Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. It's a pleasure to take a call on the Social Assistance (Residency Qualification) Legislation Bill. What we've just heard was I think a very good pitch for the deputy leadership of the New Zealand First Party. In his first minute he managed to get the Rt Hon Winston Peters' name in there. I guess maybe that's part of what New Zealand First MPs sign up to when they become members of the New Zealand First Party. But let's talk about the bill.Unlike what the previous speaker Ron Mark was talking about let's talk about this excellent piece of legislation which is being progressed through Parliament unanimously here tonight. If you'd just been listening at home to that speaker you may have thought this was about something completely different but this debate is about the Social Assistance (Residency Qualification) Legislation Bill and it is about bringing equality to the Realm when it comes to the social assistance the superannuation and the veterans support benefits which are available to all members of the Realm of New Zealand.I think it's important at this point to note that New Zealand is a Realm under our Queen Queen Elizabeth II and the countries which make up that Realm are New Zealand and the two countries which are in free association with New Zealand—the Cook Islands and Niue—and Tokelau which is a dependency of New Zealand. Those three countries alongside New Zealand are the Realm of New Zealand and therefore we have a special relationship and a special bond with those countries which I think is very important and something that this bill does a lot to secure and to solidify and to imbed further in as we look to the future of our closeness as countries.So this bill here does some very important things. Primarily what it does is ensure that those who are eligible for New Zealand superannuation have the same access to superannuation not depending upon where they live. Currently what is required of those who are born in the Realm countries—in the Cook Islands Niue or Tokelau—is that if they come to New Zealand and work for 10 years they then become entitled to New Zealand superannuation and then if they go back to their Realm countries and want to be able to secure that New Zealand superannuation they must after the age of 50 come back to New Zealand and work here or live here for another five years.Essentially what this bill does is it takes away the requirement for them to be in New Zealand for those five years. They are required to be in one of the Realm countries—it could be any of the Realm countries or it could be a mixture of the Realm countries—for five years before they are entitled to New Zealand superannuation at the age of 65. And what this does is it ensures that they are all on the same playing field. They have the same rights to the superannuation that they've worked for. And I think it's important to note that these people have come to New Zealand for a variety of reasons often to work to raise money that they can send home to support their families and to support those back in their Realm country where they come from to be able to send remittances home and to be able to make a contribution for a variety of reasons. They come here to gain skills they come here for education they come here to contribute to New Zealand and then they have the opportunity under this legislation to go home without being required to then come back to New Zealand and contribute or be here for any longer period.And the important point that that makes is it means that those who do come here and do make that contribution to our country then have that opportunity to be able to retire back to one of the Realm countries to be able to then continue that contribution back in their own country without having that disruption which is currently required by law part-way through their life or as they are planning their retirement—that requirement to come back to New Zealand to be back in New Zealand society for five years. And often what we see is those people will stay in New Zealand rather than then return back as their intention might have been. Their family might be here their employment might be here their foundations for their life are further built here in New Zealand which takes away the incentive to go back to Niue or back to the Cook Islands or back to Tokelau to retire there and be able to contribute back into the economy.So what we see then are fewer people doing that and the populations of those countries continuing to decline. And what that means for their future for their economic well-being as countries in their own right is it becomes more and more challenging as they seek to build their own prosperity and to build their own future as a country in this world. And so what the hope and the aspiration of this piece of legislation is is that this will encourage and incentivise these people to be able to go back to their country at an earlier age to be able to build their lives to be able to then retire in those countries accessing the New Zealand superannuation which they have worked for which they have contributed in New Zealand to and which they are entitled to. And I think as the point has been made not only is it superannuation but it is the veterans support allowance as well. I think that's a vitally important part of this legislation because we do have to acknowledge those who serve in our defence forces and serve for our country and if they serve in New Zealand that also entitles them to be able to do the same.It did disappoint me to see the Minister of Defence spend his seven or eight minutes in the House trying to score political points rather than trying to talk about the important facts that this bill does in actually allowing those who have served in the Defence Force to be able to go back to the islands. [Interruption]Chris Penk: Oh they've woken up!SIMEON BROWN: And yes I think it's an important point that Mr Penk just made. They have just woken up across on the other side of the House. It happens once or twice a day but we enjoy it when it does happen because there's really not a lot of spark on the other side of the House these days. I mean it is Guy Fawkes at the moment but just not much spark on that side of the House which is a little bit unfortunate.Hon David Bennett: That fella from New Zealand First—I can't remember his name—he's pretty sparky.SIMEON BROWN: Yeah I can't remember his name either and I don't want to remember their names. There are so many other more important things to remember around this place David Bennett rather than remembering the names of people in the New Zealand First Party.So I think this bill does an incredible job in trying to build that relationship to solidify our place in the world supporting our Realm countries and ensuring that we aren't continuing to allow the depopulation of these countries. We are sending a message that we want to support them economically. We want to ensure that those who come to New Zealand have a pathway back to their Realm country to be able to continue to live there to support their families there to be able to contribute to the economy of those Realm countries and to ensure that we as New Zealand are able to play our part in that.So I'd like to in conclusion acknowledge a few important people. I'd like to acknowledge Sir Bill English who started the process and who as the Prime Minister at the time travelled to the Cook Islands and Tokelau and Niue and made this commitment. I'd like to acknowledge all members of this House who are all voting for this bill. And I think it's important to note despite the interjections from the other side of the House by someone who used to be a member of the National Party—a branch chair of the National Party I actually understand; he was quite an important office holder in the National Party. I think from the interjections that he's making he's obviously quite disappointed and he's still going through the grieving phase of leaving. But you know he'll get over that but he's not welcome back; so that's OK.Hon Christopher Finlayson: He wasn't good enough to get pre-selected.SIMEON BROWN: He wasn't good enough to get pre-selected which Chris Finlayson said.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Come to the bill. Come to the bill.SIMEON BROWN: But the point I was trying to make Madam Deputy Speaker before I got interjected on rudely by the other side was that this bill is being passed unanimously in the House. And I think when we do come together as a House to make a change to our law and we do it in a unanimous way that's something that should be celebrated. And I think that too often people look at this debating chamber and they listen to the interjections and they hear the comments that have just been made but what is true is that so many times Parliament does come together in a unified way to pass legislation not only for the good of New Zealand but for the good of our Realm to make a real positive difference. This bill is one such bill. I commend it to the House. Thank you very much Madam Deputy Speaker.