The KiwiSaver earthquake that could reshape New Zealand’s future
Sunday, 21 June 2026
Nick Leggett is the chief executive of Infrastructure New Zealand.
OPINION: National’s announcement this weekend of compulsory KiwiSaver contributions, automatic enrolment at birth and a $1,500 kick-start payment for every newborn is one of the most significant long-term economic policies New Zealand has seen in a generation. It is an earthquake for our superannuation system, and the policy deserves support.
Too often we think about politics in three-year cycles. This policy is designed across generations. It recognises a simple truth: New Zealand cannot continue to rely solely on taxpayers and government borrowing to fund its future. If we want greater prosperity, stronger retirement outcomes and better infrastructure, we need to build more wealth as a nation and ensure more New Zealanders own a stake in that future.
The most impressive aspect of the package is that it extends wealth accumulation beyond those who already have assets. Automatic enrolment from birth and compulsory savings throughout working life create a pathway for every New Zealander to participate. It is a modern expression of the property-owning democracy that has long been part of New Zealand’s social and economic values.
This is nation-building. Not for the next election, but for the next fifty years. It is also the sort of policy that should attract support from across the political spectrum. Governments come and go, but savings systems only work when people have confidence that the rules will endure. New Zealand’s infrastructure needs, retirement funding challenges and productivity problems are larger than any one political party. The broad direction announced by National should become part of a long-term national consensus.
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The next question is equally important: if New Zealand succeeds in creating substantially larger pools of domestic capital through KiwiSaver, where should that money be invested? Investing your KiwiSaver so you can buy a house and retire comfortably is good for your future. Investing some of it in building the country that future generations will inherit is better still.
New Zealand has a retirement savings challenge. It also has an infrastructure funding challenge. Increasingly, they are the same challenge. The savings we need to fund a dignified retirement are also the capital we need to build the roads, energy systems, water networks and public assets that will drive future prosperity. The question is whether we are prepared to use one to help solve the other.
We want better infrastructure, cleaner energy, resilient communities, reliable water systems, quality healthcare and stronger education outcomes. We want all these things, but we have not yet fully worked out how we are going to pay for them.
The Government’s balance sheet, regardless of who is in power, cannot do everything.
Decades of underinvestment, population growth, climate adaptation, an ageing population and rising expectations have created a funding challenge that grows larger every year. Foreign investment should remain part of the solution and be welcomed, but we should also be looking first at how New Zealanders can invest in New Zealand.
Aotearoa is increasingly becoming asset-rich but capital-poor. We own valuable infrastructure, land, energy resources and businesses, but often lack the domestic investment capital needed to develop them at the scale and speed required.
KiwiSaver has already transformed retirement savings for many. The next step is to see it not simply as a retirement product, but as a nation-building tool that helps New Zealanders build wealth while helping New Zealand build the productive assets that underpin future prosperity.
Many of the world’s most successful economies understand the connection between long-term savings and long-term investment. Large domestic savings pools create investment capital.
Investment capital creates better infrastructure. Better infrastructure creates stronger economic growth. Stronger economic growth creates the prosperity that funds everything else. That is a cycle New Zealand needs to rediscover.
Infrastructure itself is not the goal. The goal is a stronger and more prosperous New Zealand.
Infrastructure is simply the platform that enables it. The outcomes we are seeking are higher living standards, better jobs, more productive businesses, healthier communities, improved educational opportunities, a cleaner environment and a more resilient economy.
Unlocking domestic savings could improve not only the quantity of infrastructure investment but also its quality. Long-term investors bring a different mindset. They demand transparency, rigorous planning, disciplined asset management and consistent maintenance. They care about long-term performance rather than short-term political cycles.
We have had too many examples of what happens when assets are allowed to deteriorate. We are living through the consequences in parts of our water system today. Infrastructure works best when it is maintained before it fails, not repaired after it does. Patient capital and long-term ownership encourage exactly that discipline. We also have experienced infrastructure largely as taxpayers. We pay the bill and hope for the best. There is another way. We can also become investors whose retirement savings help build our country.
That also means having an honest conversation about user-pays funding. Investors require revenue streams. Whether it is water, transport or other infrastructure, those who directly benefit from an asset should contribute towards its use. Well-designed user-pays models create fairer funding systems and help provide the returns that attract long-term investment capital.
The greatest gift one generation can leave another is not simply money. It is capability: the ability to generate prosperity, fund public services, withstand shocks and determine its own future. That starts with capital.
National has taken an important step by announcing a policy strengthening KiwiSaver and expanding wealth ownership to more New Zealanders. The challenge now is to ensure that a growing pool of savings helps to build the productive infrastructure, energy systems and economic assets that future generations will depend upon.
On June 29, The Post, in partnership with ANZ Bank and Infrastructure NZ, will be live-streaming an event to discuss the future of KiwiSaver and superannuation, including a speech by NZ First leader Winston Peters.