Parmar Parmjeet: New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParmar Parmjeet: New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 07 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3340. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr PARMJEET PARMAR (National):Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill in its second reading. It is a pleasure to take a call to support this bill. The purpose of this bill is to facilitate the effective and efficient investment of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. For that this bill proposes to allow administrators of the fund to control entities managing various investments of the fund.The New Zealand Superannuation Fund invests on behalf of the Government in order to help pay for increased superannuation entitlements in the future. It also helps with creating balance in respect of the burden that we want to put on taxpayers and not just current taxpayers but future taxpayers as well. So this will help to avoid increasing taxes in the future.We know that our economy is doing really well and it is doing well because this National Government knows how to manage it. There are numerous indicators of our great economy under this National Government—for example the number of jobs that have been created. We know that household disposable incomes are rising faster than inflation and that businesses and households are happy because interest rates are lower and inflation is low. This National Government is focused on sustainable growth to support higher incomes and to support people in retirement. So our focus is to provide a better life for our families from our youngest to the oldest. The National Government is working hard to make our country a better place to live work raise a family and also enjoy retirement. This bill is about increasing efficiency in terms of how the Superannuation Fund is managed with the potential for material increase in the Crown’s balance sheet.We have an ageing population in our country and those people are an important part of our community. A few weeks ago I was in a meeting with the police and I learnt that it is seniors over the age of 65 years who are an easy target of crime. We want a society where people get a positive ageing experience. Our seniors are a highly valued part of our communities and our families and that is why we want them to have security especially financial security.This bill is a great example of how the National Government’s policies are futuristic because the National Government does not want to increase the superannuation age. We want keep our superannuation age at 65 and while keeping it at age 65 since 2008 under this National Government the superannuation weekly rate after tax has gone up by 31 percent. Also we have been able to maintain the superannuation married rate at 65 percent of the average wage. This has been possible because we know how to manage our economy and as a result we are able to invest in other sectors. For example in the health sector we are able to provide more hip knee and other elective surgeries to help our seniors so that they become independent as soon as possible.This bill is about getting better returns from our investment. The New Zealand Superannuation Fund needs more efficient investment so that it adds to the Crown’s wealth so that it improves this Government’s ability as well as future Governments’ ability to give increases to superannuation entitlements and also to keep this balance—as I said before—regarding the burden that we want to put on our taxpayers. We want to put a minimal burden on our taxpayers. This is about the successful management of our economy and as I said this bill is a great example of that.Just recently we released the 2014Report on the Positive Ageing Strategy which shows that we are making great progress in most areas. This National Government is committed to our seniors having security especially the financial security that they deserve. This fund is set up in a very sensible way that allows that reasonable level of independence which is important for their investment policies. This bill is about strengthening the investment fund and strengthening its ability. I support this bill and commend the bill to the House. Thank you.