Pressure on Govt to raise super age

Most New Zealanders can now expect to live independently well beyond age 65, fuelling debate about the age of eligibility for superannuation.

But life expectancy is much lower for Maori, who would bear the brunt of any move to raise the qualifying age.

The Government is under pressure to make the change to help to pay for our ageing population after deciding in last week's Budget that it could not afford to pay into the NZ Superannuation Fund for the next 11 years.

Australia's Labor Government decided two weeks earlier to raise the qualifying age for its means-tested pension from 65 to 67 in steps between 2017 and 2023.

Otago University public health professor Tony Blakely says New Zealand should consider a similar move because people are now living longer.

"A longer and healthier life expectancy not only contributes to the increasing proportion of the New Zealand population aged 65 and older, but it also suggests that on average people can probably work for a few more years before relying on superannuation," he said.

But the averages conceal major differences along both occupational and ethnic lines.

Syd Keepa, 62, who worked in forestry for 37 years and now convenes the Maori union council Te Runanga o Nga Kaimahi Maori, said many of his colleagues had been made redundant but would have been forced to retire through ill health anyway.

"They did have ailments and should have retired."

David Hartstein, who retired when he turned 65 two weeks ago after 17 years in an Upper Hutt plastics factory, said most people who wanted to keep working past 65 sat in front of computers, rather than doing manual labour. "My job was standing in front of moulds, subject to a bit of chemicals."

Official statistics are not available by occupation, but they confirm that Maori, who are more likely to work in manual jobs, "degenerate" faster than non-Maori.

On average, a Maori boy born in 2006 can expect only 62 years of "independent" life, living independently without help from someone else or a complex medical aid (beyond hearing aids and spectacles). A non-Maori boy can expect an independent life almost seven years longer - 68.9 years.

A Maori girl can expect an independent life of 64.1 years, compared with 70.8 years for a non-Maori girl.

The Auckland Medical School's acting tumuaki (deputy dean - Maori), Dr Sue Crengle, said Maori paid taxes all their lives but died much sooner than non-Maori.

"In effect we are subsidising non-Maori," she said. "By increasing the age of eligibility for super, that is going to exacerbate the situation."

However, Professor Blakely said that although more Maori died before 65, those who actually reached 65 could expect much the same remaining "independent" life as non-Maori - 10.3 more years for Maori men against 12 years for non-Maori men at 65, and 10.5 years for Maori women against 12.7 years for non-Maori women.

He said the remaining inequality should be tackled by raising the invalid's benefit.

At present the net single invalid's benefit is $237.97 a week, only three-quarters of the net super rate of $310.95 a week for a single person living alone.