Press Release.

National’s Pension Plans will NOT solve the problem!

Prime Minister Bill English announced yesterday the National Party’s plans to raise the pension age to 67 over the next 20 years along with increasing the qualifying period to 20 years for immigrants.

He followed this statement by telling New Zealand that the current pension would not change nor would it be asset or income tested.

The Prime Minister is blatantly lying because over 89,000 immigrant pensioners and 60,000 returning New Zealanders are having their pension income tested by MSD to the tune of over $500 million per year that is being used to subsidise the NZ pension scheme.

Legislation clearly states NZ Super is not asset or income tested so why are all these New Zealanders losing their overseas retirement savings?

A pro rata system as mooted by NZ Seniors Party with eligibility for a full pension after 30 years and a minimum qualifying period of 15 years would be a far superior system. The period of 15 years should also apply to benefits or pensions paid to family members entering NZ under family reunification program.

As for Winston Peters, he was very quick to jump on his soap box to tell everyone NZ First is the only party working for seniors. Another bold statement from a Party leader who’s past history speaks for itself. He has been in a position before to make pensions a non-negotiable bargaining chip but failed to do so.

Pensions are a controversial issue that needs to be rectified NOW not in 20 years.

Release Ends

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