havens. For us that principle takes primacy—that actually we need as a country to be able to protect our tax base—and we would also fight for the right of other countries to protect those tax bases.Currently we have found out that on last reckoning $1.6 billion is going from the New Zealand Superannuation Fund into a range of investment vehicles based in the Caribbean and that they are notorious for tax avoidance. Therefore although the New Zealand Superannuation Fund has given us assurances that it does not target aggressive tax avoidance measures and that that is not one of its strategies the fact that this is looking to liberalise its ability to engage in investment vehicles that are based in areas where we know there are tax havens and there is a huge amount of tax avoidance happening does seem to be counter-productive which is the basis for our opposition to this legislation.And although we are talking about the security of New Zealand and our tax base for us the primary thing that we should be considering is the divestment from investment in fossil fuels because that is the absolutely fundamental question in front of all of us around the security of our people and this planet. We would have loved to be voting and supporting legislation today that committed us and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to divest that investment. Currently there is $676 million of New Zealand Superannuation Fund money invested in companies involved in the production and mining of fossil fuels which is threatening our very planet and for us that is the priority.