Maharey Continues Superannuation Deception

The Government is continuing to allow the rate of superannuation to fall below 65 percent of the net average wage (NAW) for most of the year and refuses to acknowledge that official figures confirm this deception, said Rt Hon Winston Peters.

His comments follow yet another attempt by Steve Maharey to hoodwink superannuitants into believing that their payment never falls below 65 percent of the Net Average Wage.

“Mr Maharey claims that just because the rate of superannuation is over 65 percent of the NAW in 1 April each year, the Government has met it commitments.

“What he fails to acknowledge, but what the official statistics show, is that by the June quarter of 2004 and the September quarter of 2003, the rate of superannuation had fallen below 65 per cent of the NAW.

“When will this minister understand that getting it right for one month a year does not make it right for the rest. His own colleague Rick Barker acknowledged this in answers to written questions on 2 September 2004 and again in oral questions on 4 November 2004.

“Mr Maharey has also failed to own up to the deception over how this government arrives at the NAW in the first place. The formulae was changed in 1998 and it disadvantaged married superannuitants by $21 a week then and is now costing them nearly $30.

“Only one party will actually get superannuation right at the next election, New Zealand First, and no amount of deception from this government will hide this fact,” said Mr Peters.

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