Sepuloni Carmel: Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSepuloni Carmel: Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 05 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3169. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour—Kelston): Kia orana fakalofa lahi atu and taloha ni. It is a privilege to speak to this bill the Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill and out of respect for our Pacific brothers and sisters to whom this bill relates I greet this House in those three languages.I want to start by contextualising this bill. Many New Zealanders are actually unaware of the unique relationship that New Zealand has with our Cook Island Niuean and Tokelauan nations. Those three Island nations have a constitutional relationship with New Zealand which I am sure we are aware of but which many people outside of this House have no knowledge of. They are technically part of the Realm of New Zealand. As such they have free association with New Zealand and are New Zealand citizens by right. They can move freely between their Island homes and ours. As such we have a responsibility as a Parliament to make sure that we exercise the same duty of care to them as we do to New Zealand - based citizens.It is appropriate to recognise the service of men and women from those countries to our country—particularly in light of the recent Anzac Day commemorations. Our Pacific Realm brothers and sisters fought alongside New Zealanders during World War I and World War II—many of them under our flag the New Zealand flag. The contributions that they have made to this country whether to our economy our sports fields our workforce our academia our arts or through fighting for this country are unquestionable. The Labour Party and I think this whole Parliament value the unique relationship that we have with these countries and will do what is required to honour that relationship.In brief this bill will give effect to the Government policy on portability of New Zealand superannuation and the veterans pension to the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau. This is an omnibus bill that seeks to amend the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001 the Veterans’ Support Act 2014 and the Social Security Act 1964. The aim of this bill is to allow eligible people who live in the Cook Islands Niue or Tokelau to apply from any of those countries for New Zealand superannuation or the veterans pension and to be paid those benefits in those countries or in other specified Pacific countries.In August 2013 the Hon Murray McCully Minister of Foreign Affairs announced changes to the special portability arrangement that would allow eligible residents to apply for their pension or veterans pension from the Cook Islands Niue or Tokelau. Under the current rules people wishing to retire to the Cook Islands Niue or Tokelau have to be resident and present in New Zealand at the age of 65. Residents of those countries or that territory would still need to qualify for New Zealand superannuation. They must have been resident and present in New Zealand for more than 10 years since the age of 20 including 5 years since the age of 50. This legislation means that people who are entitled to New Zealand superannuation regardless of whether they are of Cook Island Niuean or Tokelauan ethnicity would be able to depart New Zealand to live in one of these three countries after the age of 55 and apply for their superannuation once they turn 65 without returning to New Zealand. Currently they would have to stay in New Zealand until turning 65 in order to qualify. The new policy would require legislation to be passed in the New Zealand Parliament and is expected to apply from 1 July 2015.We support this bill and believe it is a step in the right direction towards equal treatment of New Zealand citizens throughout the Realm. However we take on board some of the concerns that were raised by submitters about the eligibility criteria. My colleague Poto Williams actually raised this issue in a minority report and she alluded to a Supplementary Order Paper she was going to write seeking to remove the requirement to be resident and present in New Zealand for 5 years between the ages of 50 and the qualification age of 65. The purpose of that Supplementary Order Paper was to ensure that residents of the islands of the Realm would not be disadvantaged by being forced to absent themselves from family and work commitments in order to receive New Zealand superannuation.New Zealand citizens including those within the Realm of New Zealand should be treated equitably and Poto Williams’ idea which she discussed in that minority report would mean that we are more closely aligning the criteria for all applicants living in New Zealand and the countries of the Realm. I do want to say that despite the fact that Poto Williams went to great lengths to write a minority report that reflected her concern and also alluded to the fact that she would be writing this Supplementary Order Paper one of our colleagues from New Zealand First decided to go and write the Supplementary Order Paper. We are not petty; we will still support that Supplementary Order Paper but I do want to acknowledge my Cook Island colleague Poto Williams for the work that she did on the Social Services Committee for the attention that she paid to the submitters and for the fact that she has been pushing for us to actually take this point into consideration. I hope that the Government takes it seriously including the chair of our select committee who is our other Cook Island colleague in the House Mr Alfred Ngaro.I do want to share an experience I had a few years back when I was part of a group that travelled to four Pacific Islands as part of New Zealand’s inquiry into our relationship with the Pacific. One thing that came up time and time again when we were in the Cook Islands and when we went to Niue—unfortunately we did not get an opportunity to go to Tokelau—was the fact that the biggest problem they are facing is depopulation. They talked about the fact that they have lost and continue to lose their biggest resource to New Zealand. And that resource of course is their people.Sometimes I think that we take it for granted that we have people coming here living here and contributing to our economy and I want to acknowledge our three Realm countries for the contribution that their people—their biggest resource—have made to this country. I think one way in which we can honour that relationship is to ensure that yes we all support this bill in the House and also that we take into consideration the Supplementary Order Paper that has been put up by New Zealand First and that was proposed by my colleague Poto Williams. This is a bill that we think will be supported across the House and we do not think there are very many party politics involved with this—except for perhaps a little bit of debate over who may have come up with the idea of a Supplementary Order Paper. It is really about doing what is right.I hope that the Government will seriously consider supporting the Supplementary Order Paper that I have spoken about because it is the right thing to do. I think moving forward that this is just one way in which we can honour the relationship that we have with the three Realm countries and ensure that there will be other ways in which we can do that other opportunities that will present themselves to us as a Parliament to honour that relationship. I think that it is important first and foremost to continually raise awareness with general members of the public that we do have this special relationship. Any measures that we put into place to honour that relationship are unique to our relationship with those countries and may not necessarily apply to other countries. It is just part and parcel of the fact that they happen to be part of the Realm of New Zealand.We support this bill and we ask all of the other political parties in the House to support the Supplementary Order Paper that is being put up by New Zealand First but of course was proposed by my Cook Island colleague Poto Williams. Thank you.