Spousal entitlement
The policy of denying New Zealanders full NZ Super if, in the eyes of the law, they are living with the wrong person, nets the government around $2.7 million every year.
Former Social Development Minister Ruth Dyson announced in June 2008 that the government had accepted that the policy of deducting a person’s overseas pension from their partner’s NZ Super entitlement should be discontinued.
For the other Ruth whose story runs through this website, this amendment seemed a welcome improvement.
The commitment to honor spousal entitlement has proven hollow.
Although the removal proposal was accepted by Cabinet in October 2007, Cabinet then failed to act on it. The minimal funding required - the commitment which would have given the government’s belated recognition of individual rights a little credibility - was denied in the 2008 budget.
The former government had no more commitment to repealing the Spousal Amendment Act than it had to removing voluntary contributions from the scope of the direct deduction policy.
Even these minor changes boasted by the government were sham.