Salesa JennyHon JENNY SALESA (Minister for Ethnic Communities): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. Kia orana tatou katoatoa malo e lelei faakalofa lahi atu and thank you for this opportunity to speak on the Social Assistance (Residency Qualification) Legislation Bill. But may I first of all acknowledge the presence of the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands the right honourable Henry Puna and all of your officials here in this House. Today is indeed a historic day. Not only do we have the Prime Minister here but it is not often that we have a House and a Parliament here in Aotearoa where we're actually in agreement and I'm glad that we're actually in agreement on this particular bill. I'd also like to acknowledge you Madam Assistant Speaker because I know this is a bill that is very dear to your heart. I'd like to acknowledge the Hon Carmel Sepuloni as well and the Hon Alfred Ngaro who spoke before me because I know this is also a bill that you and your party are in agreement with today. This bill is about fairness. It is about fairness for New Zealand citizens especially our citizens from the Realm countries of the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau. We know that for many people especially when they're middle-aged similar to myself there comes a time when—and I know this from a lot of our constituents in South Auckland. More than 50 percent of the people that live in my constituency in South Auckland are from the Pacific and thousands are from the Cook Islands. I'm told by many of them that around about their late 50s and early 60s many of them would prefer to go home—go back home to their country of origin. Some of them were born and raised in the Cook Islands or in Niue or in Tokelau but many of them were born and raised here in Aotearoa New Zealand. But when they turn 50 or reach their early 60s many of them after having worked in Aotearoa New Zealand and paying taxes for many many years want to go back home contribute their skills and actually give assistance to their community back in the Islands. That is one of the reasons why I'm so glad that we have this particular legislation here today. But before I go on I also must acknowledge and commend the Deputy Prime Minister the Rt Hon Winston Peters and the New Zealand First Party because they have championed fairness for superannuitants—including the proposed changes in this legislation—for many many years. I also must say that our coalition Government led by Labour with New Zealand First and the Greens is very committed. We are committed to a reset of our relationship with the Pacific. We know that the right honourable Prime Minister has just been to the Pacific with a lot of our MPs here and it is because we're looking at resetting our relations with our Pacific neighbours. I'd also like to acknowledge the economic and social achievements of our Pacific nations. We know that there are so many things that not only our Pacific people in Aotearoa contribute to while they're here but our Pacific people when they're at home also contribute. When we look at trade we know that the trade between Aotearoa and the Pacific is one of those instances where we actually trade positively. From that alone we know that we are really grateful to our Pacific brothers and sisters. One of the main reasons why we are in support of this bill is because it will allow our residents our citizens—and can I just go back to the fact that the citizens of the Realm countries are citizens of Aotearoa New Zealand. So the reason why we are in support of this legislation is because it is the fair thing to do to treat our citizens here and to treat our citizens that are in the Realm countries in a fair way. It will allow folks in the Realm countries to take the pension and to be portable with their pensions. Right now New Zealand superannuation allows people to go to 22 Pacific countries and my colleague the Hon Carmel Sepuloni has already covered this quite well. But what this legislation allows is it allows people to live here in Aotearoa and to go to the Cooks or to go to Niue or to go to Tokelau for that five years after they turn 50 and that can only be a good thing. That is the fair thing that we should continue to allow. New Zealand residents of course and New Zealand citizens can also enjoy those potential benefits because they too when they turn 50 can also live here or if they choose they can go and live in the Cook Islands or in Niue or in Tokelau. I know that there are some people that would also be willing to do that as well. I commend this bill to the House. Meitaki maata.