Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour): I'm very disappointed in the previous contribution by Denise Lee. The Opposition say that they support the Rates Rebate Scheme. They talk about how it's good for people to have access to the scheme. But then on the other hand they don't seem to be supporting this piece of legislation. I'm hopeful that they will vote for it but from the two speakers I've heard so far it appears that they're not going to be voting for the scheme. They're asking why we're doing it now. Well the reason we're doing it now is because we're supporting our superannuitants. As we've heard 79 percent of those who take up the Rates Rebate Scheme are superannuitants and those people have contributed a lot to this country and it's our way of honouring them.Now talking about some of the specifics in the bill here the bill removes the requirement as we've heard to make a statutory declaration when applying for the Rates Rebate Scheme. I'd like to endorse the comments that we heard from one of the previous members who spoke quite vividly about how the superannuitants particularly in this case have to physically go to complete their statutory declaration and for a lot of them as very proud people it can be quite a challenge for them to you know acknowledge that they are on a low income. Now many of us in this House know what it's like to be on a low income at times. For a period of time my wife and I were on a minimum wage with two children and it was quite difficult and there was a humbling aspect to that. One of the key aspects of this bill is around providing that anonymity for people who are in that situation and particularly for our seniors who are at times vulnerable.We've heard the word wellbeing" spoken about in this debate and I'd also like to highlight that aspect. This bill is about the wellbeing of those who for whatever reason happen to be either on low incomes or on fixed incomes and often for our superannuitants it's both. They might be on a pension some of them might still be paying rent they might still be paying a mortgage and there's not a lot of money coming into the household and they are on a fixed income. As we know last year 102000 New Zealanders applied for the Rates Rebate Scheme. And the average refund that we heard from the Hon Nanaia Mahuta was $582 per year—Hon Peeni Henare: How much?JAMIE STRANGE: —$582. That is a significant amount—that really is a significant amount—and that's about looking after people. This is an absolutely fantastic scheme. I'd also like to acknowledge the Hon Ruth Dyson who's done work in the past few years to extend this scheme into retirement villages so more people can have access to the scheme. It's $582 and when you add that to the winter energy payment that this Government brought in you're getting up to around a thousand dollars a year for many of those people.Now just sort of diving into some of the key aspects of the bill here this bill reduces the local authority costs and enables applications to be made through multiple channels for example online. Now we have the local body elections up at the moment and rates are a big issue. We constantly hear candidates saying "We will lower rates." One of the ways that they could potentially lower rates would be for the council to not have as many costs.Hon Member: Ha ha!Ian McKelvie: That's clever. JAMIE STRANGE: And this bill makes it cheaper round the processing fees. Yes it may be at the margins and some of the members are sort of joking there but it does. It certainly does make it a bit cheaper for those councils. And there is for example the online aspect and I would like to highlight while I'm talking about the online aspect that it is important that as society does move online there still is the opportunity to pay using cash. I heard an example recently of someone who went to a council to pay—I think it was a parking fine—and literally could not pay with the cash. They were standing there and they couldn't pay because they said "You have to pay it online." And so the person behind the counter used their own card to actually pay for it. Now I digress slightly—SPEAKER: Yes too far.JAMIE STRANGE: —but it relates to the aspect of being able to pay online. And it is important that we do get that balance right. So it reduces local authorities' costs to administer. It links in with the four wellbeings in terms of social economic environmental and cultural. And I think particularly the social because the point that I began this with I believe is a very important point that the wellbeing—and for particularly the mental wellbeing of people who are on low incomes having that anonymity is certainly an important thing. Seventy-nine percent of the applicants were superannuitants last year and the 2013 Disability Survey found that 49 percent of those over the age of 65 have a physical disability. So those with a physical disability giving them the option to be able to apply for the scheme at home without having to physically go somewhere it makes sense; it increases the access. I am surprised that the Opposition haven't picked up on this. The Opposition talk about how the rates rebate is a great scheme but why wouldn't they want to increase access for people particularly people with disabilities? As we know 49 percent of those over the age of 65 do have a physical disability. We support the bill because it removes a barrier for eligible applicants to apply. So the key aspect here is about access. There's another aspect about wellbeing: it reduces the local authority costs to administer the scheme enabling local authorities to provide an online application. The bill also makes a minor word change to allow application forms to be approved by the Secretary for Local Government. Now why is this important? It's important because it would allow local authorities to design and supply their own application forms for use. So it gives a certain sense of autonomy to local councils around the forms that they want to use and it's important that we do get that balance right in terms of central government not being overly heavy-handed with local government. It's about collaboration and this Government is certainly committed to collaborating with local councils. An example of that collaboration here in this bill comes through that where the councils can supply their own application forms for use and they can administer it online. So basically they have the freedom to do that. Look we're certainly determined as a Government to remove barriers for superannuitants and it's important that we value superannuitants. We're coming out of a previous Government—nine years—and I'm not convinced that they did value superannuitants. I'm not convinced that they did. But this Government? The winter energy payment the Rates Rebate Scheme this piece of legislation here—making the Rates Rebate Scheme more accessible is a key way that we are valuing our seniors. We're valuing all they've given to society. The scheme ensures that people entitled to super on a low income can easily access that part of the Government's wellbeing programme. I think that I've covered all the key points there. So I spoke about the wellbeing linking in to the winter energy payment the fact that—particularly our superannuitants' access of it and particularly the aspect around access. I have challenged the Opposition saying why won't the Opposition support this bill—why won't the Opposition? I'd like to hear a good reason—one good reason—why the Opposition won't support this bill. The Opposition say they support the Rates Rebate Scheme but they won't support access and I would like to hear that. I'm hopeful that the next speaker from that side will give us a clear example of why. I commend this bill to the House."