Dyson Ruth: Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Dyson Ruth: Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:638;Page:8726] 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Minister for Senior Citizens) 
: 
 What an extraordinary contribution! We can tell that it is near the end of the term and that that member is about to have a little no-contact time—thank goodness for that. A member of the National Party has had the audacity to come into this House and say: “Huh—so senior citizens will get cheap health care! Huh—so they can get a rates rebate! Well they can get that now.” Actually senior citizens of New Zealand can get that now only because it is this Government’s policy to ensure that they are much better supported have much more security of income and have much more money of their own to spend compared with what they had under that member’s previous National-led Government which decreased senior citizens’ entitlement to superannuation and increased their expenditure on essential items such as health care and rates. 
Senior citizens in New Zealand now get an average reduction of $20 in the cost of each visit to the doctor because our Government has put more money into primary health care and has ensured that people aged over 65 get priority. They now get a $12 reduction per item on Government-subsidised medication when they fill their prescription at the chemist. That is good for senior citizens and as Winston Peters alluded to in his introductory comments the rates rebate now benefits all senior citizens compared with the half dozen who were able to get it previously because the thresholds were never adjusted under the then National Government. 
Just this week on 1 April our Government under the confidence and supply agreement with New Zealand First increased superannuation by over $20 a week for a married couple and by over $10 a week for an individual. 
Sandra Goudie 
: What’s this got to do with this bill? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: Sandra Goudie can bleat all she likes but every person aged over 65 in New Zealand has a better memory than that member. Those people will remember that National cut the income of superannuitants—people who are entirely dependent on superannuation for their living—and increased their outgoings. Not one single person aged over 65 will forget that. 
This Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill is the next step in making the SuperGold card a reality. Its purpose is to enable the full effect of our intentions in relation to the delivery of the SuperGold card promises. This bill amends the Social Security Act 1964 and the Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 because those pieces of legislation need to be amended so that the full effect of the SuperGold card can be implemented. For New Zealand residents aged 65 years and over or for those who would otherwise qualify for and receive New Zealand superannuation or a veterans pension the SuperGold card will be of direct benefit. It is a joint initiative between the Labour-Progressive Government and New Zealand First. The card will allow cardholders to access commercial discounts from participating businesses and will help facilitate seniors’ access to concessions from both central government and local government services. 
I am very pleased that the Social Services Committee has recommended that the bill be passed and that it has reported it back to the House without amendment. I am sure it would have been of huge advantage to Gerry Brownlee if he had talked with at least one of his colleagues who served on the Social Services Committee or if he had at least read the report back to the House. He clearly did neither. I acknowledge and thank the members of the select committee for their prompt and rigorous consideration of the bill. 
There was some debate about the implementation of the policy of having a chip in the card and that is good—we need debate about things such as that. But Gerry Brownlee did not know when he made his contribution that the bill creates a new power that will allow entitlement cards to contain information on either a magnetic strip as is currently provided for or an embedded microchip. What we are trying to do is keep our legislation up to date with the progress of technology. The intent of the provision is to future-proof the law in order to allow the use of smart card technology at a time when the Government considers that it is of benefit to do so. Smart cards are examples of an expanding technology that is in use in a number of social sector agencies around the world as well as in banking in transport and in customer loyalty schemes. So in the future there may be some value to cardholders in adopting such technology in relation to their entitlement cards. 
This amendment allows entitlement cards to be issued with an embedded chip but we have no plans at the moment to implement the provision. The amendment simply takes advantage of the legislative opportunity presented by the bill to allow for the future possibility of the Government deciding to keep up with modern times. It allows for a decision to be made in the future. For Gerry Brownlee to attack that is extraordinary given how much time he has spent raising spurious points of order in accusing Government members of filibustering. Actually through this amendment we are ensuring that future legislative time will not be used up when the opportunity for legislative provision presents itself. 
The SuperGold card is the card for the nearly 540000 New Zealand residents who are aged 65 or over or who otherwise qualify for and receive New Zealand superannuation or a veterans pension. It is an acknowledgment of the extraordinary contribution that senior citizens have made to our nation and also an acknowledgment from this Parliament—and particularly from the parties supporting this legislation—of that contribution and of the respect our senior citizens deserve. It will be a physical reminder of our Government’s commitment to seniors and veterans. It will improve their standard of living by reducing the cost of goods and services through the commercial discounts accessible through the card and by helping them to access the range of services entitlements and concessions available. The bill is a fine example—and well may the Opposition take note—of how modern-day Government works. Cooperation and delivery on promises and arrangements made—in this instance the confidence and supply agreement with New Zealand First—lead us to something of this kind. The SuperGold card is a first-ever for our New Zealand senior citizens. It is an acknowledgment as I said of the contribution our senior citizens have made to our whole nation. 
The genesis of the card can be found in many different places but this legislation has come through New Zealand First and in particular its leader Winston Peters. He has brought this bill into the House by way of arrangements made with our Government and I am very proud to be part of those arrangements. I hope that all parties will support the bill. 
It is not that long ago and people will not have forgotten—in fact in my understanding it is as recently as the publication of the book  
The Hollow Men— 
that there was talk amongst the National Party leadership of increasing the age of superannuation entitlement to at least 68. Indeed that rings true with a promise made to elderly people by Jim Bolger in a former National Government. So this nation needs to think about who will look after not only our young families but also our senior citizens. 
The legislation will be easy for people to understand. There are contact phone numbers for people to ring if they are interested in what this will offer what exactly the entitlements will be and how discounts and benefits can be accessed. There is also a phone number worth noting by businesses interested in becoming involved—0508 650 000. I encourage businesses that are tuned in listening to our Parliament this afternoon to ring that number and find out how they can be involved in this card. Concessions on local government services and central government services too are some of the advantages we will be able to provide for those people who are able to use this card. 
Those people are people we value very much: our mothers our fathers our grandparents our kuia our kaumatua—people such as those. All of those people are part of our family and that is who we are supporting here. So I am doing an advert in a way for people to get involved because it is for people who are dear to us that we support the progress of this SuperGold card. It has been successful in countries like Australia and I know many people in New Zealand who have friends in Australia are asking why we have not got it in New Zealand. 
I say thank you to Winston Peters and his arrangement with the Labour-Progressive coalition Government for being able to progress the card in this Parliament today. That is a very worthy exercise and I look forward to other positive and supporting contributions from members in the House so that we can see the continued progress of this bill.