Barry Maggie: New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarry Maggie: New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 19 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16811. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MAGGIE BARRY (National—North Shore):I rise to speak on the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill at its first reading. Before I begin I must say that Trevor Mallard the member who resumed his seat a little while ago would have to be the most compelling argument for retirement that I have heard for a long time. The piece of nonsense that he made us endure really where he is kind of the—we call him the pin-up boy of anger management for the Labour Party because basically he loses his temper a lot and goes toe to toe with Tau and really comes off worse than anyone could ever imagine. Most of us have more conviction than he has convictions which are not inconsiderable.He had a crack at gardeners and I would have to say that that is pretty unwise. Mostly every time he opens his mouth he loses even more votes for Labour if that is possible. To take a crack at gardeners is one of his more stupid approaches. But if we are going on to those horticultural metaphors he is the ultimate dead wood. He is the kind of dead wood that if Labour had any sense it would cut him out. Perhaps Matt McCarten is going to move out and sharpen his saw and have a good crack at him because that is the only way to rejuvenate. You see when you have got a plant that is dying you do need to chop it off. All those dead twiggy growths that are long past their use-by date horticulturally speaking should be chopped off. The manure he has got plenty of. [Interruption] Yes I know the debate is about retirement. So it is a horticultural metaphor about getting a member who is clearly past his best to get off and do something else if he can possibly find it—those convictions being no doubt something of a problem.But getting the best return from investment is what this particular bill is about. The New Zealand Superannuation Fund needs to invest more efficiently. The changes promoted in the bill which others have outlined are actually there to achieve that and I think that is a very good thing. When you look at efficiency governance and particularly Government-controlled fund managers the ongoing work in progressing the efficiency is something that this bill seeks to do.As far as independence is concerned really we need to look at the risks that the Government would face if it overruled what was happening with that independence. We certainly are not of a mind to do that but we do feel that there need to be some changes to amend the powers that can be delegated by the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation. There are three main powers that need to be amended: the power to grant power of attorney the power to appoint an investment manager and the power to appoint a custodian. The bill proposes to remove these and that will really strengthen the investment fund and strengthen its ability. There will be other opportunities to speak on this bill and I will take them with alacrity. In the meantime I commend this bill to the House. Thank you.