{"id":22708,"date":"2025-09-14T23:52:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T23:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/22708\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T23:52:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T23:52:23","slug":"kiwisaver-is-unfinished-business-labour-finance-spokesperson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/22708\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018KiwiSaver is unfinished business\u2019 – Labour finance spokesperson"},"content":{"rendered":"

KiwiSaver<\/a> is unfinished business, Labour\u2019s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds says, but what the party won\u2019t be looking at, is changing the superannuation<\/a> age.<\/p>\n

During a question and answer session with facilitator and TVNZ former business correspondent Katie Bradford at the Financial Services Council Conference on Thursday, Edmonds said while she would not give away the party\u2019s policy, Labour believed there were a lot of settings and a lot of inequity that needed to be dealt with first.<\/p>\n

\u201cActively you could look at contribution rates, you could look at the way that KiwiSaver is taxed and actually other ways that savings are taxed,\u201d Edmonds said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are different elements to it that we believe that we need to have a good look at to actually get to that vision that Sir Michael Cullen was looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just yesterday, Finance Minister Nicola Willis<\/a> said at the same conference that although she was cynical about whether there could be conversations with Labour about superannuation settings, \u201cif we can get a consensus that results in enduring change, that is the most stable thing for everyone involved\u201d.<\/p>\n

When asked if Labour would be willing to work with National and other parties on it, Edmonds said Willis had previously offered to have a conversation around superannuation and retirement settings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was more than willing to have that chat. The kind of claim I think Willis spun to me was looking at lifting the superannuation age. Labour has been really clear on that. We\u2019re not looking to lift the superannuation age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmonds said she was still willing to have a conversation with Willis and would wait for an invitation, as there were still areas for discussion that could be had between parties.<\/p>\n

This included settings within the retirement system and savings settings, she said.<\/p>\n

Edmonds also brought up the Retirement Commission and Hnry\u2019s recent joint report on sole traders<\/a> and what incentives were there for the self-employed to enter KiwiSaver.<\/p>\n

The joint report found: \u201cThe evidence points to a clear gap in engagement, driven by financial strain, lack of automatic enrolment, limited awareness of incentives, and the absence of employer contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese factors are compounded by recent changes to KiwiSaver settings announced in Budget 2025, which may further discourage participation among lower-income earners,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

Edmonds said even though Labour didn’t want to increase the age of super, there were a whole bunch of settings that could be looked at with other parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cShort-term decisions for long-term prosperity don\u2019t actually help the situation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked if she was worried about political parties talking about \u201ctinkering\u201d with KiwiSaver, for example allowing early withdrawals for things like purchasing farms<\/a>, Edmonds said she disagreed with tinkering.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, short-term decisions for a long-term policy that has realised gains at a later date – short-term decisions don\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bradford brought up New Zealand First\u2019s proposal to increase employer and employee contributions to 10% and to make it compulsory. She asked Edmonds what she thought the ideal contribution rate was.<\/p>\n

Edmonds said the ideal contribution rate is set out in increments and there\u2019s clarity and certainty when those contribution rates increase.<\/p>\n

This would allow businesses to be prepared, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to look at contribution rates, you have to provide certainty and as we\u2019ve seen across Australia, increments over time, not just overnight, because there will be equity issues with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmonds also brought up total remuneration packages and said Labour had previously had a Bill in the House about this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The discussion around remuneration packages<\/a> is back in the spotlight as KiwiSaver providers and the Retirement Commission told RNZ a simple improvement to KiwiSaver would be banning employers from putting KiwiSaver contributions into a total remuneration package.<\/p>\n

So instead of receiving your employer contribution as part of your salary, it would be on top of your salary.<\/p>\n

When asked by Bradford if conversations were had with other political parties whether the remuneration package needs to be looked at, Edmonds said she thought it was part of the discussion that needs to be had.<\/p>\n

Edmonds said she was conscious that businesses did total remuneration packages because it was more affordable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just around age or contribution or how you pay for it. You have to look at the full consequences of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmonds said the Labour Party will make more announcements, including one on tax, before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Superannuation and KiwiSaver<\/p>\n

With an election next year, political parties have signalled potential changes to KiwiSaver and superannuation.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the same conference on Tuesday, Finance Minister Nicola Willis told the audience: [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 \u2026 KiwiSaver has to be part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At New Zealand First\u2019s annual general meeting in Palmerston North last weekend, Winston Peters announced the party\u2019s proposal to increase both employee and employer contributions to initially 8% and then later to 10%.<\/p>\n

KiwiSavers and employers would receive tax cuts to cover the increases, Peters said.<\/p>\n

KiwiSaver rules<\/p>\n

Following this year\u2019s Budget, people aged 16 and 17 are now eligible for KiwiSaver so they can access employer and government contributions.<\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s contribution rate has gone down to 25 cents for each dollar a member contributes. This was previously 50 cents for each dollar, which meant receiving a maximum government contribution of $521.43.<\/p>\n

To get the Government\u2019s full contribution now, which is $260.72, people need to put in at least $1042.86 of their own money between July 1 to June 30 each year.<\/p>\n

Alongside this, people with an income of more than $180,000 will no longer receive the government contribution.<\/p>\n

Employer and employee contribution rates will increase to 3.5% from April 2026. This will move to 4% in April 2028.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s currently at 3% – KiwiSaver members can choose to stay at the current 3% rate and still be matched at this rate by their employer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KiwiSaver is unfinished business, Labour\u2019s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds says, but what the party won\u2019t be looking at,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-22708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22708","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=22708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}