Key must heed advice of business leaders on Super

Business leaders, academics and the public want to see a fair and sustainable rise in the Super age to preserve the right to a pension on retirement, says Labour Leader David Shearer.

“Almost 90 per cent of business leaders now support a fair and steady rise in the retirement age. They join the general public, economists and academics in supporting the policy, which Labour is leading the debate on.

“By the late 2020s there will be over 1 million people aged over 65 and the Super bill will be astronomical. Labour has a credible plan to steadily raise the retirement age to 67 to preserve Super and keep the costs under control. That’s bold but fair.

“The Government needs to be brave but John Key isn’t prepared to make the tough decisions. I again extend my offer of a cross-party working group on raising the retirement age. We need to work through the issues, including supporting those who can’t physically work until 67.

"Right now the Government has no credible way of paying the Super bill. If we start making fair changes now we won’t need sudden and unfair changes later, such as cutting Super or making working Kiwis pay a hefty bill.

“We must find solutions to this issue that provides for older New Zealanders and is fair to younger New Zealanders.”