Robson Matt: New Zealand Superannuation Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Robson Matt: New Zealand Superannuation Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:12558] 
Hon MATT ROBSON (Deputy Leader—Progressive) 
: 
 It is a pleasure on behalf of the Labour-Progressive coalition Government to follow a self-confessed late baby-boomer. I can assure him that if this legislation is followed through—and I listened to his support—it will provide a further step in the safety and security of our superannuitants and it was good to hear him acknowledge that. 
The Progressive party strongly supports the legislation because it aims to give back to New Zealanders the security of mind and finances that previously they had a decade ago. A decade ago the Progressive leader Jim Anderton successfully promoted the multi-party accord on retirement income to which all responsible parliamentary parties were able to pledge their support. That accord had the solemn commitment of the major parties in Parliament. It set a minimum threshold beyond which pensions would not fall and to which all responsible parties could commit. At the time that Jim Anderton promoted the accord it was a political lifeline to both National and Labour because both parties had made then broken commitments to the public of New Zealand regarding superannuation and regarding surtaxes in particular. I must say that it was a very different Labour Party from what it is today. 
It is of course an outrage that the National Party of New Zealand which signed the accord in the early 1990s to get out of an electoral hole in recent years has ripped it up. National used an Asian financial crisis to abrogate its commitment to the accord. In recent times National has added insult to injury. National now states that there can be no guarantee that the current relative level of superannuation will be available in coming years to those aged over 65. National is a fair-weather friend not only to the retired of this country but to every New Zealander who works in anticipation of one day retiring with dignity. National is still playing the awful games that it played with New Zealanders in 1990 when it went into an election specifically promising to get rid of the surtax only to do the opposite once elected. That is a lesson for New Zealanders to remember—National promises one thing before an election then does the opposite after it. 
In 1990-91 I was a member of the NewLabour Party. One of the great outrages back then was that we actually had a treasury department working on instructions from its political masters in the then National Government that studied ways of severely restricting access to pensions. Treasury was busy working on ways to raise the age of entitlement to pensions to well over the age of 70—that is right; well over the age of 70. If the National Party had had its way no one would have received a pension until aged 70 75 or even 80. It said that would be fiscally responsible because the overwhelming majority of Pakeha males Maori males and Maori females would never reach the age of entitlement. That is the callous policy that was relied on: the people in those groups—Pakeha males Maori males and Maori females—would not have reached those ages and therefore the pension would not have had to be paid to them. In 1991 the non-Maori male life expectancy rate was 73.3 years and the Maori male life expectancy rate was 67.9 years. Maori females lived on average until 72.9 years of age. Progressive forces rallied however to put an end to the new-right madness in the early 1990s and we must do it again at the next general election as I am sure people realise. Never again in my opinion must the National Party and its friends be allowed to abandon those in need. 
This bill consolidates the law relating to New Zealand superannuation by repealing the Retirement Income Act which was passed in 1993 to give legal effect to the accord on retirement income. The bill continues the Office of the Retirement Commissioner and makes provision for the appointment of the commissioner qualifications for appointment disqualification from appointment and conditions that must be satisfied before a person can be appointed. This Labour-Progressive coalition Government has provided a further step toward fairness for superannuitants with this legislation. The Progressive party is proud to be associated with such a progressive step. 
CRAIG McNAIR (NZ First) 
: 
 On behalf of New Zealand First I want to say that we will support the New Zealand Superannuation Amendment Bill to the select committee. I remind the House that until New Zealand First arrived on the political scene no Government in this country had ever really confronted the problem of funding or creating a long-term savings base for the future of all New Zealanders regardless of gender or economic background. Instead Governments relied on ineffectual political devices like the superannuation accord which we have just heard about—which New Zealand First refused to sign—an equally ineffectual superannuation task force and expensive public relations campaigns. 
Unfortunately for the elderly successive Governments have tinkered with the standard of living of elderly New Zealanders. Many citizens who have made their contribution and who are entitled to live in some degree of financial security now live in a state of insecurity because the State cannot be trusted to treat them fairly in their declining years. 
During the first term of the present Government New Zealand First voted to support the “Cullen fund” which was set up to help finance the pension bulge in about 20 years or so. It was a long way short of what we as a party wanted but it was a start and we hope to do better after the next election in 2005. Our debt level and balance of payments problems will never be overcome until we accept that national savings are critical to our future economic development and the eventual freedom from dependence on foreign money. 
The bill consolidates the law relating to New Zealand superannuation by repealing the Retirement Income Act and transferring certain provisions—notably those relating to the Retirement Commissioner—to the New Zealand Superannuation Act. I look forward to sitting on the select committee—if the bill comes to the Finance and Expenditure Committee—in order to see that it becomes good legislation that is worthwhile to vote for. We support this bill to the select committee.