Naylor Jono: New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNaylor Jono: New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 07 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3339. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JONO NAYLOR (National):Well it has been a funny old afternoon here as we have been debating the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill. I have got to say that I was listening very attentively throughout the afternoon. Actually as I was listening to the co-leader of the Green Party and I heard greenhouse gases being talked about I had to wonder what sort of vehicle this fund investment vehicle was and whether or not it had in fact a combustion engine inside it.We have seen all sorts of weird and wonderful things occur. We saw Chris Bishop and Dr David Clark almost fawning over each other offering praise and saying what a fantastic contribution the other had made. It made me wonder actually whether the Finance and Expenditure Committee holds hands and sings “Kumbaya” at the end of its committee meetings such was the sort of warmth that was oozing across the Chamber. We heard the previous speaker Stuart Nash who was drawing analogies between a former All Black halfback and a Minister for regional development who was not actually even a member of the Labour Party and we got some contributions there. What I thought was—Dr Megan Woods: He was the president of the Labour Party.JONO NAYLOR: He was the president of the Labour Party and then he saw the light and left. We also heard the previous speaker full of praise for the founder of the ACT Party and then I thought that it really had been a funny old afternoon. I was pleased to hear praise from the other side of the House for Mr Andrew Bayly who spoke earlier and to hear all that members had to say about his expertise in this field. Although I cannot claim to have the same financial expertise as Mr Bayly in terms of speaking to this bill I am a New Zealander and I feel that since this is a bill that speaks to the ongoing superannuation requirements of all speakers I am I think in that light quite qualified to speak about it.It has been a great debate this afternoon as I said. We have heard from almost all speakers about how well the fund has been performing over this time so I do not need to fill you in on the details of how much was invested how much is there and what sort of a return it has been getting. In this regard I do just want to acknowledge the great work that has been done by the guardians. If there was ever an appropriate name for someone who is managing this fund on behalf of New Zealanders it is “guardians” because they are in fact guardians of the future for many of us who are probably going to rely on the dividends of this fund to pay for our superannuation in the future. I think the way that they have approached this and the way that they have been working to develop and grow this fund for future generations needs to be acknowledged and deserves some level of praise. When such a group that is doing so well comes to Parliament and says to us that it would like to see some changes I think it is appropriate that we take notice of what it is that it is asking for and that we take notice of what it thinks it needs in order to be able to do an even better job for us moving forward.I had a look back through the submissions to the select committee—I was not on the committee as I said—to see just what it was that they were saying in terms of their submission about why it was that they made this request of Parliament to bring these changes into place. One key thing that they said was that they talked about the bill enabling them to discharge their duties more cost effectively and with less risk. I think at the end of the day that we would all agree that that is a very good thing for them to be doing—to be able to deliver things with less risk and more cost-effectiveness. They have sought to establish these fund investment vehicles which I think will ensure going forward that we are going to get an even better result. It will enable them to negotiate a specific mandate with an investment manager as opposed to being one of a number of investors in a pool fund. It will protect the fund from disproportionate liability and it will increase and reduce the level of investment over time. So there are all sorts of things that these actions are going to help us with. I commend the bill to the House and I think that it will be a better thing for New Zealand.