Duncan Garner: Super Is Now A Political Scam

New Zealand knows Super cannot stay untouched forever, but no one in power has the guts to say it properly.

New Zealand Super is the Budget bomb no one wants to defuse.

It is heading towards $30 billion a year. That is not loose change. That is not some side payment tucked away in Wellington’s bottom drawer. It is one of the biggest calls this country makes every year, and we keep pretending the numbers will somehow behave themselves if we look away.

They will not.

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We are living longer. We are demanding better healthcare. We want new medicines, faster operations, better hospitals, safer roads, stronger schools and lower taxes. Fine. But we cannot have all of that while also refusing to touch a universal payment locked in at 65 forever.

This is the bit politicians hate saying out loud. If you want Super as generous as it is now, for everyone, with the ageing population we have coming, then the retirement age cannot stay where it is. The maths does not care about feelings.

In the 1960s there were about eight workers for every retiree. In the years ahead, there will be about two. Two workers carrying one retiree is not a welfare state. It is a slow-motion mugging of the next generation.

And sitting right in the middle of this is Winston Peters.

Let’s be honest. As long as Winston is close to power, Super stays at 65. National knows it. Labour knows it. Retirees know it. New Zealand First voters absolutely know it. Peters has built a career on protecting Super, and unlike plenty in Parliament, he has been consistent.

Raise the age? No. Means test it? No. Water it down? No chance.

That makes him a hero to many older New Zealanders and a total handbrake for anyone trying to deal with reality. It also gives Luxon and Hipkins the perfect hiding place. They can talk about sustainability, review the settings, sound terribly grown up, then quietly point at Winston and say their hands are tied.

Convenient, isn’t it?

The bigger parties want the appearance of courage without the cost of it. Winston gives them that. He becomes the villain for reformers, the saviour for retirees and the excuse for everyone else.

So start somewhere else. Tighten access. No one should arrive in New Zealand, do a short stint, then collect a lifetime benefit paid for by people who have worked here for decades. The stand-down has been too soft for too long. Make it 25 years of real contribution.

Pay your way, then receive it. That is not cruel. That is fair.

Super needs reform. Not another review. Not another speech. Reform.

The country is growing older while Parliament grows weaker. That is the real retirement crisis.

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