Roche Denise: Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRoche Denise: Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 05 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3178. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DENISE ROCHE (Green): I rise to take the second call for the Greens on the Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau) Bill. We support the bill on the basis that it is a step in the right direction towards ensuring the citizens of the Realm of New Zealand countries—Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau—who are also citizens of New Zealand have better access to New Zealand superannuation and the veterans pension. But we have the same sort of concerns that have been raised by previous speakers on this side of the House particularly Carmel Sepuloni and Poto Williams about whether this bill goes far enough. Certainly the opinion that was coming from the submitters was that this bill did not go far enough.Under the current system people wishing to access New Zealand superannuation or the veterans pension have to be resident and present in New Zealand at the time of applying for the payments. As well as that they must have lived in New Zealand for at least 10 years as an adult over 20—if it is 10 years they can access 50 percent of the payments later on and they must have lived here for 20 years to get the full payment of superannuation—and they must have lived in New Zealand for at least 5 years since the age of 50.For the people from the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau who have lived and worked in New Zealand as adults for 10 years or 20 years this bill will still require them to live here for 5 years after the age of 50 to be eligible for the payments but what this bill does change is that they do not have to be resident and present after that. They can access superannuation and the veterans pension from their home island countries. It means that older people from these island communities can return to their homelands access those pensions—which by the way they have contributed to as residents and citizens of New Zealand—and it also means and this is a point that was made by the previous speaker Matt Doocey that other New Zealanders who meet the eligibility requirement for residency in those Realm countries can also stay in those islands and access superannuation or the veterans pension there.But the common concern from the submitters was around that 5 years after 50 rule. It was a very unusual step for the Social Services Committee to hear submissions from the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands the Hon Henry Puna and the Premier of Niue the Hon Toke Talagi and again their concern was expressed particularly around that 5 years after 50 rule. I understand—and it says this in the regulatory impact statement as well—that this bill has been the result of Government to Government discussions for quite a long time and that the Realm countries have been asking for this for a very long time. So they were very clear that they were appreciative of the effort that was being made to clear this up but again they did express their concerns.We heard from them how the current system has been a disincentive for people wishing to return to the islands of the Realm and we also heard firsthand about the issues of depopulation and the subsequent problems that it can cause for these small island economies. By enabling these citizens to live in the islands from potentially the age of 55 and still be eligible for superannuation it removes that disincentive a bit although it will mean that there may be disruption for people if they have met the criteria and have returned to their home islands before they have hit the 50-year age bracket.I just want to acknowledge as previous speakers have done the contribution that the people of the Realm countries—from the Cook Islands from Niue and from Tokelau—have made to our nation’s economy. And I take the point that Poto Williams raised earlier about the service that those citizens have also provided in terms of our armed forces. They have provided to the social and the economic well-being of our society and by allowing for this easier portability and ensuring that people can move back to their home countries and access superannuation and veterans pensions it means that we are reciprocating and that we are helping with the economic development of their countries which I think is fair enough.We will be supporting this bill. I will be interested to see what the Supplementary Order Papers are like. At this stage from reading the report from the select committee and the minority views we are fully supportive of the efforts that the Labour Party is making to extend the eligibility so that we can remove further disincentives to people returning to those depopulated islands where they really need them. Thank you.