{"id":416945,"date":"2026-05-07T22:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T22:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/416945\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T22:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T22:08:10","slug":"nz-super-reforms-nicola-willis-says-change-can-be-less-dramatic-than-oecd-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/416945\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ Super reforms: Nicola Willis says change can be less \u2018dramatic\u2019 than OECD report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between last year and the end of the fiscal period, the cost of NZ Super would increase by about $6 billion a year, she said.<\/p>\n

The cost was projected to climb from just over 16% currently to more than 20% of every tax dollar.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery dollar we\u2019re spending on superannuation is a dollar not available for education, for health, for infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo gradually, over time, some changes will need to be made. They don\u2019t need to be as dramatic as the OECD suggests, but some adjustments will be needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

National campaigned on raising the age of NZ Super in the last election, saying it would remain at 65 years until 2044 before gradually increasing.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Herald NOW\u2019s Ryan Bridge last year, Willis confirmed increasing the age of eligibility was still on National\u2019s agenda<\/a> but said it would not progress before the 2026 election.<\/p>\n

She believed there were benefits to universal superannuation and any change would have to be phased in slowly.<\/p>\n

OECD: Debt will become unsustainable without reforms<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s OECD report<\/a> warned the global energy shock from the conflict in the Middle East was \u201cweighing on confidence, slowing the recovery and putting renewed upward pressure on inflation\u201d for New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgeing is putting increasing upward pressure on the fiscal deficit and, without reforms, public debt will rise unsustainably towards 200% of GDP,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Along with linking eligibility to life expectancy, the report recommended means testing for the top 10% of earners, and tax reforms to \u201cincrease private pension accumulation\u201d.<\/p>\n

It also pointed out the situation was complicated by significant differences in life expectancy across ethnic groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cA simple increase in the public pension age could have regressive effects, particularly for M\u0101ori and Pasifika, who on average have shorter life expectancy. <\/p>\n

\u201cPublic pension reforms would therefore need to include redistribution and protection for vulnerable groups to avoid inequitable outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

They could also include enhancing support for older workers in physically demanding roles.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Between last year and the end of the fiscal period, the cost of NZ Super would increase by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5195,138,198,12974,4500,307,18089,106688,219,246,7494,1362,6722,5971,111,139,20484,69,35671,8263,1560,312,2215,313,131,8229,7563,792],"class_list":["post-416945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-be","tag-business","tag-can","tag-change","tag-changes","tag-dont","tag-dramatic","tag-drastic","tag-economy","tag-finance","tag-less","tag-made","tag-minister","tag-need","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nicola","tag-nz","tag-oecd","tag-reforms","tag-report","tag-says","tag-suggested","tag-super","tag-than","tag-they","tag-those","tag-willis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416945","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=416945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}