National will take new NZ Super policy into coming election, says Finance Minister

Wednesday, 10 September 2025

National will propose NZ Super reforms at the next election, Finance Minister Nicola Willis told delegates at the Financial Services Council (FSC) conference in Auckland on Wednesday.

Pressed by MC Jack Tame, Willis said: “I’m able to commit that we will go to the next election with a superannuation and savings policy that we believe, addresses the challenges which I’ve outlined to you today.”

Those challenges were affordability and an ageing population, however, Willis acknowledged NZ Super was not an easy sell politically.

“My view is that no serious political party can go to the next election without a policy on superannuation or KiwiSaver.

“I'm considering how do we make sure we achieve three things. One, security and retirement for people, in their retirement years. Two, fiscal sustainability, so we're not just digging ourselves into a debt trap.

“And three, replicating the success that countries around the world have had,” she said.

But she said at the last election, she had seen how “gnarly” NZ Super was on the hustings.

“I will never forget at the last election, National campaigned on a policy of what I would just call realism,” she said.

That included a plan to raise the age of eligibility for NZ Super gradually to 67, which would make NZ Super more affordable in the face of an ageing population.

But the backlash was fierce.

“We faced the most gnarly political campaigning on that I've ever seen, literally robocalls to superannuitants saying, ‘do you know National wants to change the age of eligibility for your super?’, even though they would never have been impacted from it,” she said.

“So, I'm calling at this election for us to have a mature, grown-up conversation about how we deliver New Zealanders' retirement incomes in the future in a way that doesn't sacrifice the investments we can make in education and health services we provide our kids and young people today.

“One part of that is superannuation. The other part is KiwiSaver,” she said.

The FSC, which is the lobbying body for the insurance and KiwiSaver Industry, has called for a national KiwiSaver strategy.

Willis’ speech came just three days after NZ First proposed hiking KiwiSaver contributions to 10%.

Willis also outlined how she saw New Zealand’s current economic position.

US President Donald Trump’s punitive Liberation Day tariff announcement that damaged the economies of many US allies has done less harm to New Zealand than expected, Willis said.

“The impact of US tariffs has not been as disruptive as initially feared in terms of the future outlook for our economy,” Willis said.

“Last night I was advised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs official I was speaking with that they are still forecasting growth and goods trade to the US, over the coming period, and the outlook for most export sectors does remain positive.”

She said there had been “promising signs” in the final quarter of last year.

“Then Liberation Day happened,” she said.

“The United States' decision to unilaterally impose additional tariffs on goods imported from virtually all of its trading partners dampened economic confidence globally, and I think particularly here in New Zealand, a small trade-exposed nation in which one in four jobs depend on trade,” she said.

The country had been fortunate in one respect though.

“We have pretty much the best terms of trade on goods that we have ever had going back to the 1950s,” Willis said.

Willis ran through economic reforms the Government hoped would create a new foundation for economic growth.

“After bumping along at the bottom of the economic cycle for way longer than anyone wanted, we can look forward to an economic upswing,” she said.

“Evidence is mounting we can look forward to better times,” she said.

But New Zealand needed to be shifted onto a faster growth track, she said.

She claimed there were signs the Government’s reforms and cutting of red tape were beginning to work.

However, she acknowledged: “None of this work will magically transform the economy overnight, but I sincerely think that getting our competition settings right is critical to encouraging businesses of the future, investment and innovation.”