Govt faces pressure to increase pensions

National Party leader Bill English reckons pensioners are going to put more pressure on the Government over the next three years to increase the basic level of New Zealand Superannuation.

Speaking at the Association of Superannuation Funds Conference last week, English said the issue of what the state pension is "has been pretty much put to bed."

All the parties, bar Act, agree that it should be a universal entitlement.

However, English says that the current rate of 65% of the average weekly wage for a married couple is "about as low as you can get it."

He says the current rate is the "lowest it has been in the past 25 years."

Pensioners think it "inadequate" and the grey lobby is likely to put pressure on the Government to push the rate up to 70% during this term.

That view is supported by a press release from Grey Power put out during the election campaign.

Grey Power superannuation spokesman Frank Moloney says that the policies of the major parties "will insure (sic) that the well-earned Kiwi retirement becomes a poorly-deserved impoverished future."

He says that the current rates are not enough to provide the bare essentials.

"Regular living costs above the annually fixed Consumer Price Index means many thousands of older New Zealanders will be unable to participate in the normal activities of their communities.

"They will miss meals, be unable to visit their doctor and live a life of poverty not seen in New Zealand for many decades," he says.

New Zealand First is the only party which has campaigned for higher pension rates.

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