Dowie SarahSARAH DOWIE (National—Invercargill): Well I rise too in support of this bill the Rates Rebate (Retirement Village Residents) Amendment Bill in this first reading brought by the Hon Ruth Dyson. One of the reasons that I support this bill is that the Invercargill electorate has approximately 10000 super seniors within it and a lot of them—about 6 percent actually of over 75-year-olds—are moving into retirement villages. So it is an expanding industry in Southland. And it is only fair that these people receive a rates rebate when they move into retirement villages and enter into their licence to occupy. Given that they are pseudo paying rates through their agreements to the village operators it is only fair that they too receive a rates rebate given that that is what the rates rebate scheme was designed to do—to support low-income families and owners of properties; supporting them to keep up with their rates repayments. Look as the Hon Ruth Dyson said this is a bill that is going to amend the definition of ratepayer" and extend it to include a resident of a retirement village who pays rates either directly or indirectly in respect of the rates rebate scheme. We have heard members on both sides of the House talk about the legalese of that. People who are living in a retirement village under a licence to occupy technically do not pay rates under the current Local Government (Rating) Act. In that agreement it is often worded that they are making a contribution to the overall rates of that retirement village property or they are making a contribution to some form of maintenance which is then in turn apportioned by the village owner to pay rates to the local authority. So indirectly yes they are paying rates and that should be acknowledged. Last week I had the opportunity to go to Clare House which is one of our newer retirement villages in Invercargill to assist Amy Adams with the opening of that wonderful retirement village. It is quite a state-of-the-art retirement village offering some different types of accommodation. So you have got your stand-alone houses you have also got apartment living—one-bedroom and two-bedroom self-contained—and then Clare House also offers a hospital wing for those seniors who need more care when it comes to that stage in life. What we are finding in Southland is that our seniors are moving not only for security and that added care but also for the camaraderie of having other seniors around them meaning that they are not so lonely and isolated in their own homes. I think retirement villages play a really important part in assisting our seniors in their later years. You know there are limited gardens to do they are accepting of help when they need it and it is generally really very good for seniors to be in a retirement village when they are well looked after especially with that camaraderie side of things. But it comes at a cost. Some of those apartments and houses are quite costly at that time of life and so it is only fair that the rates rebate scheme applies to them given the intent of that Act which was put in place back in the 1970s. So let us take a look at it at a select committee let us flesh it out let us have a good look at it and let us get a workable outcome so that our super seniors get some benefit from it. So I support this bill."