Beaumont Carol: Taxation (GST and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
Beaumont Carol: Taxation (GST and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
[Volume:669;Page:16156] 
CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to speak to Part 5 of the Taxation (GST and Remedial Matters) Bill. Part 5 as the Hon David Cunliffe was saying relates to amendments to the KiwiSaver Act 2006. The amendments in the bill have been scrutinised by the Finance and Expenditure Committee which is something. The amendments—clauses 94 to 100C which is “Schedule 1—KiwiSaver scheme rules”—relate to various provisions around the commissioner provisionally allocating people to default schemes the completion of allocation to default schemes if a person does not choose his or her own KiwiSaver scheme involuntary transfers the sending of information initial steps in winding up KiwiSaver schemes and the like. That is what is in Part 5. Those amendments include allowing information to be shared between the Inland Revenue Department and a person’s scheme provider wind-up provisions that ensure full effect is given to that to clarify the date on which the member is allocated to a new scheme a requirement for the scheme providers to supply the tax file number and so on.  
I was not on the Finance and Expenditure Committee but at least this bill was dealt with at the select committee. The Supplementary Order Paper makes changes to this part as well. Again for the record like my colleagues I add my concerns that we have not had the ability to scrutinise the provisions of the Supplementary Order Paper. Taxation legislation is complicated issues around superannuation are complicated and these things need to be done properly. This is the sort of area where mistakes can be made and unintended consequences can occur and we need to know the full implications of what is being proposed.  
It is fair to say that we do not trust the Government in relation to KiwiSaver and on good grounds. We do not trust the Government in relation to KiwiSaver because the experience to date has shown that this Government does not have a commitment to KiwiSaver. Basically the record so far in terms of KiwiSaver has been to gut it. That was one of the very early acts of this Government.  
KiwiSaver as we should all recall was an important attempt by the last Government to lift private saving lift household saving and assist individuals to save for their superannuation. More than that it was an attempt to provide a pool of private savings that would then be available for investment including investment in this country which is something that is very very lacking. It is one of the structural weaknesses in this economy and in our country that we do not have a pool of money available for investment into our own businesses to ensure that we create quality jobs and provide the goods and services that we want as a nation. We have recently seen commentator Standard and Poor’s for example talk about our problem with saving and our level of overseas indebtedness particularly in the private sector.  
We need to deal with this weakness. It has taken a long time but the Government seems to have finally latched onto that. What has it done? It has set up a Savings Working Group but of course it did so after gutting KiwiSaver which was a real attempt to do something about individual saving household saving and the pre-funding of New Zealand superannuation. These things are serious.  
As it happens yesterday I went to a briefing by Dr Judith Davey about our ageing population which adds another dimension to the importance of saving for superannuation. The Retirement Commissioner has just released a report on the issue of superannuation; this is a huge debate for us. The demographics are absolutely compelling in terms of our ageing population and the implications for the country in terms of the provision of superannuation. KiwiSaver was a very important part of the mix which Labour feels very proud about and we do not trust this Government in relation to KiwiSaver.  
I go back to Part 5 and the amendment to it in the rather large Supplementary Order Paper which was dumped on this Committee and is now being dealt with in a very poor manner. We do not want to see the Government deal with this legislation under urgency.