National and Greens work together in a coalition of the short sighted to demolish security in retirement

"National has a policy to continuously raise the age of entitlement to Super. The Greens policy is to abolish the Super Fund, which either means raising the age of eligibility or raising taxes dramatically in the future," Progressive Leader, Jim Anderton said today.

The Progressive Leader addressed Hastings-Havelock North Grey Power this morning.

"Together National and the Greens are working in a coalition of the shortsighted. If either party ever got into government they could demolish security in retirement for New Zealanders.

"The Labour Progressive government's Super Fund is a fiscally responsible, far sighted response to the fact that our population is ageing. The growing proportion of older people in our population means taxation on the contemporary working age population will not be able to pay for a decent retirement in the future.

"By securing and investing savings equivalent to 1.5 per cent of GDP each year, in the best possible investment portfolio, we can significantly reduce the burden of paying tomorrow's superannuation from direct taxation on the contemporary working population. The fund will not only act as a savings vehicle but become a profitable investment for all New Zealanders.

"It is simply not going to be sustainable to pay all superannuation from direct taxation solely on the then working population, in the future. It's simple really and it's a shame the Greens don’t get it. Their policy would mean they would have to raise taxation, or adopt National's policy of raising the age of eligibility in the future and it's time they admitted it.

"The Greens also don't understand that we have a responsibility to invest this money in the most effective way, and that means partly overseas and partly in New Zealand.

"Getting rid of the Super Fund would mean the Greens would have to increase taxation to extraordinary levels in the future, about double as a percentage of New Zealand's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"National's answer is simply to continuously lift the age of entitlement for superannuation. That's not fair on our older citizens who have contributed to their communities over their entire lives. Working past the age of 65 is not a decision that should be forced on people.

"Throughout my 20 years in Parliament I have been promoting cross party security in superannuation. Finally, we have a fund that not only provides security for the future, but also can earn money for New Zealanders. It is very disappointing that the National and Green parties are becoming so short sighted about providing security in retirement," Jim Anderton said.

Full speech notes available now at: http://www.progressive.org.nz/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1248

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