Pension portability plans for NZ's Realm

Transcript

People wanting to retire in the Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau will be able to leave New Zealand ten years earlier under new laws expected to come into force this year.

New Zealand's Parliament will soon be considering changes to the Social Assistance Portability Bill affecting superannuation and the veteran's pension available in the three countries of New Zealand's Realm after calls for submissions closed this week.

The Cook Islands Prime Minister says he's met the deadline for submissions and his Cabinet has also agreed to work with Niue and Tokelau to present a united approach the committee in Wellington.

Jenny Meyer reports.

Henry Puna says the Cook Islands government has asked the New Zealand government to allow Cook Islanders who return home before turning 50 to apply for the pension from the Cook Islands once they turn 65. Now they still have to return to New Zealand to do so.

HENRY PUNA: The primary point we're pushing is that their residence in the Realm countries should also count and they don't have to go back to New Zealand and reside there for five years after they've turned fifty. So that's the change that we are proposing and we are pushing within New Zealand.

The Ministry of Social Development administers New Zealand superannuation and a team manager, Lynne Cousins, says at present anybody who has lived and worked in New Zealand for 10 years after the age of 20 and for five years after the age of 50 and who is over the age of 65 can draw their pension in 22 Pacific Island countries or territories. She says the proposed changes will mean those eligible for the pension can leave at the age of 55 and live in either the Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau and apply from there for their superannuation once they reach 65.

LYNNE COUSINS: So it could be someone that has lived in New Zealand all their life and decides that they would like to move to one of those three countries after they are 55, as well as people that have come from those countries to New Zealand and are returning, or people that might have come from somewhere else and lived in New Zealand for a period of time and then move on to live in those three countries.

Henry Puna says it is very disruptive to people who have resettled in the islands to return to New Zealand to qualify for the pension.

HENRY PUNA: We actually see a lot of benefits if the rule was to be relaxed to allow our people to come back when they turn fifty. Because they're still young, they're still full of life and they can actually contribute positively to our economic development.

Niue's High Commissioner to New Zealand, O'Love Jacobsen, says the proposed changes marks the spirit and importance of Niue's constitutional arrangement with New Zealand and it is a significant move as Niue struggles with a declining population.

O'LOVE JACOBSEN: It's going to be a draw card for us. It will take our people back home. It will encourage our people who are now working here and are skilled; they can go home and would enjoy having worked here, and paid their taxes here as well, and then when they return home, they would also be able to make application, and I think that's the beauty of it.

Mrs Jacobsen says there are some aspects of the Bill that still need some clarification and she hopes the committee will confirm that the changes specifically apply only to the three Realm nations. The new policy will still require legislation to be passed in the New Zealand Parliament but is expected to apply from July the 1st this year.