populations here in New Zealand as well, as well as those
on the islands. And it
is with pleasure that I commend it to the House.
that I commend it to the House. I call Simon O'Connor. I think it's
appropriate to begin with the
languages
languages of the realm.
Kia ora and hello. Look, a real pleasure to speak on the Social
Assistance (Residency Qualification) Legislation Bill. A little bit like
a piece of legislation
last evening, I don't actually sit on the
Social Services Bill, but I'm speaking on
this as I hold two associates
sorry, on this committee. Thank you. That was a very good start,
wasn't
now have nine minutes and 24 seconds to make good. Madam Speaker, I
don't sit on the committee. However,
I have two associate portfolios, which
is really going badly.
I'm just so excited to get
to talk about the realm.
It's gonna be great.
great. Particularly with Prince Harry and
Meghan coming here,
where could this
associate spokespersonships that I hold in this area. And I'm delighted
to talk on this Social Assistance
Legislation Bill, because in effect
it's a National Party bill.
It's another example actually, without
throwing too many bats,
it's another example of legislation being put
forward in this House, rightly under
the new Government's name,
but actually National Party
originated. And this particular part
from the Rt Hon Bill English, or should I more
correctly say now, seeing as he is a
knight of the
realm, Sir Bill English. We'll go through a
little bit of the history in a moment. But
this, as I say, second reading, a
good bill. There were seven
people who submitted, and two who did so
orally. By that, I mean
they came to the committee and discussed matters.
The report back from the
committee, and the Minister who resumed the
chair earlier, has traversed some
of those, and it's not my
intention to do so. But, fundamentally, this
is a progression in New
Zealand's laws, in this case
around its superannuation
superannuation and veterans' payments, to recognise not only
the rights, if you will, of those who
reach retirement age to
access their entitlements, but I
think, importantly, and really importantly,
that actually
that actually there are consequences of New Zealand being a realm. And by
that
of New Zealand being a realm. And by
that some of the language in this House and otherwise can
sometimes get blurred. We
talk about New Zealand as being a state, as a
country, but, actually, we are a
realm. We are a realm, because the
Head of State, Her Majesty,
Queen Elizabeth, and under that realm
New Zealand sits as
an independent country. The Cook Islands and Niue
also share the Queen of New Zealand
as their head of state, and are in
free association with New Zealand.
And Tokelau is a
dependent territory. Granted, they have
sought referenda before
referenda before to discuss whether to move into free association with
New Zealand, or if they so
chose to go completely
go completely independent. They have, up to this point in time,
Madam Speaker, not done so, and
they remain, as I say, a dependent
than under, the Queen of New Zealand. So, the realm
of New Zealand is actually larger than
simply the North Island, South
Island, Chattams and the Stewart
Islands. It also
Island, Chattams and the Stewart Islands. It also includes
those countries. So, New
Zealand is more than what we initially think,
and it makes a lot of sense to
me that if we're gonna have a realm, if
we're going to engage under the same head
of state, then actually the same
rights and privileges
are recorded. And I may go on a little bit
further to say where these next expansions
go. But in terms of the
social assistance, up
go. But in terms of the social
actually, firstly, Madam Speaker, we need to acknowledge this
is an omnibus bill. In other words, as
you would know, but as an omnibus bill,
it's affecting two pieces of
legislation. Obviously the New
legislation. Obviously the New Zealand Superannuation and
Retirement Income Act of
2001. People over 65 who are to become
eligible, they've had to have lived
in New Zealand at
least 10 years since they became 20. So, people
have to be residents of
New Zealand. But importantly, and as
other speakers have indicated, you need to
have lived in New Zealand
for at least five years once you're over
the age of 50. This is where the
little complications began to kick
in. So, the problem we're seeking
to solve is that New Zealanders who
are eligible, or would normally be
eligible, for superannuation, in
New Zealand, everything was fine. For
those New Zealanders
living in other parts
those New Zealanders living in other
likes of Niue or Tokelau, for example
likes of Niue or Tokelau, for
fact, they're living in that part of the
fact, they're living in that part of
part of the realm meant that they could not be seen as
resident for five years. And in a sense, to
make matters worse, they had to, if they
were in those parts
of the realm, had to come back to New
Zealand to apply. So, in 2015, changes were
made that a New Zealander living in,
let's say, in the Cook Islands,
would no longer have to come back to
apply in New Zealand. So,
that was part of it. Not only five years in
New Zealand, but you had to be
in New Zealand to make an application.
