Robertson Grant: New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income (Pro Rata Entitlement) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income (Pro Rata Entitlement) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 16 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6727. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central): There is only one disgraceful person in this House tonight and that is David Bennett. Mr Bennett that was an appalling contribution. There was nothing in that speech about an incredibly important topic to the future of New Zealand. Members on this side of the House in the Labour Party might not support every bit of this piece of legislation but at least Denis O’Rourke has come to this House to address the issue of how we make superannuation sustainable in this country. All you have got to offer are insults and nonsense Mr Bennett. You are a disgrace.David Seymour: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am sure you heard that the member just brought the Speaker into the debate.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I just want to make a couple of points here. I realise that this is a robust debate but I make the same point that I made to New Zealand First earlier on. Relevancy and whether or not someone brings the Speaker into the debate is a matter for the Speaker. You may note that with the various presiding officers there are various amounts of latitude but they are very narrow. If a member brings me into the debate I do not need to be reminded of the fact. I have been around long enough to be able to handle that all by myself thank you very much.GRANT ROBERTSON: The National Party does not want to have a conversation with New Zealanders about one of the most important parts of our social welfare system—that is whether or not there is universal superannuation. Can we make superannuation sustainable for the future? John Key and Bill English have built their Government around putting their heads in the sand on this issue. Bill English said that this was a conversation for another Government to have. That is recklessly irresponsible. If we want to make sure that there is superannuation available for generations of New Zealanders to come then as a country we have got to have a conversation. Denis O’Rourke has brought a bill to this House that we can send to a select committee to see what we can do.There has been no leadership from the National Party on this issue and that is a disgrace. This Government is so out of touch and arrogant that it is refusing to listen to New Zealanders who want dignity in retirement and who want to make sure that superannuation is there for future generations. This Government will not talk about it and it is completely irresponsible.What this legislation does is raise up the question of section 70 of the Social Security Act. There is not a member of Parliament who does their job properly in their electorate or in representing their area as a list member who has not had someone come to them about section 70 of the Social Security Act. That is because it does create inequities. It does create situations as Denis O’Rourke said in his opening speech where the spouse of somebody who has earned superannuation overseas suddenly ends up with their entitlement as a New Zealander being taken off them. I had a constituency case of a woman who was a teacher and had taught in New Zealand for 30 or 40 years. She was married to someone from overseas and somehow or other she lost her entitlement which she had paid taxes for for her whole life because of section 70 of this Act.The solution being proposed by Denis O’Rourke may not be perfect and we do have some concerns which we want to air at the select committee about whether or not we have got the definition right. We do have concerns that the concept of universality is for the first time being called into question by this bill through the pro rata system. That is a very serious step to take and one that the New Zealand Labour Party is not confident that this bill will achieve in a way that we would want to vote for at the end of the road but we want to see the issue debated.There are serious issues about the sustainability of superannuation. The New Zealand National Party might have its head in the sand but we will vote for this bill—imperfect as it is—to go to select committee because we believe that Zealanders deserve the right to have a discussion about this important topic.