Peter MacDonald
Last week Prime Minister Chris Luxon said that billions spent on NZ Super could be “better used elsewhere” and suggested raising the retirement age to 67 as a way to save some money.
According to the Budget 2025 outlook, NZ Super payments were projected to reach 23.2 billion dollars in 2024–25, roughly 5.3 per cent of New Zealand’s total GDP of 435 billion dollars. Not a staggering amount in the context of the entire economy but, for financially responsible pensioners, this money flows directly back into local communities, supermarkets, tradespeople, healthcare, small businesses and family support. Unlike profits that may be extracted offshore by multinational corporations in industries such as gold mining or banking, the great bulk of NZ Super circulates within the domestic economy, reinvigorating it rather than leaving it.
NZ Super is not a burden. Pensioners are among New Zealand’s most fiscally responsible citizens. Many continue to work past 65: not out of necessity, but because they enjoy it or want to stay active. Many pensioners donate their entire pension to charity and many also contribute their Winter Energy Payments and some organised pensioner groups also coordinate these donations.
Beyond financial contributions, over 65s are the country’s largest volunteer workforce. They staff op shops, food banks, community kitchens, churches, schools, marae, sports clubs, local boards and charities. Grandparents raise grandchildren, provide childcare, support families in crisis and cover essential costs like rent, groceries and school fees. These contributions are rarely captured in economic statistics, yet they form the backbone of many families and communities.
The real monetary strain on New Zealand comes not from pensioners but from the national debt, which currently costs around nine billion dollars annually in interest payments. The bulk of that debt stems from the previous Labour Government’s heavy borrowing during Covid lockdowns, mandates and ideological spending, pushing total government debt to 180 billion dollars and still climbing. Luxon is now signalling a preference for raising the retirement age to 67, effectively framing pensioners as a cost and a burden to taxpayers, while also looking at following in the footsteps of Roger Douglas by selling more taxpayer-owned assets. This scapegoating shifts attention away from the real drivers of monetary pressure and allows the government to portray itself as ‘trying to save taxpayers money’, while pensioners, who continue to work, volunteer, donate and care for families, are unfairly targeted.
Pensioners are far more than a one or two line item in a budget. They are taxpayers, volunteers, caregivers, donors and quiet engines of the economy. Any attempt to portray them otherwise is a political manoeuvre – not a reflection of reality. They are holding New Zealand together, supporting families, communities and local businesses and it’s time we recognised, defended and celebrated their contributions to the country.
Luxon’s talk of raising the pension age is an act: a political bluff that scapegoats pensioners; a carefully orchestrated distraction rolled out through select news cycles by his media team and bureaucratic advisers, reminiscent of the scheming and manipulation depicted in the 1980s BBC comedy Yes, Prime Minister (ironically, the BBC was recently caught splicing news pieces to create a ‘reality’ that was itself an act).
