Andersen VirginiaVIRGINIA ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you Madam Chair Williams. I take great pleasure in talking on a couple of points within the Rates Rebate (Retirement Village Residents) Amendment Bill. I would like to look at Supplementary Order Paper 10 in the course of the time I have today in the committee. It's interesting to note that it was back in 1973 that the Rates Rebate Act was first passed with the purpose of providing financial relief to those people. I note in that context that over 50 percent of retirement village people in those places are now solely reliant on superannuation so this is no doubt coming as welcome relief to those people who are living on restricted incomes.I have also noted that during this time that there weren't really retirement villages as such with licence to occupy status so that's why we need to be able to move with the times by providing this bill. In 2007 we saw that the report of the Local Government Rates Inquiry noted that this area in particular needed to be addressed so I wish to acknowledge Ruth Dyson in this excellent work which I know is well needed. In fact in my time during the election campaign it was an issue raised in Hutt South consistently during candidate debates held at retirement villages. I acknowledge my colleague over there Chris Bishop who was with me alongside and I'm encouraged to note that he was very enthusiastic when responding to your bill as well and the good work that it would do in that space.But I do wish to follow up with a question. There were a number of people who didn't clearly know whom responsibility lay with in terms of informing people of their rights for a rates rebate when they were residing in a retirement home. That's what I'm interested to ask of you at this time—to know whether it is the retirement village owner whether it's local government or whether there is another person with responsibility to ensure that everybody who is eligible for a rebate under this bill is fully informed of how they go about that process. If this is available it is only fair that all those who are entitled take full advantage of that rebate.It's interesting to note how much times have changed since 1973. For a start most of the new Labour MPs weren't born. There's been a big change in terms of retirement villages—360 of them in fact with 34000 New Zealanders and 80 percent of these currently don't qualify for a rates rebate because of the licence to occupy status that this bill looks to affect. It's important to take note of what this does in terms of the housing crisis that New Zealand currently faces. It's an important note that we need to make residential care for elderly as affordable as possible. I know there are many in Hutt South who live in large four-bedroom homes who would like to retire to a more manageable property but it's often the costs that stop that move. I know this is a small change but it does take a step in the right direction of making elderly residential care more affordable to those who want to take advantage of it. We need to look at the flow-on effects of that. Making bigger homes available to New Zealand families will be a flow-on effect by making residential care for elderly far more affordable in this space. I think that that is an important note to be looking at—the need for families to have homes and the need for those to be able to move in that space.When we spoke at the candidates debate to residents of the Bob Scott Retirement Village in the Hutt we received a number of questions from those Hutt South voters in terms of when they would see this change implemented and when they would see some relief in this space that they were not able to take advantage of compared to those who own their own home. There was keen interest in that space to know when a clear decision would be taken. So I am heartened to see this great piece of legislation coming into force in the near future to enable those people to have clarity in knowing when they can get a rates rebate and giving them full access to the advantages that other homeowners do have. Thank you.