The new social security agreement with Australia was
signed today, Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Jim Sutton
said.
The treaty was signed in Canberra by New Zealand
High Commissioner Simon Murdoch and Australian Minister for
Family and Community Services Senator Amanda Vanstone.
Mr
Sutton said the agreement would set up a new cost-sharing
mechanism in respect of payments to superannuitants,
veterans, and people with severe disabilities who have lived
on both sides of the Tasman.
"The revised system will
ensure that the contributions people have made to each
country during their working lives are properly reflected in
the payments they receive," Mr Sutton said.
People already
receiving payments under the terms of the existing agreement
will not be affected by the changes.
Further information
on how the agreement affects individual circumstances can be
obtained from the Department of Work and Income on the free
phone number 0800 777577.
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