Latest / Best of Business / Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on the Government potentially 'going soft' on NZ Super reforms?

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Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on the Government potentially 'going soft' on NZ Super reforms? · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
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  Speaker 2: Now, looks as we discussed earlier, like National is backing
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  Speaker 2: away from its pledge to tackle the superannuation problem that
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  Speaker 2: we have, the Herald's Wellington business editor, Janaye Tibshirani, is
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  Speaker 2: with us on this. Hi, Janaye.
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  Speaker 3: Hi, Heather.
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  Speaker 2: Right, what makes us think they're going soft?
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  Speaker 3: Well, their language has gone soft, so we're yet to
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  Speaker 3: find out whether that means they are actually going soft
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  Speaker 3: on this. But in the past couple of days, Christopher
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  Speaker 3: Luxon and Nicola Willis have said things like, you know,
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  Speaker 3: if they do make a change, it would have to
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  Speaker 3: be done really slowly. They'd have to give lots of notice.
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  Speaker 3: And they've also said they need a political consensus and
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  Speaker 3: that doesn't exist at the moment because, of course, New
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  Speaker 3: Zealand First is completely against doing anything to reduce the
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  Speaker 3: amount of super that people receive. Christopher Luxon also said
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  Speaker 3: that his immediate priority is is KiwiSaver and requiring people
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  Speaker 3: to contribute more to their KiwiSaver. Now, I have to admit, Heather,
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  Speaker 3: that I am paid to pay attention to everything these
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  Speaker 3: politicians say. So you do need to be aware of that,
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  Speaker 3: that I am perhaps a little bit sensitive to their language,
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  Speaker 3: a bit more sensitive than a normal person would be.
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  Speaker 3: But the language change is noticeable. For example, in May,
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  Speaker 3: the Prime Minister said that the age of eligibility would
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  Speaker 3: be hiked under national for sure. Yeah. And Nicola Willis
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  Speaker 3: had previously used much stronger language about the need to
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  Speaker 3: increase the age of eligibility. So I feel like there
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  Speaker 3: has been a shift, but National is yet to release
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  Speaker 3: its superannuation policy, so we're yet to find out what
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  Speaker 3: it really would do if it was elected.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think what you're reading is the early signs
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  Speaker 2: of a thing that is happening, and I think you're right.
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  Speaker 2: But can we blame them for this? Because, sure, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it was a bit weird to go so hard in
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  Speaker 2: the budget about it and make the big song and
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  Speaker 2: dance about it. But there is no support for it.
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  Speaker 2: It's basically them and the ACT Party, and maybe if
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  Speaker 2: they're lucky, opportunity will go their way too, and maybe
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  Speaker 2: they can cobble the numbers together. But probably not. So
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  Speaker 2: what's the point in going to the election campaign with
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  Speaker 2: something you can't get done?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think that as a major party that it
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  Speaker 3: does have a lot of power. And when these parties
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  Speaker 3: come around the bargaining table, they all trade things. So,
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  Speaker 3: you know, you have to swallow a dead rat for
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  Speaker 3: something else and there's a lot of back and forth.
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  Speaker 3: So it's quite normal for parties, however, you know, realistic
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  Speaker 3: or unrealistic they think their policies are, to come to
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  Speaker 3: the table with a strong position. I also am a
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  Speaker 3: bit worried about the head of the Treasury, Ian Rennie,
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  Speaker 3: yesterday saying that longer term, the country's financials look unsustainable.
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  Speaker 3: That was the word he used. He didn't say, oh,
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  Speaker 3: you know, they don't look great, or if we don't
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  Speaker 3: act soon, it's not going to be good. He said, categorically,
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  Speaker 3: unsustainable longer term. So, you know, as someone who hopes
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  Speaker 3: to receive some superannuation when I retire, I think it
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  Speaker 3: is politicians' responsibilities to listen to what the experts are saying,
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  Speaker 3: and it's not just the Treasury. It's pretty much every
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  Speaker 3: economic expert. It's their responsibility to listen and think long
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  Speaker 3: term as well as short term. Of course, they always
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  Speaker 3: think about the immediate votes, but they need to sell.
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  Speaker 3: They need to look after people now and into the future.
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  Speaker 3: And it's very hard for me to ignore the word
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  Speaker 3: sustainable from the head of unsustainable from the head of
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  Speaker 3: the Treasury.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the problem is we're going to leave
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  Speaker 2: it to the last minute and then we're going to
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  Speaker 2: have to do something drastic, like a la Ruth Richardson
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  Speaker 2: in the 90s.
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  Speaker 3: And that's the concern, and that is, to Nicola Willis' credit,
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  Speaker 3: that is what she said, that if you don't make
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  Speaker 3: a call now, then spending cuts elsewhere have to be
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  Speaker 3: more drastic. And the way things are at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: the books are kind of semi-getting back on track, but
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  Speaker 3: all it takes is another Canterbury earthquake or big event
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  Speaker 3: for that to be thrown way out of whack. And,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we want to be in a position where
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  Speaker 3: we are making choices rather than having them thrust upon us. So, yes,
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  Speaker 3: I think a bit of leadership from National on this
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  Speaker 3: issue and from Labour, actually, is not asking too much.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're probably right. Janaye, thanks very much, mate. As always,
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  Speaker 2: Janaye Tibbs-Rainey, the Herald's Wellington Business Editor.
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