{"id":161237,"date":"2025-11-30T13:42:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T13:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/161237\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T13:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T13:42:12","slug":"nationals-kiwisaver-proposal-wins-small-business-support-but-raises-fairness-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/161237\/","title":{"rendered":"National\u2019s KiwiSaver proposal wins small business support but raises fairness concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\" Rebecca \u201cBex\u201d Twemlow, founding director of Firebrand, said she was \u201creally pleased\u201d about the National Party’s KiwiSaver proposal.<\/p>\n

One key concern expressed about the policy is whether employers would shift the burden of their contribution back on to employees by switching to a total remuneration model.<\/p>\n

Twemlow said business owners have a responsibility to take care of their people.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what you\u2019re doing if you\u2019re talking about it. It wouldn\u2019t be what I say is good business practice, and in the current environment it\u2019s not the case, but it\u2019s not always going to be like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be a change and it becomes an employee\u2019s choice on who they work for. If those businesses are good businesses that take care of their staff, they\u2019re going to choose them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also expressed support for incorporating 16- and 17-year-olds into the scheme, and said they needed to learn the value of saving at an early stage.<\/p>\n

Twemlow also supported the prospect of making KiwiSaver compulsory at some time in the future.<\/p>\n

\"RoscoeRoscoe Price Moor, founder of travel app Roady, was inspired by Pokemon Go’s ability to get people outdoors, but wanted to make an app for travel experiences instead. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Reinvestment opportunity<\/p>\n

Roscoe Price Moor, founder of travel start-up Roady, said any increase in employer contributions is \u201cdefinitely felt\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticularly as we\u2019re operating on lean margins and balancing cashflow with product development and expansion plans. That said, we\u2019re committed to supporting our team\u2019s long-term financial wellbeing,\u201d Price Moor said.<\/p>\n

Price Moor couldn\u2019t say whether the changes would make him reconsider hiring or remuneration decisions, but suggested the additional funds raised under the proposed changes could be used elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be great to see some of these funds invested back into supporting the start-up ecosystem here in New\u202fZealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitiatives that help Kiwi businesses scale and ultimately create more local jobs, while supporting their employees, would have a real benefit for the wider economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FeijoaFeijoa co-founders Ben Davin (left) and Mark White-Robinson aim to facilitate small but regular frictionless transactions into New Zealanders’ KiwiSaver accounts.<\/p>\n

Targeted effects<\/p>\n

Ben Davin and Mark White-Robinson, co-founders of KiwiSaver start-up Feijoa, also supported the changes and said the timeline should allow businesses to adjust to the increase as it\u2019s phased in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreased contributions will improve both individual outcomes \u2013 like getting into first homes and retirement security \u2013 and national outcomes through greater capital depth for infrastructure,\u201d Davin and White-Robinson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d also hope the changes creates downward pressure on fees across the industry, with providers passing some benefit back to members through lower costs \u2013 which would further improve long-term outcomes for savers and strengthen the overall effectiveness of KiwiSaver.”<\/p>\n

However, the pair said the changes were PAYE-centric and didn\u2019t help people outside employment or those who can\u2019t afford higher contributions, suggesting they may stop saving altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocking up a fixed percentage of wages doesn\u2019t work for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said small businesses don\u2019t have a \u201cmagic pot of super-profits\u201d they can rely on to fund greater contributions, and they expected slower increases in remuneration outside KiwiSaver to balance the situation.<\/p>\n

They said if small businesses can\u2019t offset higher contribution costs by adjusting wages, it may impact their hiring decisions and timing.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, it\u2019s a balance between encouraging people to save and invest for their retirement, while giving the tools and flexibility for people to easily find what works for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n

Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rebecca \u201cBex\u201d Twemlow, founding director of Firebrand, said she was \u201creally pleased\u201d about the National Party’s KiwiSaver proposal.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,4763,60698,2852,138,10166,3013,4500,2516,10709,6965,124,4484,84022,6964,84186,3556,71084,111,43,139,69,9769,7234,6744,17159,29056,11596,4499,544,1886,106099,1361,684,2044,3764,6202],"class_list":["post-161237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-allow","tag-although","tag-burden","tag-business","tag-businesses","tag-but","tag-changes","tag-concern","tag-concerns","tag-contributions","tag-could","tag-employees","tag-fairness","tag-kiwisaver","tag-loophole","tag-national","tag-nationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-owners","tag-partys","tag-place","tag-proposal","tag-proposed","tag-raises","tag-small","tag-some","tag-support","tag-supportive","tag-that","tag-there","tag-time","tag-transition","tag-wins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}