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Barbara Edmonds: Labour Finance Spokesperson on its KiwiSaver policy · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Labour wants to make KiwiSaver compulsory for the boss, even
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: if the workers don't contribute.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Labour built KiwiSaver, and now we're going to strengthen it
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: for the next generation.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: By 2032, employer contributions would rise to 6%, employees' default
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: rate would go to 4%. Barbara Edmonds, Labour's finance spokesperson
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: with me this morning. Barb, good morning.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Ryan.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Hey, did you have to give Willie Jackson his ABCs
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and teach him how to count after Friday's interview?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, you and I both know Willie has
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: lots of strengths and talents, and one of them is
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: being combative and a bit of a scrapper. So the
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: boss did speak to him, and he could have been clearer.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: And he's my office neighbour, so I'll have a chat
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: to him later this week.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Are you saying counting and adding aren't his strengths, Barth?
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: No, I'm saying being better than a scrapper is his strength.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: KiwiSaver, so can you just quickly run through, for an employer,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: what is different between your plan and Nationals?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: There is no difference. They will still have to contribute
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the 6% on the same track as the National Party.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: But one change that we have made for future employment
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: contracts will be banning the total remuneration ability. So that
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: means that If you're going to pay your employee, you're
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: going to pay them their salary, and any KiwiSaver is
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: a top-up on that. It's not covered within the base
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: salary and wages.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Does that just mean the base salary and wages will
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: be slightly lowered?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Well, the incidents around KiwiSaver is always on the worker.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: It's still a negotiation for the employee and the employer.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: But ultimately, we're saying that those types of contracts should
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: be banned because that's actually not the way that KiwiSaver
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: was meant to develop when it was first developed in 2005.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: So there are about, from my calculations, a million not
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: currently contributing workers, not contributing, well, people, I should say,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: because two-thirds of them are either studying or they're parents
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: or they're not working. And then you've got the other
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: third who are working and not contributing, most of which
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: are part-time workers. So will it be largely businesses with
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: part-time workers who weren't paying previously who will be paying
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: under this?
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: And you're right. There is about a million based on
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: the FMA report that came out last week. And that's
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: what they're saying. Those working age members aren't contributing. They
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: still have to work the hours to be able to
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: get that contribution. They can't just not be working.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Yes, but it's largely what I'm saying is for those
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: workers who currently aren't paying, for whom employers will be
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: paying under your plan, it will be largely employers of
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: part-time workers who would be most affected, or employers with
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: part-time workers.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, based on the numbers that you've just sort of
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: set out, yes, but they still have to be working.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: So they still have to have working hours for that contribution.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: from the employer to go through to their KiwiSaver.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Barbara, what's your expectation? What do you want to tell
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: employers this morning, businesses this morning, about minimum wage? What
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: expectations should they have? It went up something like 66%
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: under the last Labour government. Would you expect similar increases
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: under another?
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I can't set out what the minimum wage will be
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: because there is sort of a formula and sort of
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: advice that is given by officials at the time and
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: obviously Cabinet makes a decision. But what's important for them
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: to know is that that up to 6% contribution is
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: on the same track as the National Party. So they
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: would still have to plan for that as they normally
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: would because either if it's Labour or National, it's still 6%
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: up to 2032.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, get that. But on minimum wage, this is what
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: businesses say really hit them last time. On minimum wage,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: What's your vibe? Up, sideways, down?
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: And you won't know because it depends on inflation at
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: the time as well. So if you look at some
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: of the forecasts for inflation, it looks like it's going
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: to go up till mid next year and then it
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: comes back down within the band. So that's why I
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: can't give you an actual answer to go up, down
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: or sideways because it does depend on inflation as well.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Barbara Evans, Labour's finance spokesperson.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 4:13
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• 4:17
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