Shanks Katrina: Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Shanks Katrina: Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:639;Page:9212] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill. I have listened to hours of debate on this bill before Parliament in the last couple of weeks I have read the  
Hansard 
 of the debates and I have pretty much absorbed what everybody has been saying. The discussions have ranged over a huge topic from Russell Fairbrother talking about homophobes to discussions about passports being microchipped in order to allow Americans to track us to my fellow National colleagues being called bizarre—often quite absurd—names. And so the debate has gone on. But the intention of the bill is that this amending legislation be used as a vehicle for the SuperGold card to allow concessions and discounts for New Zealand residents who are aged 65 years and older. The intention of the card is to provide commercial discounts to cardholders from participating businesses and it will help to facilitate seniors’ access to concessions on central government and local authority services. 
There really is no debate that senior citizens have contributed significantly to our community and deserve to be treated with respect and where possible given concessions in their retirement in recognition of the great contribution they have made to our society. It is important that we recognise the efforts of Grey Power which has lobbied hard and efficaciously for this card. Whether the card can deliver commercial discounts and concessions from central government and local authorities we will have to see. Many are touting this card as a failed attempt at Fly Buys. We have not been told yet whether anybody has signed up to the card or how committed central government is to giving more discounts to senior citizens than those that they already receive. But I am sure that people will be lining up for the card and that sooner or later we will hear from those who are committed to helping our senior citizens. 
There are only two parts to this bill. Both are quite simple. The first part relates to an optional photo on a card and the ability to microchip the card at some time in the future. The second part relates to the Births Deaths and Marriages register database being used to collate the necessary information. When this bill was first introduced only three submissions were received so it is not a very contentious bill. The submission from the Law Society was the biggest submission received. It made a submission on the entitlement card in which it stated that the prospect of microchips being embedded on cards issued by the Government did raise a more general concern due to the functionality that microchips can possess including the ability to operate as radio frequency ID tags. 
The society went on to say that as far it was aware this bill would represent the first occasion when legislation has authorised the use of microchips on cards. At least it is the first time that such use has been authorised on such a large scale. This provision impacts on 540000 senior citizens. We are talking about a massive scale of use and one whereby the cards will be reissued with a microchip whenever the Government decides to do so. The Law Society recommended that the Social Services Committee call for a general review of the principles governing the use of highly functional technology on Government-issued cards generally and that the matter be referred to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. 
Strong views were voiced at the select committee that a more general inquiry particularly around the use of microchips is necessary before legislation allowing microchips is enacted. There was debate at the select committee raised by the National Party initially concerning microchips. So National was concerned from day one about these microchips and what could be recorded on them. The officials came in many times to tell us exactly how the microchips would work even though at the time they could not give us a figure as to how much the cards would cost. 
The debate in the House on this bill has related mainly to microchipping. Microchipping is something that I do not believe this country or this Parliament has had an opportunity to speak on. I believe that the people of this country need to have a discussion about it so that they can make a decision themselves about whether microchipping on the scale of this measure is a path that New Zealand really wants to go down or even whether we are ready to go down that path now. I believe it is wrong that we are passing this legislation without hearing the opinions of New Zealanders on that issue. 
Last week one of my colleagues spoke about the bill being a Trojan Horse saying the legislation is not about the gold card at all but about developing legislation that allows all cards to be microchipped in the future by only a change in regulation. National is very concerned about the information that may be stored on the microchip and we believe that the provision regarding microchipping should be deleted. 
We believe that senior citizens deserve something—and something good—but that the way to really help them is by truly raising their standard of living and the only way we will do that is by raising the average income in New Zealand. National is committed to raising the average income which will then have a flow-on effect on to the superannuation that our senior citizens receive. We believe that this card is a good thing in general and say we are committed totally to the senior citizens of New Zealand. Thank you.