Hardly has the new Government got its backside on the treasury benches and its starts making big changes across the spectrum.
It deserves credit for its determination to get things done and for keeping its promises made to the New Zealand public during the election campaign.
Of particular concern though are its swift changes in the area of superannuation. From April 1 superannuitants will see the level of New Zealand Superannuation restored to a level that is within the band set out in the Superannuation Accord. In fact it has been quite generous raising the level to 67 per cent of the annual weekly wage against its promise of 65 per cent.
Likewise, it has kept its promise to abolish the Super 2000 Taskforce.
Abolition of the Taskforce is small-minded because it is hard to reconcile the work of the taskforce with the rhetoric. In its short, but busy, lifetime the taskforce, headed by former Council of Trade Unions boss Angela Foulkes, has produced some useful research into issues relating to super. This work appears to be objective and it is enlightening, therefore it is difficult to believe the taskforce's job was to find ways of reducing the level of NZ Super as alleged by the Minister of Social Services and Employment, Steve Maharey.
Like most things in this story there is a flip side to the Government's move. In this case it is the decision to complete two of the major projects which the taskforce has commissioned. Hopefully they will be put to some proper use instead of being just another doorstop.
Now the easy things have been done and the Government has kept its pledges, it's now time for it to work out how it is going to do the rest of the research which is needed on super issues, and how it is going to deal with funding issues.
Research shows that, because of an ageing population, the level of NZ Super isn't likely to be sustainable in its present form. Likewise, the younger part of the population either don't expect to get a state pension at all, or if they do they expect it to be at much lower levels.
The government has a plan for partially funding the public provision of NZ Super, however going ahead with a proposal that feels like a good idea just isn't an option unless it is properly scrutinised and explained.
What it hasn't told us is how it is going to address the area of private provision for retirement.
February 7, 2000
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