Friday, March 03, 2006

Bring Maori "savings" entitlement forward

That's what Hone Harawira called for yesterday in his speech addressing the KiwiSaver Bill;

"Mr Speaker, one of the key concerns we have with this Bill, is that quite simply, it discriminates against Maori.

The facts are that Maori just do not live past 65. What that means is that while Maori, like everyone else, will be encouraged to join the Kiwisaver scheme, less than 4% of Maori will actually live long enough to derive any benefits.

That Mr Speaker, is simple discrimination.....Give those with a lower life expectancy the entitlement at an earlier age."


The problems with this are glaringly obvious. Adjusting for varying life expectancy would mean allowing males to qualify earlier. Is that also Maori Party policy? Probably not. This isn't the sexist party. It's the racist party.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it's entirely fair for Maori to get their super earlier. As long as they also pay proportionally more for the amounts spent during their lives on health, social assistance and prisons. Just to be consistent, you see.

Anonymous said...

Where does he think the money goes when people die? your family will still get the super money even if you are dead. so its irrelevant if you yourself die early, you are setting up a retirement income for your family, its just that potentially more maori (and males) won;t be around for as long to enjoy it. hone is nuts.

Anonymous said...

"your family will still get the super money even if you are dead"

HUH?

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Anonymous three, I think what anonymous 2 meant was the savings accrued in the Kiwisaver. They go to the estate of the deceased.

Anonymous said...

Yup, lindsay is right, sorry if i was not clear.

certainly maori would be disadvantaged if upon retimrement you used your super money to buy an annuity (an investment that pays you a set amount for the rest of your life), but there are so few annuities left in NZ, and almost no one buys them.

so really its a facade, there is no detriment in maori living less (from a superannuation point of view, it obviously sucks for them from a living point of view).