Horan Brendan: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHoran Brendan: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 01 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19112. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BRENDAN HORAN (Independent):I take a call on Vote Social Development. Recognising that our country’s greatest strength is our people I draw your attention to the more than 600000 New Zealanders over the age of 65—almost 15 percent of our population and rapidly growing. Someone once said to judge a society on how it treats its most vulnerable. By that standard New Zealand is failing its seniors.Although everyone wants to believe that all New Zealanders are guaranteed security in retirement and that the needs of seniors are well catered for the reality could not be more different. The inconvenient truth of the matter is that many seniors live in squalor and despair feel they are a burden on their families and tend to withdraw from society rather than seek help. The consequences are social isolation malnourishment and at the extreme end suicide. When we talk about suicide we often refer to the high rate of young people taking their lives but the statistics paint an equally disturbing picture for our seniors. Last year the Chief Coroner warned that New Zealand men aged 85 or older committed suicide at a rate of 31 per 100000. Words cannot convey the deep sense of tragedy that is inherent in those figures.So what can we do about it? First let us change the culture. Let us challenge the stereotypes and the prejudices. Older New Zealanders deserve the love and respect of society as a whole. We should all embrace the seniors in our lives be they family members neighbours or friends. These people built our country. They have worked hard paid taxes raised children and grandchildren and enriched our society in so many ways.Second we need public policy that reflects this—policy that recognises and values the contributions that our seniors have made and policy that encourages seniors to remain active participants in our society. Life does not end at retirement. Crucially we must put an end to political parties using seniors as a political football.We in the New Zealand Independent Coalition expect cross-party consensus on superannuation and senior care policy. We are fed up with our seniors being taken for granted by cynical political leaders who have used them only as votes. The New Zealand Independent Coalition takes seniors’ concerns seriously and is prepared to walk the talk. Action is what matters. Over the years there has been no significant increase in the amount of money in the pockets of older people and that must change. How can we expect seniors to live on $276 per week? Many are eating every other day cannot afford to go to the doctor have not had any new clothes in years and holidays are a thing of the past.We are told by Government officials that reasonable living requires $46000 for a single person. A senior living on New Zealand superannuation is expected to live on under $22000 a year gross. The small things in life are often the ones that bring the most joy but many are struggling to afford even those—for example pets. Pets serve as an important source of social and emotional support and yet they are a joy that is denied for many elderly who simply cannot afford to pay the vet bills or for the food. The New Zealand Independent Coalition will adopt a policy of vet subsidies for seniors. If we are serious about improving the quality of life for senior New Zealanders then this is a small but powerful gesture towards doing just that.We hear the continual cry that New Zealand cannot afford to go any higher in payments to older people. Those parties degrade our seniors further by stating that they are a burden that has to be carried and force them to plead for help from Work and Income. This intolerable situation cannot be allowed to continue. The New Zealand Independent Coalition will pursue the implementation of a financial transaction tax similar to that which has been adopted by 11 countries in the European Union led by France and Germany. Revenue from a financial transaction tax of just 0.1 percent would collect over $6 billion a year from the transactions through the New Zealand banking system and $3.5 billion in extra revenue from New Zealand’s foreign exchange system.According to a Reserve Bank survey released today New Zealand’s foreign exchange market handled an average US$12.4 billion per day in April 2013 which is currently not taxed a single cent. A financial transaction tax on these traders would produce a significant source of funding that would not only support a living pension and living wage but—[Bell rung] Mr Chair?