Casey Costello. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Labour's Ingrid Leary is accusing Casey Costello of being missing in action in her role as Minister for Seniors, but Costello has hit back, saying it shows the member has a "very shallow understanding of the Seniors portfolio".
Answers by the Minister to Official Information requests and Written Parliamentary questions show she hasn't taken any papers under the Seniors portfolio to cabinet between taking office in late 2023 and the end of March this year.
A search on the Beehive website shows only one press release from Costello as the Minister for Seniors since the term started.
Leary, the party's spokesperson for Seniors, said Costello had done more to "help big tobacco than the older New Zealanders she has responsibility to protect the rights and interests of".
"One of the very first things Casey Costello announced as minister was to overturn groundbreaking smokefree legislation that would have saved thousands of lives.
"She also championed a $216 million tax break to encourage use of a tobacco product without proof it would reduce smoking rates, but would definitely profit big tobacco."
Ingrid Leary. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
By contrast, Leary said Costello "hadn't presented a single cabinet paper to cabinet, her party or ministerial colleagues since coming into government in late 2023 to March 2025."
Costello needed to "prove she's worth her portfolio" by advocating for the rights and interests of seniors, Leary said.
Leary suggested that could be done by bringing forward the Retirement Villages Act review and by advocating for pay equity in the care and support workforce who look after "many of our grandparents, parents, and ourselves in our later years".
Costello rejected the accusation, saying it showed the Labour MP didn't know what the government was doing to support older New Zealanders.
She said the Office for Seniors (OFS) was a small office that did not administer legislation and "has never been a large generator of cabinet papers".
"Cabinet papers are not a measure of either the government's commitment to older New Zealanders, or my focus and effort as Minister for Seniors."
The OFS helped her work across government to deliver better results for older people, Costello said.
Some of that work required her to work with other ministers including, for example, the changes to allow people to build subsidiary dwellings and the Retirement Village review.
"And a substantial part of our policy programme for seniors is around improving aged care, which I'm responsible for as Associate Health Minister."
Costello said older New Zealanders could be assured every commitment made to them in the NZ First-National coalition agreement would be met this during this government's term.
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