Ardern Shane: Social Assistance (Payment of New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Overseas) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ardern Shane: Social Assistance (Payment of New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Overseas) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 20 October 2009. Volume:658;Page:7297. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 I rise in support of the Social Assistance (Payment of New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Overseas) Amendment Bill. There are a number of reasons why I do so. One that has been stated is that we have become a nation in an international world not a parochial island nation at the bottom of the South Pacific. New Zealand now has people with family members right across the world. In fact the Deputy Speaker I know and I both currently have family overseas. Although both he and I are a long way—many many years—away from being eligible for superannuation the time may come where we may want to be part of Government superannuation payments and visit our family overseas and we should be able to do that. 
As I understand it the bill fixes up a number of issues in regard to that. Three main issues are probably worth mentioning here. The current flat rate of a 50 percent payment provides insufficient income for people to function sensibly or have a reasonable standard of living if they are visiting family overseas for a prolonged period of time. Other people travel from country to country because they have more than one family member and those family members are in different places. The current rules restrict them to being able to receive that 50 percent payment only if they have a place of residence in one nation. Obviously that is very restrictive to some people and they have to keep returning to a certain destination to be eligible for that. This bill fixes up that problem. 
I know a constituent of mine who has family overseas. She herself comes from a very humble background but her family have travelled overseas and prospered. They are happy for mum to come and live with them for prolonged periods. One family member is in the United States and the other is in the UK. Members can clearly see how this legislation would have an impact on her and how the proposed amendments will help her in that regard. Payments overseas are presently linked to residence overseas but this bill fixes that. Those are two things that I personally know of that this bill will help. 
I thank the officials and those who were involved in the process of getting the bill to this point. It is good when we have a Parliament that is as united as this one appears to be on this particular legislation and I know that a lot of senior citizens out there at the moment are very pleased to see this path that the House is going down today. 
The third issue of concern is that the rules currently restrict the ability of an older person to be on the go all the time. Some people go overseas and they get into a permanent state of travel as it were; they travel from country to country. A member mentioned the late taking-up of travel by yacht—childhood dreams being realised in people’s 60s and 70s. Of course such people do not have any permanent place of residence. They are of no fixed abode as it were. They are restricted by the current rules but this legislation will allow them to have access to superannuation payments as well. 
National supports the bill; we think it is a good idea. I look forward to its passage through the House.