National’s Nicola Willis and Labour\u2019s Barbara Edmonds have agreed to a cross-party accord on the future of retirement, with the pension age on the table.<\/p>\n
The two women want to be finance minister after the election and both went head-to-head in Q+A’s Finance Debate earlier this morning.<\/p>\n
Moderator Jack Tame pressed the pair whether they would join a group that looks at the whole system, including superannuation, KiwiSaver and housing for older Kiwis.<\/p>\n
Labour finance spokesperson Edmonds said yes straight away.<\/p>\n
“Absolutely. I\u2019d love to,” she said. “There used to be a political accord in the early \u201990s between the major parties in parliament. And I think that\u2019s really key to get some certainty because this is long-term thinking.”<\/p>\n
Willis agreed, but with a condition.<\/p>\n
“Yes, on one condition \u2013 that there is honesty from Labour about the fact that the current settings are not going to be sustainable for the next 30 years.”<\/p>\n
Edmonds accepted that the age of eligibility would be part of the talks but said it couldn\u2019t be looked at on its own.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a part of the retirement system. But you cannot have that in isolation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, the isolating part is that they want to raise super without consideration otherwise for the rest of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Willis said the pair had made the same promise before.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarbara and I stood on a stage two years ago and agreed to the same thing. Within an hour, a press release had come out saying it wasn\u2019t happening. So I hold my breath.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edmonds said \u201cit was very different\u201d, before confirming her support for \u201ca political accord around the retirement system\u201d.<\/p>\n
‘Ostriches with their heads in the sand’<\/p>\n
Superannuation will cost more than $30 billion a year by 2030, according to economic forecasts, about $1000 a second. By that point, super and interest on government debt combined are forecast to take up 28% of total tax revenue.<\/p>\n
National wants to lift the eligibility age gradually from a set date in the future and Willis said Labour\u2019s position of preserving it over its next term was \u201cnot fiscally credible\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe population is ageing, and there are going to be fewer taxpayers for every retiree. We can afford superannuation right now, but in the future, the settings are going to have to change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey continue to be ostriches with their heads in the sand, pretending that nothing will ever have to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edmonds pointed to Labour\u2019s role in setting up KiwiSaver and the Cullen Fund. She said National\u2019s suspension of contributions to the NZ Super Fund in 2009 had cost billions.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuperannuation is only unaffordable if we can\u2019t make New Zealanders want to stay here and to contribute to the other side, which is the revenue,” she said.<\/p>\n
‘Very big conversation to have’<\/p>\n
At a Labour campaign announcement later on Sunday, Edmonds told media that what she had agreed to was an accord on the whole system, not just superannuation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just super, it\u2019s KiwiSaver, it\u2019s housing, it\u2019s healthcare. We need to look at the full retirement system as a whole,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis constant picking apart of just superannuation and the age of eligibility is not a sound conversation to have because it also ignores the fact that we\u2019re going to need more revenue anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reporters asked whether Labour and National could take a joint position on retirement to the 2029 election. Edmonds said that would depend \u201con where the parties in Parliament get\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very big conversation to have with some very long-term decisions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am absolutely open to having it with the parliamentary parties, but it has to be within the wider retirement system, not just picking apart super.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the full debate, watch the video above<\/p>\n
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National’s Nicola Willis and Labour\u2019s Barbara Edmonds have agreed to a cross-party accord on the future of retirement,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,134,687,8028,11507,111,139,69,244,245,135,294,550],"class_list":["post-627027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-health","tag-housing-and-infrastructure","tag-labour-party","tag-national-party","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-politics","tag-retirement","tag-social-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627027","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=627027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}