So, we, in 2015, fixed that
requirement. People were able to
apply from the realm,
which makes sense. And this piece of
legislation, as agreed by the Rt
Hon Sir Bill English
legislation, as agreed by the Rt Hon
must have been in 2017. I'll have to
living in the Cook Islands, living in Niue, living in Tokelau,
that will count towards the five years
over
will count towards the five years
really prudent. Again, I think, first and foremost, it's good for
the person who is going
to receive the superannuation, of
course. They want to receive the money. It's
their entitlement. They've
worked hard for New Zealand. It's obviously
good for those parts
hard for New Zealand. It's obviously
people are able to remain there, be resident
resident there, to obviously spend their superannuation there. That's
a positive. Others have
talked about keeping those skills there. I
would add, on top of all of that, is just
good social benefits as well. People
do not like having to
move around unnecessarily. So, that's incredibly
positive.
unnecessarily. So, that's incredibly
But I think much wider than that, it sends an incredibly strong
signal that New Zealand is a realm, the
way that we are constitutionally
structured is
structured is finally being reflected in our legislation. That,
actually, these
actually, these places, in free association or as a
dependent territory, as Tokelau
and the Ross dependency are, are part of New
Zealand, and they should be
treated equally and as such. And,
really, just to illustrate the point,
up until this legislation goes through,
living in the Cook Islands, living
in Tokelau, doesn't seem
to count, even though it's part
of the realm, for
even though it's part of the realm,
sorry, all of those who live in Havelock North or Din done
It's a slight contradiction. Because at the moment we still base things
like our Exclusive Economic Zone,
our military and
diplomatic capacities, based
capacities, based off those territories, off those areas of
free association, like the Cooks.
In order, there is
some element of...
..of connection already. And it makes a lot of sense to me that we
continue to
continue to emphasise the importance of New Zealand's constitutional
structures. And one of
the best ways to do that, other than obviously
educating people, is to
make sure that the actions,
the constitutional actions, and our laws
reflect that. In other words, that there is
equality for all of those
people within the realm. So, it's my hope,
Madam Speaker, that as time
goes on this is not the last piece
of legislation we bring to
the House that makes it really clear that all
of us who live in New Zealand, who live in the Ross dependency, or,
rather, work down there, who live
in Tokelau, in the Cook Islands
or Niue, are all under the one head of
state. And, therefore, we should
reflect that, in a sense,
uniqueness, because it is not
all that usual, but that uniqueness
should be reflected not
only in social assistance but also in the
areas of travel, how we actually
move across those territories. That
raises obviously much
wider discussions around the freedom of
movement, visas, passports, and so
forth, what is required there. And I
think too, Madam Speaker, it
ensures that we must have
a mature conversation as
that we must have a mature
you will, the one people in multiple areas within this realm of
New Zealand, have mature conversations
of how our relationship continues,
importantly, together. If we wish
to separate things out, I
just think that's fundamentally important. So,
we are wholeheartedly in support of
this legislation. Happy
that it's processed through the
select committee. Seems like a very
robust process, I think. The
recommendations, the way that the
issues have been articulated,
are particularly positive. I
look forward to it
progressing swiftly through the House. And
other contributions, as we count down.
contributions, as we count down. Speaker. I call the Hon Ron Mark.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Well, I do
need to put on the record a couple
of things. It's been very
interesting sitting in
here, listening to some of the speeches
from the Opposition benches, and I
really do hate