Kerre Woodham: We need to have a discussion about the future of NZ Super

Well, it looks like a matter of when, not if, given that Barbara Edmonds and Nicola Willis, Finance Minister and Finance spokesperson respectively, were appearing on Jack Tame's Q&A yesterday, and they've agreed they'll work together on the future of superannuation in this country.

This is Nicola Willis:

"We can afford superannuation right now, but in the future the settings are going to have to change in order to ensure that it's sustainable and that every Kiwi knows that they can rely on the government to support them in their retirement. If we don't make changes, we are going to end up in a situation where we can't foot that bill. So what National has said for a couple of elections now, is let's come together and agree on a date in the future when we will start progressively, modestly increasing the age of eligibility in a way that is predictable and fair on New Zealanders, so that younger generations coming through don't miss out on the entitlement that people today are getting. And we have called on Labour to work with us on that, to do this in a way that's open, honest, transparent and fair."

And Barbara Edmonds, Labour's finance spokesperson, said absolutely, they're more than happy to have an accord, but they want to look at the wider issues around superannuation:

"Well, ultimately it comes down to the full retirement system. The conversation with New Zealanders needs to be what is KiwiSaver, when you have these large sums of money, what does that decumulation framework look like as people start to spend that money? What does universal super look like when contributions are being stopped by Governments? How do we stop that flip flop? How does housing, what does housing look like for our aged care? Is that part of that wider aged care system? Is it retirement homes? Are we building sufficient social housing to meet that need? So that conversation around universal super needs to happen within the wider conversation around the retirement system as a whole. What do Kiwis expect when they go to retire, young and old right now, and how do we get there?"

So big questions, but the agreement was around an accord to sit down together and work out, thrash out when and how the age of universal super will be raised. And ACT has always said they want to raise the superannuation age by three months every year, put contributions to the New Zealand Super Fund on hold, and they would include compassionate access for those who'd spent a substantial portion of their career in physically demanding jobs.

David Seymour spoke to Tim Beverage on Newstalk ZB yesterday:

"People are living much longer and having far fewer children. That means that the number of taxpayers per retiree is going down. Every other country is raising its age of entitlement to superannuation. And I know there's people who will try and get a few votes by saying, oh that guy's wrong, vote for me, we'll keep it all the same. I don't think that that is putting New Zealand's long term interests first. I think it's important that we make the adjustment, but we do it slowly so people can plan for it. It goes from 65 to 67 it affects no one that's already retired, and we do a few other things."

So National, Labour, ACT, all in agreement that the age of entitlement needs to go up, and it's just ironing out the finer points. I still don't understand why we would be giving superannuation to people who do not need it.

On the 1st of November 1898 New Zealand was the first in the world to give an old age pension, which we call the Super these days. There was stringent criteria, including open court hearings to attest that you were of good moral character before you could receive it. How many of the old rockers would pass that now, I wonder to myself? Myself included. 

Through the Social Security Act in 1938 a two tier public pension system was introduced, and that lasted up until the 1970s, and then New Zealand Super became the Super that we have today, that Super's been around for more than 50 years without any kind of changes, which seems bizarre. 

So in the beginning we had means testing and open court hearings for good moral character. I think we'll do away with those, thinking purely of myself here, I don't think we need to go through those.

In the 1930s, they changed it to a Super, but there was also means testing as well. In the 1970s it was just universal, didn't matter if you were a billionaire or not, you got the Super. Benefits and taxpayer funded payments these days tend to go to people who need them, other than Super. That just goes to everybody.

I'd love to hear from those of you 60 and under, because this is who it's really going to affect. All of you over 60 you don't have to worry. If it goes up as of the next Government, it'll be three months at a time, it's neither here nor there really.

But for those 60 and under, this is who it's really going to affect. Super in the future as far as I'm concerned would look like it does in Australia. 67 means and asset tested, and a resident of the country. 

And like ACT, I think there should be the ability to get the Super early if you're in a truly physical job where your body's breaking down, or a really high stress job where you're exposed to all sorts of trauma, like a frontline responder or something like that.

But hopefully by the time somebody who's working now, who's 35 gets to 67 they'll have a good healthy sum locked away in their KiwiSaver. Hopefully they'll have their own house because you'll be able to buy one at a good price around about now. And then the super will be there as a backup, but if you need it.

Take it back to the future, take it back to how it was originally intended, so that it was mainly for single men, because in the olden days they believed that family should look after you. If you were a single man, you were stuffed once you got old and couldn't work anymore, so it was primarily for the single men who didn't have family that could take them in.

But keep it for those who need it, the same way that we give the dole to those who need it while they're looking for work in an ideal world, the sickness benefit, disability benefit, working for families benefit, for those people who need it. Not just holus bolus as a little yay for you, you survived to 65.

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