9 October 2013

Retirement Commissioner’s Review “Disappointing, Same-old, Same-old”

UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne says the Retirement Commissioner’s review of retirement income policies is a “disappointing, same-old, same-old” response that will not take the retirement income debate any further forward.

“Sadly, this is a missed opportunity, because the report’s predictable conclusions about increasing the age of entitlement for New Zealand superannuation will be dismissed by those who oppose such a move, and hailed by those who support an increase, with the net effect being nothing will change.

“Both National and Labour are on high horses over the age of entitlement for New Zealand Superannuation with the Prime Minister making it clear he would resign rather than lift the age from 65, and Labour as committed as ever to shifting the age to 67, effectively telling workers their working lives are being extended whether they wish it or not.

“The Retirement Commissioner’s report offers nothing to either to get them out of their respective dilemmas, which is why it will go nowhere,” he says.

Mr Dunne says that UnitedFuture’s Flexisuper policy (currently the subject of a government-led public consultation process which closes at the end of this week) has the potential to be the circuit breaker required to get the superannuation debate back on track, but curiously, it does not seem to have been considered by the Retirement Commissioner.

“Given the level of support Flexisuper has received in polls compared to either the status quo or shifting the age to 67, this seems a major omission.

“Also, the case for making Kiwisaver a compulsory national savings scheme has never been stronger, but the report appears to duck this question too, settling only for the rather vague recommendation of an auto-enrolment exercise at some unspecified time in the future,” he says.

Mr Dunne says that overall the Report is a “missed opportunity” that will change nothing.

ENDS

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