Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says Labour and NZ First are being “quite dishonest” by not facing up to the need to raise the retirement age.
National confirmed last week it would be campaigning on gradually raising the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation, which it believes is becoming unaffordable - a view shared by the OECD.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast, Luxon downplayed any talk of means testing for NZ Super.
“I think you’ve got to be quite careful with [means testing] because people need certainty going forward and, you know, you could see future governments changing thresholds,” he told Hosking.
He acknowledged that National would have to get into a “negotiation” on the policy, which it didn’t manage to get over the line in its previous coalition agreement.
Asked if that meant National could safely campaign knowing it would never happen, Luxon pushed back, saying it was important.
“It’s like driving the car, looking at the front windscreen and seeing some bumps along the way. We’ve got to either deal with that and consciously choose to deal with it, or it just comes upon us and then we’ve got a different set of problems,” he said.
“Labour and New Zealand First don’t really have political will for it. I think they’re being quite dishonest in terms of not facing up to the challenge that we’ve got. And I think just chucking it down the road to the kids and grandkids isn’t the right way.”
The PM also addressed the news that the fees-free policy for final year tertiary study would be scrapped, giving credit to New Zealand First for changing their mind and acknowledging the policy - which they previously supported - was not working.
“All credit to them, they’ve actually seen that it’s a huge monumental policy failure and a huge waste of taxpayer money,” he said.
Some of the money saved would go into trades training and the Youth Guarantee, which helps kids with low or no qualifications into vocational pathways at polytechnics.
Luxon is doing the media rounds this morning as new polling shows the coalition Government could return to power.
The new NZ Herald - Motu Research Poll of Polls shows under current polling, the National-NZ First-Act government has an 88.3% chance of winning a second term.
Current average support for the three coalition parties is 50.2% compared to 44.9% for the opposition, a gap of 5.3 points, the research found.
The polling comes despite concerns in recent weeks around Luxon’s leadership and suggestions of conflict between the parties.
Luxon said last week National would campaign on implementing a policy to raise the age of superannuation “as soon as we get back in” to power, following an OECD report warning the country was on an unsustainable economic path.
Meanwhile, Act last Sunday announced its immigration plans, only for New Zealand First leader Winston Peters to say the policy “doesn’t even touch the sides”, while the Immigration Minister, National’s Erica Stanford, called the policy “knee-jerk” and poorly thought-through.
The Government has also confirmed the fees-free university scheme will be scrapped in the upcoming Budget.
The one year of fees-free study covers the final year of tertiary education for eligible students, although Labour introduced the policy by giving students their first year of study fees-free.
Peters last week said the policy would be reshaped and “[repurposed] for the trades and all sorts of industries where we do need it”, saying that would cost less and get a better return for the money.
Last week the Electoral Commission also released the latest donation figures for political parties for the 2025 year.
They showed National receiving $6.3 million in donations for 2025 - dwarfing Labour’s $2.4m. The Act Party also received more than Labour, with $2.45m in donations. The Greens reported $1.8m and NZ First $1.4m.
The Opportunity Party received $179,000 in donations, more than double its 2024 figure, while Te Pāti Māori reported $141,986.
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