Peter MacDonald
Simon Power’s warnings about the “dire consequences” of not making KiwiSaver compulsory are not neutral policy advice. They are a vivid demonstration of New Zealand’s revolving door power loop: a system where political authority, media credibility and private profit spin endlessly, legally and almost invisibly.
Power is uniquely positioned at the heart of this loop. He is a former cabinet minister, ex acting CEO of Westpac, ex TVNZ chief and now CEO of Fisher Funds, one of the country’s largest KiwiSaver providers. When he advocates for compulsory KiwiSaver, he is promoting a system that guarantees billions in contributions from every working New Zealander, creating a long-term, low-risk, revenue stream for the fund he manages.
KiwiSaver is a voluntary, defined contribution retirement scheme, currently managing $93.7 billion in assets. Contributions are automatically deducted from employee pay, supplemented by employer contributions and lightly supported by government co-contributions. Investment returns are not guaranteed but the inflows themselves, the contributions, are virtually risk-free for fund managers. That makes the revolving door power loop both audacious and lucrative: guaranteed cashflow for insiders, with financial risk shifted onto the public.
This pattern mirrors other sectors in New Zealand: PPP contractors, consultants and corporate welfare operators profit from public systems engineered to produce predictable revenue streams for private firms while the public shoulders long-term obligations. Councils are left servicing debt, while insiders profit from the engineered dependencies of the system.
Power’s advocacy exposes the audacity of the revolving door: a former cabinet minister using his credibility, networks and authority to shape policy that directly benefits his current sector, all while framing it as a public necessity. It is not scandalous in the sensational sense – it is structural capture, where influence is monetised and public compliance is guaranteed.
The danger is normalisation: citizens bear investment risk, while insiders collect guaranteed management fees from contributions. Policy is shaped not by public interest, but by those best positioned to monetise the machinery of the state after leaving it.
Simon Power’s KiwiSaver advocacy is therefore less about retirement savings than about profit, influence and the audacity of a system where cashflow is guaranteed, risk is socialised and reward is private. That is New Zealand’s revolving door – audacious, legalised and operating in plain sight.
