Nicola Willis reignites superannuation debate in post-Budget speech
Friday, 29 May 2026
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has reiterated National’s intention to campaign on superannuation changes, using her Budget speech to take aim at her NZ First colleagues who favour the status quo, accusing them of “robbing future generations”.
Speaking this morning at an ANZ post‑Budget breakfast at video‑game developer PikPok, Willis promoted the Government’s Budget, which she said charted a path back to surplus in 2029 — a forecast ANZ chief economist Sharon Zöllner expressed scepticism about.
Willis yesterday highlighted superannuation as a significant burden on the books, and did so again this morning.
Moves to change the age of eligibility for superannuation were left out of the Budget, following the coalition agreement that National would not touch the age of eligibility - a NZ First priority.
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National and ACT both have policies to raise the superannuation age to 67.
During the breakfast speech she said the settings needed to be fair and it would be wiser for politicians to have a discussion now about gradual small changes than to pretend it would never have to change.
“If you want to have superannuation into the future, it's not really fair if the only way that's achieved is by vastly increasing taxes on working people.
“If you look at superannuation now, the costs of it are rising very sharply, taking up a much bigger share of every dollar of tax that people spend.”
Labour has previously said it’s open to means testing superannuation, whereas Prime Minister Christopher Luxon recently said National would raise the age.
In the Budget lockup, Willis made a point of showing how much superannuation was already costing, and how more expensive it was projected to become. She said it would cost $10 billion more over the next seven years, rising to $30b by 2030.
She showed journalists a slide setting out how much of future Budgets superannuation was expected to consume.
“People often talk about the rising Super bill as if it's something in the future. It's happening right now.
Doubt over surplus
Speaking as an opener at the breakfast, Zöllner said it was not at all clear that the Government would reach its forecast surplus in 2028 to 2029.
“The forecasts for the economy beyond even three months are uncertain, but certainly four or five years out, anything could happen.”
She said the Budget was not austere - or generous - but it was a pragmatic compromise between here and now.
In response, Willis said the global uncertainty made it difficult for Treasury forecasters, however even in their downside scenario, they still forecast a return to surplus could be achieved.
“But we can't take it for granted, and the world is uncertain. That's partly why the Government is being so prudent in the Budget about a range of measures.”