Submissions

This Bill is relevant to all New Zealanders and to Age Concern New Zealand in its work with older people. As such, we want an age-friendly health system that takes into consideration the rights and needs of people across their life span. We are please that the Government wants to improve the effectiveness of health service delivery to patients. Dignity, wellbeing, equity, and respect for older people are the values that underpin the work carried out by Age Concern New Zealand.

Based on our values and our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, we do not support the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill. We recommend action and funding is instead invested in delivering the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022. If this Amendment Bill is passed health outcomes for Māori, Pasifika, migrants, rainbow and Takatāpui communities, disabled people and those who live rurally will remain poorer than for European and other New Zealanders. 

This bill is relevant to all New Zealanders as well as Age Concern New Zealand and many other charities providing essential services within local communities throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.

Gambling harm affects many New Zealanders. Older people within New Zealand Aotearoa may experience gambling harm either directly through their own gambling habit or that of their spouse, adult children or grandchildren. Age Concern elder abuse social workers encounter the harm experienced by older people which can be through family members pressing them for money to support their gambling addiction or to pay off gambling debt. This can include the family member using the older person’s credit or eftpos card for their gambling against the older person’s wishes. We also hear of family members moving in with their ageing parent or grandparent, contributing very little toward household costs, in order to fund their own gambling addiction. 

We are submitting on the Online Casino Gambling Bill primarily because of the increased harm that will result for individuals, whānau and communities. We are also concerned that there is currently no requirement in the Bill for licensed online casinos to provide community grants from their profits. 

We are also concerned about money from New Zealanders going offshore to the benefit and profit of offshore online gambling providers.

This Bill is relevant to all New Zealanders as well as Age Concern New Zealand and many other charities providing essential services to New Zealanders within local communities throughout Aotearoa. 

We acknowledge there is much commentary in the public arena about the Bill. We note that similar legislation has been tabled over the past twenty-five years and has been rejected three times. At a general level we are concerned that some of the terms in the Bill pose too high a risk of interpretation.

Our view is that there are existing mechanisms to ensure that legislation is high quality, transparent, developed with consultation, and with options and cost-benefit analysis conducted. We consider that Parliament and the wider public should have responsibility for determining whether legislation is good or high quality rather than a Regulatory Standards Board.

Age Concern New Zealand welcomes the opportunity to submit comments on the Issues Paper: Access to Basic Transaction Accounts. This topic is vitally important to us and many other charities providing essential services to New Zealanders within local communities throughout Aotearoa. 

In principle, we support the problem definition, objectives and approach outlined in the Issues Paper about improving access to bank accounts for consumers, specifically people who are currently less able to access the formal financial sector. It is every New Zealander’s human right to have access to a bank account that enables them to carry out everyday banking activities such as payments, withdrawals and cash deposits. It is impossible to participate in society today without a bank account allowing an individual to receive money or financial benefits to which they are entitled. 

Age Concern New Zealand is very pleased to see action being taken to ensure people of all ages, including older people, who are currently excluded or underserved by the banking sector, to be able to access a basic transaction account with reduced onboarding requirements. 

Age Concern New Zealand welcomes the opportunity to provide comment on the Juries (Age of Excusal) Amendment Bill.

• We support an increase to the juries age of excusal; however, we recommend the increase is to the age 70 years rather than proposed age of 72. This change would align with the age of retirement for Judges.
• We believe that potential jurors aged 70 or above should also have the right to choose to be automatically excused from jury service on the basis of age, unless they choose to make themselves available. 
• We recommend that a user friendly and timely excusal process is available to older people who no longer wish to be called up for jury service

This topic is vitally important to us and the many other charities providing essential services within local communities throughout Aotearoa.

Regardless of their specific focus, charities fill service gaps that would otherwise lead to greater hardship being experienced by those most in need. Funding for charities has become very constrained due to reductions in Government spending and donor and grant income impacted by the financial climate.

In principle, we support the stated objectives in the Issues Paper about simplifying tax rules, reducing compliance costs and ensuring charities demonstrate integrity.

Our overall comment on the Issues Paper, particularly Chapter 2 ‘Charity business income tax exemption’ is that there are existing mechanisms such as the Charities Act 2005, Charities Amendment Act 2023, Charities Services and the Charities Registration Board that can be used to handle any concerns about income raised by charities from businesses they operate.

A major concern we have is the perception being promoted in the Issues Paper that charities, more generally, are profiteering, rather than operating businesses to gain necessary funds to provide essential services. The ultimate result could be the undermining of the viability of services to people who need them.

A further key concern is that if changes are made to the tax rules for charities. many would become unsustainable trying to meet new accountability requirements for very little gain, financial or otherwise, to government, the not-for-profit sector or those currently benefitting from the good work carried out by charities.

ACNZ has strong interest in this BIll as it seeks to outline the purpose and operation of Disability Support Services into the future.

Age Concern New Zealand recognises the need for the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake to sustainably manage and fund the cost of claims arising from natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, volcanic activity, geothermal activity, storms and tsunami. 

We are concerned that within this challenging context for so many New Zealanders, further insurance cost increases are planned. We note too that the consultation document signals that Fire and Emergency levy changes are also in the pipeline.

We recommend that home insurance must be available to all homeowners, and it must be affordable. Phasing of the increases may help in the short term; however increased costs are likely to mean that a growing number of New Zealanders on low fixed incomes are unable to afford house insurance. 

Age Concern New Zealand welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Fifth Periodic Report to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Overall, we consider the Report summarises the important issues well and we are pleased to see rights and issue for older people mentioned specifically in several sections.

We are pleased the Mental Health Bill is being updated and will be aligned with evidence-based best practice.

Age Concern New Zealand supports the Bill and the shift to a more rights-based and recovery approach, along with promoting supported decision-making. To take control of someone’s life and place them in compulsory care is an extremely serious step to take, we agree with compulsory care being the safety net of last resort. 

Our comments are primarily related to the relevance of the Mental Health Bill for older New Zealanders. Some older people may have lifelong mental health conditions, while some may have sudden onset psychiatric illness.

We recognise and respect Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the founding document for Aotearoa. 

Age Concern New Zealand is strongly opposed to the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. We support preserving the current principles which have been examined and clarified through robust democratic processes within the Courts and the Waitangi tribunal for many years.

Our focus as an organisation is on positive outcomes for kaumātua and the communites, whānau, hapū and iwi who support them. We do not believe the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill will support and enhance positive outcomes for kaumātua.

Age Concern New Zealand welcomed the opportunity to provide input on proposed changes to NZ Post’s minimum obligations under the Postal Deed of Understanding to move towards a financially sustainable mail service.

Age Concern New Zealand’s feedback is focused particularly on the impact of proposed mail service changes for older people, a growing and increasingly diverse population group. Age Concern’s focus on older people means that along with using email and social media we do use mail services, including for our fundraising campaigns.

Our comments:

• We understand the need for the mail services to be sustainable but also consider that universal delivery of mail throughout Aotearoa is a public good. As such, this service must be maintained at a functional as well as sustainable level.
• Rural and provincial areas must not be further disadvantaged
• We do not support the proposal for NZ Post to convert existing delivery points into communal points at a rate of up to 5% per year
• It will be important for reduced mail deliveries per week to not hinder people receiving urgent mail in a timely manner
• Protecting the postal mail service is a positive alternative now and into the future.