‘This will not change’: Winston Peters confirms no Government NZ First is part of will touch superannuation
Monday, 11 May 2026
NZ First leader Winston Peters has confirmed that no Government his party is a part of will allow the superannuation age to change or see it be means tested.
Peters told The Post “this will not change” as he criticised those pushing for reforms to superannuation, which will make up an increasing portion of the Government’s spending as the population ages.
“Over multiple elections NZ First has stood firm on this issue and in every government, super has been protected. This will not change,” Peters said.
“There will be no means testing. There will be no increase in the age of eligibility. Our priority will be to fix the New Zealand economy.”
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His comments come after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has promised to campaign on changing the age at the election, saying parties that refused to touch superannuation were being “dishonest”.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said promising not to change superannuation would mean “what you want to do is tax New Zealanders more and more and more, and that's not a good proposition for the New Zealand economy”.
“Whether or not it is through the approaches that the OECD suggests is another question. But is reform required to our superannuation settings? Yes.”
The OECD raised the issue again last week as it pushed for both an age change and some level of means testing for superannuation.
It suggested that automatically indexing the superannuation age to life expectancy would enhance “inter-generational fairness”.
“This spreads the costs of longer lives more evenly across generations, reducing the need for repeated political negotiations about the retirement age,” the OECD wrote.
On current polling there is no credible pathway to Government for Luxon without the support of NZ First.
Peters said the only reason people wanted to reform super was to “paper over long-term economic incompetence.”
“The cheap headline that super is unaffordable is simply nonsense. Super currently sits at around 5% of New Zealand’s GDP, which is far below the OECD average of other pension schemes. It is growth in our economy that needs addressing, not taking safe retirement off our seniors,” Peters said.
“NZ Super is an entitlement for seniors who have worked to build this country through decades of paying taxes, sometimes through periods of being at the highest levels in the world.“