Mike's Minute: Luxon might be fighting the wrong battle with super

It is suggested Peter Dutton in Australia lost the election because of his nuclear issue and work from home policies.

I personally think he lost because they ran a hopeless campaign. But it is more than possible that he floated a couple of ideas that the voter simply could not stomach.

I am wondering if Chris Luxon is heading in a similar direction here with superannuation.

Nuclear makes sense. Working from home hinders productivity. But the voter is always right and being a voter beats logic.

Will the voter be right here on superannuation? Are there enough New Zealanders who have landed on the simple truth that 65-years-old, as a pension age, is no longer sensible, nor affordable?

$28 billion is the bill each year, and growing. That seems worse now because we are broke. But even in good times it’s a stunning amount of money.

National will take it to the vote next year. They may be saved from themselves by NZ First, if they are still in the mix, because it will be a bottom line.

But we reach the interesting point where logic and emotion collide.

For many, superannuation is untouchable. It’s a lifetime's worth of work. "i paid my taxes" they say, even though that line isn't actually real because we spent your taxes years ago and then borrowed a bit more to keep the lights on.

65-years-old is the new 50-years-old and, post-Covid, older workers have never been in more demand. The days of being out to pasture are increasingly gone. 65-years-old is not old.

Imagine a day where you enter the workforce knowing you need to take care of yourself. Yes, if you strike trouble the pension is a welfare payment, not an entitlement.

But we either have to change the narrative and mindset from entitlement to welfare, or we need to up the age. In upping the age over time, even giving years worth of notice, it's still a very big call.

It underlines our desire for free stuff, or perceived free stuff. Once you set a precedent with money it is fantastically hard to undo.

But Luxon, apparently, is keen to give it a crack. He calls it a no brainer.

First clue - there aren't many who think it’s a no brainer. Labour learnt the hard way over the capital gains tax.

Luxon may be about to learn something similar.

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