Dyson RuthRATES REBATE (RETIREMENT VILLAGE RESIDENTS) AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills): It gives me an immense amount of pleasure to move That the Rates Rebate (Retirement Village Residents) Amendment Bill be now read a third time. The rates rebate goes back a long time since the early 1970s when Norman Kirk was our Prime Minister and I just want to acknowledge his vision and his passion and his practical application to get good things done for people who are most in need. The rates rebates scheme was one such example. Norman Kirk recognised that people who were paying off a mortgage were often struggling. They spent a lot of their income to pay off the mortgage so that they would eventually own their house but every quarter they got a rates bill from the council—which they have to pay and of course they should pay—and that was a big financial challenge to low-income earners. His idea was to give people money from central government to help them pay that rates bill. The scheme was introduced so that people with a low income with quite a high rates bill would then get on a sliding scale some money back to assist with that rates bill. That was hugely successful when it was first introduced. Over time particularly over the nine years post the then Labour Government—1972 to 1975—losing office the scheme began to be run down. The amount of money that people could earn wasn't updated and the amount of money that they paid in rates wasn't updated. So in the end there were you know half a dozen people eligible for the rates rebate scheme. I noticed this in the period that we were last in Government when Helen Clark was the Prime Minister. When I was the Minister for Senior Citizens it was obvious that a lot of older New Zealanders who were dependent on superannuation couldn't afford to pay their rates. So one of the first things that we did in that period of Government was increase the amount of money that people could earn and the rate so that far more people became eligible for the rates rebate. But it was also obvious that a number of other things had changed in those intervening years including the introduction of a different type of ownership of a home which was not a unit title; it was called a licence to occupy and that was particularly the case in retirement villages. Throughout New Zealand we've had a proliferation of retirement villages. Many people choose to live in a retirement village unit but they don't have a title. They have what's called a licence to occupy or some variation on that phrase. They pay their rates. The resident pays their rates indirectly through the retirement village owner who then pays the rates bill to the council. So under the current scheme even though they are paying rates they are not entitled to get a rates rebate even though many of them—50 percent of retirement village residents—are totally dependent on superannuation for their income. Now that seemed to me to be unfair. So I introduced a fix for that as a member's bill and unlike most of the other member's bills that I've had introduced it got the majority support of the Parliament. In fact when I introduced the bill it got 100 percent of support of the Parliament. It's been through a select committee. Somewhere along the line the National Party changed their mind about their support and I was pretty disappointed about that because I couldn't think of a better message for Parliament to send to retirement village residents than that the whole of Parliament has seen the unfairness of their ineligibility to apply for a rates rebate and the whole of Parliament has agreed it should be fixed. So the National Party pulled their support. In the second reading and the committee stage there was a bit of movement on that position because I was very fortunate to have in that intervening time partaken in an election and Labour and New Zealand First and the Greens now form the Government. Kieran McAnulty: Oh thank God for that. Hon RUTH DYSON: It is a big relief to many people. We now have a Minister of Local Government who understands the issue and understands the unfairness of it and is committed to playing her part in fixing it—and I want to acknowledge the Hon Nanaia Mahuta. She didn't need this explained to her. She already understood the issue and said We're going to help resolve any concerns there are that have been raised at the select committee." and she directed her officials to help meet the concerns that were raised at the select committee and in the committee stage. So a Supplementary Order Paper was presented in my name—huge help from the Department of Internal Affairs officials in drafting that—and that resolved all the concerns that have been raised and now we come to the third stage of the legislation. So I invite the National Party to have one more think about this because it would be such a good message to send from our Parliament if everyone voted for it. But before I do that I want to acknowledge the parties that supported it before the election that are no longer in Parliament. As well as obviously National and Labour New Zealand First and the Greens supported it before and fortunately are still here to continue their support. The Hon Peter Dunne supported it prior to the election and gave his commitment to continuing support but of course he isn't here—he didn't stand—and the Māori Party also supported the legislation. So I just want to acknowledge them. I want to acknowledge other advocates for this legislation. Grey Power have been consistent and strong advocates of this legislation; the Retirement Villages Residents Association and I want to particularly acknowledge Carol and Rob Wilson who have been tremendous supporters and promoters of this legislative change; the Retirement Villages Association whose chief executive John Collyns has been very active in supporting the legislation and making sure that we got it right for the owners and operators of the retirement villages because we want something that works for everyone and not just the residents; and of course I want to re-acknowledge Norman Kirk whose vision put this scheme into place in the first place. It's given low-income earners a big financial boost at a time when they need it. When their rates bill is due they have to pay their rates bill and this has just made it so much easier for them. So I'm delighted now that retirement village residents who are in a licence to occupy unit will be now in exactly the same place as somebody who is living in a freehold title unit just down the road. They both have the same income. They both have the same rates. They pay their rates differently but if this legislation is passed it will mean that in both situations they will be entitled to apply for a rates rebate. If they meet the criteria they will get the financial support they deserve. There are further changes to the Rates Rebate Act and I think my next member's bill that I put in the ballot will be addressing another one of those loopholes which were identified in a report to the Government in 2007 and which were ignored by the National-led Government for nine years—nine years. Knowing the gaps in the system and knowing that low-income earners were finding it hard to manage it ignored the opportunity to expand the rates rebate scheme in the way that this legislation does. So I want to conclude by just saying that it's quite rare for a member's bill to get all the way through the process. In the last term of Government I had three members' bills drawn out. That's rare as well. On the basis of me feeling so fortunate when I had the third member's bill drawn out I went down and bought a Lotto ticket thinking that my luck was in. I didn't get one single cent back from that Lotto ticket. It was devastating really. But it's more than made up for by the fact that this rates rebate bill has got to the third reading and has received support from a wide range of people outside the Parliament and I hope the majority of people inside Parliament. Finally the people who are in the retirement villages will have fairness. They'll get that financial support. It will make their lives better. I think they deserve it. I think they deserve the support of Parliament so that they have fair treatment compared to people who live in a comparable situation even in the same street—which they currently don't get—and I commend the progress of this bill to the House. Thank you."