Pugh MaureenMAUREEN PUGH (National): I stand to support Hamish Walker; I'd like to give him significant praise for the effort that he's gone to and the passion that he has applied to this particular member's bill. It raised many questions for us as a select committee when we were debating this. We have now received Hamish's Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) in his name and it seeks to actually take us back to the beginning which is where we started with the KiwiSaver (Foster Parents Opting in for Children in their Care) Amendment Bill. It takes out the words that were suggested in the original bill that went through the select committee where it was changed to Oranga Tamariki and Oranga Tamariki Guardians. The reason for that is that when Oranga Tamariki are legal guardians of these children there becomes an opportunity for the legal guardian which is either someone who has a court approved plan or the CEO of Oranga Tamariki to apply on behalf of those children for a KiwiSaver account. But what it does is it actually eliminates the other 5500 children who are in foster care as for many of those children becoming a legal guardian is something that could take many years. So the opting in for children and young people who are simply looked after by kin carers or foster parents—they deserve the opportunity to have a KiwiSaver account. As we did hear from Hamish Walker in his contribution unfortunately the process that they have to go through in order to apply for a KiwiSaver account has been insurmountable. The challenges have therefore meant that children under the care of Oranga Tamariki are failing to get the same financial security as their peers who are not in Oranga Tamariki's care. So I would urge the House to support Hamish Walker's SOP to give these children the opportunity that their peers have. We did hear during the submission process about the inequality that is felt by some of the children in care when they could not open a KiwiSaver account on their own. We have heard about the challenges with getting ID and with getting an IRD number. These are all very time consuming processes and not something that someone who is a caregiver or foster parent can easily achieve. They need the support of the chief executive from Oranga Tamariki who is usually distracted with other probably more pressing issues than opening KiwiSaver accounts. But one of the things that I do recall from the submission process was the impassioned plea by a couple of young people who submitted who were care-experienced. They're very very confident articulate young people and I was so impressed with their submission that they simply wanted to be treated the same as children who come from secure family homes. This is the plea that we put to this House—that we recognise that these children need to have financial security. A KiwiSaver account is the only financial instrument that can only be accessed by the person who owns it. As Hamish explained about his young man that saved his money and had it taken from him KiwiSaver is the only secure financial instrument that protects their investment in the future.I believe that these young people deserve to have the right to open their KiwiSaver account and have their foster parents or kin carers assist them with that. I endorse what Hamish said about finding a rational reason why this can't be so; it's simply a bureaucratic hurdle that this House can overcome. I do implore the people opposite to support this SOP. Thank you Mr Chair.