United Future New Zealand Minority Report On New Zealand Superannuation Bill

United Future leader, Hon Peter Dunne, has produced a minority report on the Finance and Expenditure Committee's report on the Government's Bill establishing the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. His report, which has been included in the official report on the Bill, and which sets out the basis of United Future's support for the legislation, is reproduced here as follows:

United Future New Zealand Minority Report on New Zealand Superannuation Bill

United Future New Zealand's support for the New Zealand Superannuation Bill does not imply satisfaction with all of the Bill's provisions.

Issues such as the impact of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund on savings patterns; and its overall impact on the operation and performance of the New Zealand economy raise concerns which will require careful ongoing consideration by future Parliaments.

While it is arguable that the Bill's implicit trade-off between the establishment of the Fund, and, for example, the scope for future tax reductions is acceptable to New Zealanders at present, it is impossible to speculate what the public view might be in 10, 15, or 20 years time. Indeed, it is even impossible to know whether the Fund will exist that long into the future, as these are matters for future Parliaments and Governments to determine.

However, it is United Future's strongly held view that these issues are secondary to the imperative of establishing a stable and certain environment for the ongoing provision of the publicly funded portion of superannuation. The history of the last 25 years on this issue has been completely unsatisfactory, and no political party has emerged with credit.

The New Zealand Superannuation Bill provides an opportunity to establish a measure of certainty over long term provision and funding that Parliament should not pass up. More importantly, having established that platform, the Bill then opens up the wider opportunity for genuine multi-party discussions on the future design of New Zealand superannuation.

United Future's view is that the only effective guarantor of a viable New Zealand superannuation scheme into the future is a robust multi-party agreement, enshrined in an Accord, or its equivalent, and that these discussions must now begin in earnest. This Bill should be seen as the first step in that process, and that is the sole basis of United Future's support for it.

Ends

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