Williams Poto: Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Poto: Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 04 November 2014. Volume:701;Page:557. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]POTO WILLIAMS (Labour—Christchurch East):Kia orana Mr Assistant Speaker. It is a real pleasure to take a call this evening on the Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill. In this regard I will be speaking about the experiences that I know of within the Cook Island community.I do want to refer to a meeting that a member on the other side of the House Alfred Ngaro talked about—the work that we are doing with the wider Cook Island community to honour those soldiers from the Cook Islands who fought for and on behalf of New Zealand in World War I. I raise this in the context of this particular bill because 500 young men were recruited from the Cook Islands to fight for New Zealand in World War I and they gave the ultimate sacrifice to this country. So the relationship that we as Cook Islanders have with New Zealand was forged through the blood of our young men nearly 100 years ago. I feel it is a significant point to make and I will be referring to this a little bit later in my discussion around this because it does mean a lot to us as Cook Islanders that our relationship with New Zealand is honoured in this way.Cook Islanders have played a significant role in building this nation. My parents came out here in the 1950s as did yours Alfred Ngaro and like many people from the Pacific and also like Māori who came into the cities from the rural areas they came to take advantage of the work opportunities that were here. We from the Pacific and from the Cook Islands in particular became the grafters I guess. Wherever there were primary industries wherever there was horticulture wherever there was agriculture wherever there was fruit to be picked Cook Islanders were there. Wherever there was manufacturing wherever there were aluminium smelters steel mills and other huge industries Cook Islanders were there. Wherever there are service roles supporting communities supporting elderly people looking after the ill and the infirm Cook Islanders are there. We have a relationship with this country that goes beyond being just members of the realm. Our relationship is one of service of hard work and of sacrifice.My father was here in the early 1950s and he worked for at least 30 years until he retired in the 1980s or thereabouts. My father and my parents were true-blue Kiwis. They supported the All Blacks—Tim Macindoe: Oh true-blue voters.POTO WILLIAMS: True blue in that regard.Tracey Martin: You don’t own the phrase—come on.POTO WILLIAMS: Yes. My parents brought us up to be decent and hard-working New Zealanders. They paid their taxes. We bought a home. They raised their children and all of us in our family strive to serve this country well as I hope we have done.This Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill talks about the close constitutional relationship that the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau have with New Zealand. Next year for the Cook Islands it will be 50 years of that close constitutional relationship—50 years of self-governing. It is a significant event for us and I know that many in this House will be celebrating with us next year.I refer back to the Cook Island soldiers of World War I—and of course next April we are going to commemorate 100 years of their service. They fought alongside New Zealand Māori. As Su’a William Sio has already described when New Zealand could not recruit any more of its own Māui Pōmare was dispatched to the Pacific to find young men to fight for New Zealand. We fought largely alongside Māori. We fought together with Māori because Cook Islanders have a very special kin relationship with tangata whenua. We have a relationship that we refer to as tuakana teina. I often talk about this when I am discussing this relationship with Māori people—that perhaps we are the elder auntie or the elder uncle in the relationship. I often joke that we have seniority in those terms. But we have a relationship that is forged through a common migration history as well as sharing lots of kin relationships.There are proposed changes to the way that current eligibility rules apply. It used to be that you had to be present and resident in New Zealand at the age of 65 or when normal eligibility occurred. Those changes now mean that it is possible for you to have lived and been a resident in New Zealand for 10 years from the age of 20 with 5 of those years being from the age of 50. So it is possible to be resident within the Cook Islands and be eligible for the pension—or the war pension as well—at the age of 65 and to apply from those home islands.I refer also to some of the discussion that has happened during this debate—when members have referred to what is in the regulatory impact statement—about depopulation and about how that has had an impact on the home islands. What has occurred of course with our being able to enjoy New Zealand citizenship and the benefits of being New Zealand citizens and our having the ability to travel on New Zealand passports is that we have travelled from the Cook Islands from Tokelau and from Niue to take up residence here in New Zealand. We have taken full opportunity of the opportunities that this country presents to us and we have not had the ability to return home and be able to have the type of income to live well in our home islands. So this legislation we hope will actually address some of those issues of depopulation returning senior citizens of some note—people who have had opportunities here for education—who can take their skills and their experience back to their home countries.However the legislation actually presents opportunities for all New Zealanders as well. It has been several years since I was back in the Cook Islands but when I was last there it was the first time I actually felt I could live there. I actually felt I could live in the Cook Islands. You know I may God willing if I actually get to the age when I can retire actually take advantage of that myself.But I want to get back to the issue of relationships. My colleague Carmel Sepuloni raised a very salient point about the relationship between New Zealand and these realm countries and that is that our contribution to New Zealand actually has to count for something. I know that having the ability to get your superannuation back in your home island is great—it is fantastic. I am very supportive of this bill but there is an awful lot more that this country can do to support those people—my people—who not only have given of their industry and their hard work but in the case of our soldiers have given of their lives and their sacrifice.The relationship actually needs to be one of mutual support and when as my colleague so aptly discussed we do not see ourselves fully represented in this country—when we know that our programmes on television are going to have their production outsourced—it actually flies in the face of the sacrifice that we have made for the benefit of this country.New Zealand does provide aid back to our home countries it provides work opportunities and our home countries have provided labour. They have provided their culture—the Pasifika Festival is one of the most celebrated festivals around the world—but not only that we have also provided our blood and our lives on the battlefield and I would hope that this country would acknowledge our special relationship into the future. But I do commend this bill to the House. Thank you very much.