Parker David: KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParker David: KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3831. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour):What a fair Chairman. It actually does speak well of the Chairman because I just had a wee confrontation with him and he is still big enough to call me so thank you Mr Chairman.I want to talk to the commencement date. The commencement date is expressed to be when the KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill gets Royal assent but then there are two exceptions to that which are that particular parts of the bill once it receives Royal assent are of retrospective effect. I want to talk about why we need to take particular care in respect of commencement dates in respect of legislation that goes to raiding retirement schemes because the Government has got prior form on this. The National Party which forms the majority of this Government is the same party that raided the earlier retirement scheme under Muldoon. It killed off the Kirk scheme which would have had New Zealand in a similar position to Australia in terms of investment capital. In fact it was even earlier than the Australian scheme that followed it. It has killed off contributions to the Cullen fund. We have already seen that that has cost—Dr David Clark: $16 billion.Hon DAVID PARKER: —the Cullen fund $16 billion at current rates of return because of that folly. And now we have cuts to KiwiSaver particularly the $1000.As to the date you have got ask yourself this. The Government is doing this as of today in the name it says of child poverty. When do its child poverty measures kick in? On 1 April next year. The Government is saying that it is a compassionate Government because it recognises that there are many children many thousands of children living in severe poverty in New Zealand. It accepts that these children sometimes go without breakfast sometimes go without lunch at school sometimes go without shoes and can never pay their school fees or just about never. It accepts that we have serious hardship in New Zealand amongst children and that they need $25 a week—we think that is pretty miserly; our policy was $60 a week per child under 3—but it says $25 a week because their circumstances are so desperate that they need more money for breakfast.So those parents are going to go to their kids on Monday and they are going to say: “Next year you can have breakfast.” Look at their eyes down over there on the Government benches. One of the fundamental flaws relating to commencement dates in this total Budget package is that actually the Government acknowledges that there is a real and serious problem with child poverty now in New Zealand but it is not going to fix it until 1 April next year—and this in a wealthy country.But what will the Government do this year? This year it will kill the KiwiSaver kick-start payment effective as of Budget day. It is backwards. Not April next year. It will take that off people next year. You know that kick-start payment is deliberately progressive. The Labour Party designed it. We do things that are progressive. One thousand dollars to a low-income person is worth a lot more than $1000 to a high-income person partly because of their marginal tax rates and partly just because their income rate is lower. The progressive payment of $1000 per person is progressive. The Government takes that away today but the people whom it says are in poverty now do not get breakfast until next year. That sums up this Government.Hon Annette King: That’s how much they care.Hon DAVID PARKER: That is how much it cares. It cares not enough. We accept that $25 a week next year is better than not getting $25 a week next year. We said we would get $60 a week into the pockets of those kids in poor families per child for the first 3 years of their life from this year. But we did not win the election; National did. With the KiwiSaver kick-start payment we were actually going to spread it over 5 years as we got everyone into the scheme but we were not going to cut it.The commencement date of this legislation is worthy of note because it highlights the fact that the Government pretends that it is worried about these children living in poverty who cannot get breakfast this year but it is saying: “You won’t get it till next year.” I also want to return to the question of why it is that the bill has got a commencement date for reducing one of the incentives to KiwiSaver now when we have got a current account deficit that is blowing out we have got exports dropping—