Tolley Anne: Social Security Legislation Rewrite Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: Social Security Legislation Rewrite Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 10 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10897. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): I move That the Social Security Legislation Rewrite Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 15 September 2016.This bill rewrites the Social Security Act 1964. After more than 50 years the Social Security Act is long overdue for a rewrite. When it was first passed it had 135 sections. It has since grown to 523 sections and of those only four remain unchanged 214 sections have been repealed and most sections have been amended multiple times—in one case 286 times. Altogether that makes for a very disjointed and confusing Act and there have been many calls for it to be completely rewritten. For example in May 2007 the Rt Hon Sir Peter Blanchard who recently retired from the Supreme Court warned that the Act was in need of a rewrite. He said: “Departments get themselves into an awful bind when they don’t keep their statutes up to date and when they don’t regularly review them and re-enact them completely rather than just adding bits and pieces.” That same year members of the Law Commission were asked to identify their favourite worst statute. Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Professor John Burrows immediately and in unison responded: “Social Security Act.”A second Act the Social Welfare (Reciprocity Agreements and New Zealand Artificial Limb Service) Act 1990 is also repealed and replaced by this bill. Provisions on social security agreements with other countries are currently split between that Act and the Social Security Act. They are brought together in this bill. Provisions on the New Zealand Artificial Limb Service are also split between the two Acts and are brought together in this bill. I intend that the bill will be split into three bills at the end of the Committee of the whole House stage. The three pieces of legislation to be created are the Social Security Act the Artificial Limb Service Act and the Residential Care and Disability Support Services Act.The bill sets out main benefit entitlements obligations and associated sanctions; assessment processes; and appeal rights. These important social security measures will continue to be set out in primary legislation. New regulation-making powers in the bill allow for more of the detail about matters such as supplementary assistance and administration to be moved into regulations. That will achieve greater consistency with the approach taken in other Acts to what belongs in secondary legislation.The bill is largely a rewrite of existing policy in a more logical structure and in language that is much easier for users to follow and understand. The bill makes it clear when provisions continue existing policy. It also identifies the corresponding section in the 1964 Act in each case to help people compare the two versions. In addition clause 9 of the bill makes it clear that if there is any doubt about the meaning of the new wording the old law—that is the law as set out in the current legislation—must be used to determine the correct meaning. The existing policies re-enacted in the bill have already been debated and passed through the House. I will not waste the time of the House by outlining what they do. If this bill was a revision bill that was simply re-enacting existing policy we would not be debating the provisions in the bill at all in this stage.The Attorney-General’s report on this bill identifies a group of provisions that favour people who are totally blind and finds that it is inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. These provisions are some of the most longstanding social security measures in New Zealand dating back to 1924. They help a small group of disadvantaged people: those who are totally blind. These longstanding measures are re-enacted unchanged in the bill as part of the policy-neutral approach. They will remain lawful under the Act. However a small number of policy changes have been included in the bill that aim to improve administrative efficiency and support modern service delivery.In the bill the emergency benefit is renamed the exceptional circumstances benefit and policy for this benefit is clarified. The new name better describes what the benefit is for. It provides a level of income to people who do not qualify for one of the other main benefits but who would be in hardship without that assistance. The bill makes it clear that the exceptional circumstances benefit is to be paid at the rate of a main benefit.Rates of New Zealand superannuation are higher than main benefit levels and are linked to average wage levels. People have to live here for only 10 years to qualify at the age of 65. It was never intended that a person who does not qualify for New Zealand superannuation would get a benefit paid at the same rate as people who have qualified for it and this bill makes that clear.The bill also provides discretion to case managers to set work obligations and if necessary to apply sanctions to people receiving the exceptional circumstances benefit so that they are treated in the same way as a person in similar circumstances receiving a main benefit. The bill also removes the provision that allows case managers to require a person to undergo medical or other treatment as a condition of grant of the emergency benefit. That provision has never been used and it would breach section 11 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.The bill combines the orphans benefit and the unsupported child’s benefit into one benefit. The combined benefit is the supported child’s payment which is a much more positive and meaningful name. The bill introduces a new single rate of sole parent support for people receiving the supported child’s payment so single caregivers who need a main benefit will be able to receive the sole parent support without having to give up the supported child’s payment. It will mean that the age of the child will automatically be taken into account when the caregiver’s work obligations are set. They will be treated in the same way as other people who are receiving a benefit and who have dependent children.When a couple separates and each parent is the main carer for at least one child from their relationship both parents are sole parents but currently only one of them can claim the sole parent support. If the other parent needs a benefit the case manager grants an emergency benefit to give them the same assistance they would receive through the sole parent support. The changes set out in the bill mean that both parents will be treated the same. However nothing changes for parents in shared-care situations who each care for the same child or children for some of the time.Finally the 1964 references to posted communications in a paper-based world are brought up to date. The bill allows for a variety of different methods of communication that are available in today’s world and gives greater scope for modern service delivery taking into account future advances in technology.It is fitting that after more than 50 years this historic piece of legislation is refreshed. This bill provides users with a clearer understandable version of an old Act that has become almost incomprehensible. The new structure helpfully groups together information in logical ways and there is ample guidance to assist new readers to find provisions that are relevant to them. My thanks go to the officials who have worked hard to achieve this result. I commend this bill to the House.