Faafoi Kris: Social Assistance (Living Alone Payments) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Faafoi Kris: Social Assistance (Living Alone Payments) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 11 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7439. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this Social Assistance (Living Alone Payments) Amendment Bill. As a couple of members of the Labour Party who have already spoken in this debate have said Labour is supporting this bill. We recognise that the living alone payment allows people who do not or cannot share costs to apply for this special allowance if they are over 65. At the moment as the previous speaker said one has to apply for it when one becomes single usually on the death of the partner and this bill simply allows that to happen automatically so someone who has been through a bereavement will not necessarily have to go through the bureaucracy. Obviously that will be a difficult time for someone who has spent many many years with their partner and at a time when there has been a bereavement the last thing you necessarily want to do is to go through the paperwork in order to get a little bit more assistance. 
I cannot let some of the comments that have come from the other side of the House go without comment. Melissa Lee in her contribution to this debate had a crack at this side of the House because we did not support the Government’s growth agenda. Well if there was one we might support it because the only growth that we have seen to date of any note is the growth in unemployment—the growth in unemployment. So Melissa Lee did not mention that. It is up to 7.3 percent. That is the worst unemployment rate since 1999 which I believe was the tenure of the last National Government. So when Bill English was last finance Minister that is when unemployment was at its worst and again we are back up to the high highs of 7.3 percent. 
Then Jami-Lee Ross got up and said: “We are happy with our record.” So this National Party is happy with 52000 Kiwis leaving every year—1000 a week—for Australia because that is where the brighter future is. Maybe that is what National should have said back in 2008: “We’ll give you a brighter future by giving you better opportunities and more motivation to go to Australia.” If you on that side of the House are happy with that record Mr Jami-Lee Ross well you know the people of New Zealand might have something to say about that. 
Is he happy about the record that it has got of having the worst economic record in 50 years? Is that Government happy about that record? Also is that Government happy about the record where 50000 more people have become unemployed in the last 4 years under its watch? Is it happy with that record? 
Then the very good chair of the Law and Order Committee Jacqui Dean said: “Well you guys over on the other side should be consistent.” Well yes that Government would know about consistency because this year it has been consistently awful—consistently awful. Whether it be privacy leaks at the Inland Revenue Department whether it be Novopay or whether it be larger class sizes that Government would know a thing or two about consistency in 2012 because this is a Government that has been consistently awful over the last 12 months. 
I will just go back to the bill now if that is all right just to give a bit of context—just blowing the system out before we go on holiday. Just looking at the context of these payments I understand from the regulatory impact statement—and I am very glad that they have given us a table—that about 555000 people are getting some form of New Zealand superannuation or veterans pension 73000 are single and not getting the living alone payment and 151000 are single and receiving the living alone payment. So we are not talking about an insignificant number of people here who come under the changes that are within this bill. 
As of 1 April 2010 someone who is married in a civil union or in a de facto relationship receives $244 I think after tax per week; those single and not receiving a living alone payment get $293 a week; and those single and receiving the living alone payment are getting $318 per week. This is as of 1 April 2010 but there may have been changes since then. It is making a difference this little bit of extra money. I think my calculations say that it is roughly about $25 more per week for these people after tax. So just for those at home who might be listening to this with great interest there is quite a bit of money involved here for those people who come under this bill. 
This bill obviously ensures that single superannuitants and veterans pensioners who are living alone do not have to make that separate application that I spoke about before. This bill will make sure that it is much more streamlined for them when they become single. There are also a number of technical changes within the bill that Labour is not opposed to. But there are some things that we will want to look at changing during the Committee stage by putting forward some Supplementary Order Papers. 
We do have concerns that there are provisions in the bill relating to dependent children that may not take into account the diverse range of situations that superannuitants and pensioners may find themselves in when it comes to living with their children. The bill will amend this exception to provide that a person who has a child living with them can receive the new single living alone rate only until the end of the calendar year in which that child reaches the age of 18. I think there will be a Supplementary Order Paper and I am looking at Dr Rajen Prasad and he is nodding to that effect to make sure that is fairer—for example where a child is over the age of 18 but may have an intellectual disability and still could be classified as a dependent or when a child is temporarily unable to support themselves. But on the whole we think this is a relatively sensible bill and that is why we will be supporting it with some changes to be looked at. 
Hon Member 
: What a wise old member. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: Someone has got a bit of Christmas cheer over there I see. Su’a William Sio mentioned that there were only two submissions to the Social Services Committee. One was from the Dunedin Community Law Centre where it did “foresee some problems with Section 4A”—as I have mentioned before—“for superannuitants and veterans pensioners where their dependent child is enrolled in tertiary education. Children begin tertiary education when they are 17 or 18 years of age a standard bachelors degree takes three years which means at the very least a child enrolled to do a nursing degree a BCom LLB BA or BSc et cetera may not be financially independent until they are at least 21 years of age.” It proposed that “it may be more prudent to have a 12 month clause rather than making this exception ‘only until the close of 31 December in the year in which the child turned 18 years old’.” This clause meant that a parent with a child born in January is able to access the living alone payment for longer than a person who has a child who turns 18 later in the year. 
Grey Power’s Roy Reid a very good man who has helped us with our asset sales petition also highlighted this point in the submission from Grey Power. Grey Power said: “It must be recognized that many Parents do have Children born much later in life than used to be the norm. Some single parents may without alternative income or savings wish to support the child through the time that the child is receiving Tertiary Education and there could well be some cases of undue hardship which may need special support.” 
So I just highlight those two submissions from the select committee deliberations. We hope that there will be a few Supplementary Order Papers that may be able to address some of those concerns. With that I will just say that Labour will be supporting the bill but with some concerns and I wish everyone in the House a very merry Christmas.