No serious political party can go into the next election without a policy that tackles the rising cost of superannuation, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says.<\/p>\n
Willis spoke at the Financial Services Council Conference in Auckland on Wednesday. This was followed by a question and answer session with facilitator and TVNZ reporter Jack Tame, during which Willis was asked about KiwiSaver<\/a> and superannuation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tame said with taxes going towards the superannuation<\/a> of people who are retiring now, the whole tension here is that the country has an ageing population and there are fewer workers for the number of retirees.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be able to make that work anymore. We\u2019re not going to be able to square that circle compulsion,\u201d Tame said before asking Willis what she thought about this.<\/p>\n Recalling the last election and National Party\u2019s campaigning of increasing the retirement age<\/a>, Willis said \u201cI think it is one of the political monsters in the room\u201d.<\/p>\n She said her party had campaigned on a policy of what she would call \u201crealism\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMaking your point, which is this is getting more and more unaffordable in terms of our demographics. Let\u2019s raise our age gradually to 67 and that will make it even more affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n Willis said she was calling for the upcoming election to have a \u201cmature, grown up conversation\u201d about retirement.<\/p>\n When asked about having cross party agreement on KiwiSaver and Superannuation, Willis said although she was cynical, \u201cif we can get a consensus that results in enduring change, that is the most stable thing for everyone involved\u201d.<\/p>\n Asked whether National would go to the next election with a new additional superannuation policy other than raising the retirement age, Willis said: \u201c[I\u2019m] always respectful of my caucus, but able to commit that we will go to the next election with a superannuation and savings policy that we believe addresses the challenges which I\u2019ve outlined to you today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKiwiSaver has to be part of that,\u201d Willis said.<\/p>\n Last weekend, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters<\/a> announced the party\u2019s proposal to increase both employee and employer contributions to initially 8% and then later to 10%.<\/p>\n