Hamilton Grey Power November 2020

Parliament supports first reading of bill
to raise the minimum residency for
superannuation from 10 to 20 years
A bill proposing a stricter NZ superannuation
has passed the first hurdle in Parliament.
BY COLLETTE DEVLIN
Political Reporter
The NZ First Member’s
Bill would mean migrants
to New Zealand
would have to wait longer for
superannuation.
The New Zealand Superannuation
and Retirement Income
(Fair Residency) Amendment
Bill passed its first reading on
Wednesday. If passed, the bill,
proposed by NZ First MP Mark
Patterson, would raise the
minimum residency for super
from 10 years to 20 years, after
age 20. It would also retain
NZ Super age at 65, a universal
entitlement with no means
testing and no surtax.
“Currently, a migrant of
just 10 years’ residency in New
Zealand is entitled to full NZ
Super without any requirement
to contribute to the economy.
This would also apply to an
expat Kiwi who left New Zealand
at age 25 and returned
at age 60 after spending 35
years contributing to another
economy,” Patterson said.
The current coalition agreement
with NZ First means
Labour is committed to leaving
the age at which people
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qualify for NZ Super at 65.
While National supports the bill,
Labour has not committed to
it. National leader Todd Muller
has committed to taking the
party’s plan of increasing the
age of entitlement from 65 to
67 starting in 2037, with incremental
moves until the policy is
in place by 2040.
The Greens are largely for
the status quo, but the party
was interested in exploring
ways to allow flexibility in the
age a person may receive New
Zealand Superannuation. ACT
wants to start immediately, lifting
the age of entitlement to
Super from 65 to 67 years at
a rate of two months per year
finishing in 2032.“While other
parties have advocated raising
the age, means testing and
surtaxing for NZ Super, only NZ
First has consistently addressed
the residency issue as party
policy,” Patterson said. “By
global standards, the current
10 years is a short time frame
for full entitlement to a generous,
universal, non-means tested,
non-contributory pension
at age 65.”
He said Business and Economic
Research Limited
(BERL) had estimated that
changing the residency requirement
to 20 years would
generate savings of $4.4 billion
over 10 years.
“This proposal contributes
to the sustainability of
NZ Super, but the overriding
goal is fairness to the majority
of hard-working Kiwis who
have lived and worked in New
Zealand their entire lives,”
Patterson said.
Glossing over the last lap of life
From page 32
it’s on your ear worm loop.
You somehow doubt that
the people at another TV ad
home would introduce a kitten
to cheer an old woman up, and
lead – amazingly – to an eligible
old man dragging a piece of
crumpled paper with a fishing
line that the kitten chases.
Such matchmaking would
terrify me. Must we find romance
in the stuffy, hothouse
atmosphere of such places,
then, with their bland, pristine
rooms, and must we wear pink
and blue? I couldn’t. Besides,
women must outnumber men
there 10 to one. Every man
must be a Mick Jagger, mobbed
by fans in florals.
There’d be status statements
among the (small) wardrobes
of clothes people wear on their
last journey, garments they
bought because “they’ll see
me out”. I couldn’t hope to
compete with rainbows of pastel-coloured
cashmere, nor can I
think of many old chaps who’d
look credible in the hipster hats
that ads have them wear. These
places must be especially scary
for shy men, always fatally attractive
to domineering women.
They’d need several locks
on their doors. And mace.
The place in the South Island
that springs up on TV ads seems
to be miles from nowhere.
You’d be seeing the same faces
over your single afternoon
gin each day, and isn’t that the
problem with these villages/
homes? What could be more
boring than eternal reminiscing
with people your own age in
the last lap before the tactfully
placed incinerator, to the strains
of Bohemian Rhapsody?
“Old is the New Black”
is one line dreamed up by
youthful copywriters. They lie
through their dental implants,
and they know it.
34 Hamilton greypower Magazine | November 2020