Social Security Bill among four passed

20 September 2018
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Four bills, including one on social security, have passed their third readings in Parliament and are awaiting Royal assent.

The Social Security Bill, the Residential Care and Disability Support Services Bill, and the Artificial Limb Service Bill were all read a third time.

“Social security legislation is the basis of our welfare system and sets out how we support, care and provide for New Zealanders and that’s why it’s so important that the legislation is accessible, clear and easy to understand,” says Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni.

“The rewrite of the Social Security Act 1964 was well overdue. The 50-year-old Act was disjointed and hard to understand. It had been amended so often, it couldn’t be clearly read and it didn’t follow a logical path.

“The changes provide a clear and solid legislative platform to undertake the overhaul of the welfare system and provides clarity for users of the social security system,” says Ms Sepuloni,

The rewrite of the Social Security Act is policy neutral and will split social security legislation into three new Acts:

the Social Security Act 2018
the Artificial Limb Service Act 2018
the Residential Care and Disability Support Services Act 2018.

The full legislation is due to come into effect on 26 November 2018.

The Education (Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand) Amendment Bill has also been passed. It proposes that the membership of the Teaching Council be increased to 13, to include a senior ECE leader and a teacher educator and five other qualified and registered teachers/teacher leaders, and ministerial appointment to fill the six other member positions.

MP's pay to be frozen

Meanwhile, the Remuneration Authority (Members of Parliament Remuneration) Amendment Bill has been introduced to parliament.

The bill will implement the Government's decision to freeze MP’s salaries, expense allowances, and superannuation subsidies from 1 July 2018 until 30 June 2019 at the levels determined in the Parliamentary Salaries and Allowances Determination 2017 and the Parliamentary Superannuation Determination 2003.