Radhakrishnan PriyancaPRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. I rise to take a reasonably short call at the third reading of the Social Security (Winter Energy Payment) Amendment Bill. I thought I would address a number of points that the member who just resumed his seat Simon O'Connor made but that would probably take up my entire allocated time because there was so much that was just misleading really.Anyway so the reason that we're here today is because the winter energy payment legislation that passed in 2017 didn't fully cover all those who received it last winter. That's pretty much it. That's the crux of this bill that we're debating for the third time today in this House. The reason that happened was because of an issue with the technical drafting of the legislation which meant that it differed slightly from the policy intent. Everyone—and I want to make this very clear in light of some of the comments by previous members—who should've been paid that winter energy payment last winter was. About 3.3 percent of people who received it weren't fully covered by the legislation in the way that it was drafted. However they were covered by the policy intent of the legislation that passed. This bill fixes it so that everyone who's covered by the policy intent of that bill is also covered so that they can be paid lawfully this winter. So it's incredibly disappointing that members opposite won't support this bill because in essence what they're not supporting is for people in two specific categories to be paid the winter energy payment this winter hence the intent on this side I guess or the focus on this side of the House to pass this legislation quickly so that people can be paid this winter.We're not here to discuss the eligibility of the winter energy payment; we did that. We did that when this House debated the Families Package that was passed in the first 100 days of the coalition Government. We discussed all the ins and outs of the policy detail. This bill is just a technical amendment and it's policy-neutral as a result of that.So the two categories that this bill amends in a sense—well it amends the Social Security Act 2018 to ensure that people who fall into two specific scenarios get the payment and these are the two scenarios: the first of course is when people travel from New Zealand and they're absent from New Zealand for more than four weeks. The technical tweak to the bill will ensure that they are paid for the first four weeks and that means it aligns this payment with other such payments as well. The second category is those who receive Government funding for long-term residential care or residential care services but aren't eligible for the two subsidies—the residential care subsidy and the residential support subsidy. So these are the two categories. People who fell into these categories—that's about 3.3 percent of those who received the winter energy payment—received it because they were intended to fully but the drafting of the legislation didn't actually cover them. So when this bill the Social Security (Winter Energy Payment) Amendment Bill is passed they will be covered and they will get the payment this winter as they so deserve.This bill was part of the Families Package as I mentioned before which is a targeted package of assistance to those who really need the support although members opposite would have people believe that those who get the winter energy payment—I think in previous debates we've heard it referred to as those who wanted to stock their wine cellar but that's actually not the case. This is a payment that goes to those who get either a superannuation a veterans pension or a main benefit—people I have sat with who wear layer upon layer of clothing because they were struggling to heat their homes and people were dying as a result of cold damp homes. These are the people who get a little bit of allowance to get them through the winter months in a way that is warm and in a way that's healthy.About one million people received the winter energy payment last winter and we have had on this side of the House a wide range of correspondence from different people people in different conditions I guess or circumstances who have benefited from the winter energy payment. I am incredibly proud that we are moving quickly on this side of the House to ensure that everyone who should be getting this payment will get it this winter and I'm glad we've moved swiftly on that even if members opposite are churlish enough not to support. I commend this bill to the House.