NZ Pension Abuse wants your support  

The last government made it abundantly clear that it would not advance responsible, meaningful, desperately-needed changes to the state retirement program.

Given that all other political parties have signaled an awareness of major injustices associated with NZ Super, their elected representatives working collectively could vastly improve the merely cosmetic reform legislation the former Cabinet proposed to introduce.  It would be most unfortunate if these MPs, unfamiliar with superannuation complexities, were fooled into believing that superficial changes proposed by the former Minister for Social Development would indeed solve all the problems.

Outwardly, New Zealand appears to have reliable democratic institutions in place to ensure that everyone who lives in this country has the right to justice and equality.  The institutions of democracy may be effective in some conditions; where pension abuse is concerned, however, New Zealand is not a fair and democratic society.

Thousands of pensioners have had their right to a degree of dignity in retirement taken away from them, an injustice the former government had no intention of adequately addressing.  Over and over again, we come up against an elaborate structure that is designed to obstruct, confuse and deter.  However, the structure is not the impenetrable fortress it may seem: it is built on a lie - and the cracks are by now very plain.

We could - and should - file a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Council.  The lone appellant from Jersey - a 76 year old migrant - was poorly equipped to properly frame the issues.  We are far better prepared and in a much stronger position to present a wealth of material that is both damaging and convincing.

To subject New Zealand to international embarrassment is not a preferred option, but when every avenue of appeal has been systematically blocked by our own systems of government, we should have no misgivings over airing New Zealand’s dirty linen at the United Nations for all the world to see.

We have a choice.

We can sit back and say nothing while successive Social Development ministers insist that overseas pensions policy is “sound” - all the while concealing the truth from the public.

We can turn the other cheek as Retirement Commissioner Diana Crossan continues to fraudulently claim that NZ Super is a “Universal Pension” subject to neither income nor asset testing - when the public needs to know the facts.

We can continue to allow senior civil servants to confiscate our overseas pensions to subsidize their superannuation nest eggs - so that they can retire in dignity, at our expense.

Or we can join together and fight back - not only for ourselves, but to make New Zealand a better place for our children and our grandchildren.

The 2004 Report delivered by the Ministry of Social Development offered those who experience the harshness of the direct deduction policy enormous hope for reform.

Apart from its actual recommendations, one of the most encouraging aspects of the report was the evidence of the effect objectors to the policy are already having.  The Ministry asserts:

“We believe that New Zealand’s international social security policies are unsustainable (because) those who are potentially affected by these policies represent a sizeable proportion of the population.
 

“Of the domestic population aged 65+, 26% (and growing) are foreign born.  Many of these are unsatisfied, and are putting pressure on Government for change because

o        they are inhibited from returning to their home country before 65

o       many of those who retire in New Zealand will lose the value of their entire overseas pension through the direct deduction policy.

“The degree to which these people find the policies unfair can be illustrated by the fact that their complaints constitute a significant proportion of all correspondence to the Minister for Social Development and Employment (and his Associates), and complaints are frequently received by the Minister of Finance.  Also of the public submissions made to the Periodic Report Group in 2003, over half were concerning the nature of the direct deduction policy.”

The former Finance Minister and three successive Social Development ministers opposed reform with the fictitious claim that current policies are sound - while going to extreme lengths over the past four years to prevent the 2004 Report from seeing the light of day.

NZ Pension Abuse needs your support.  Please inform your own community and your representatives in Parliament of the injustice outlined on this website and ask them to join the push for New Zealand Superannuation reform.

Your efforts will make New Zealand a more just, harmonious and prosperous country.

To register your support with NZ Pension Abuse, email: register@nzpensionabuse.org

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