Labour rules out changing superannuation settings if elected

With National's KiwiSaver changes coming alongside rhetoric aimed at raising the retirement age, Labour has ruled out any changes to superannuation settings.

National at its annual conference over the weekend announced a policy to automatically enrol babies in KiwiSaver with a $1500 'Baby Boost'; and make employer and employee contributions to KiwiSaver compulsory - including for those aged 65 and older.

It comes on top of promises last year to further increase the default contribution rate.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis spent the majority of their post-Cabinet media briefing on Monday speaking about the policy, the costs of which an economist and business leaders have said would likely be borne mostly by workers.

Willis clarified the party was also considering phasing out employers' "total remuneration" approach to pay packets - where a combined salary and KiwiSaver amount is paid, rather than paying KiwiSaver contributions on top of salaries - despite National previously having kaiboshed a Labour member's bill that would have done just that.

Speaking afterwards, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said National was "all over the place" when it came to KiwiSaver, and there remained unanswered questions about how the party would pay for its promises.

"Nicola Willis says there is no money in the cupboard, the cupboard is bare, and the government has to tighten its belt. Now they're saying that they're going to spend potentially billions of dollars from future budgets in order to pay for this KiwiSaver policy," he said.

National had also not said how it would support those who currently were not contributing to KiwiSaver but would be forced to, he said, before criticising the party's track record on KiwiSaver.

"Every single time the National Party has touched KiwiSaver, they've ended up cutting it. So they cut the Kickstart - which they're now proposing to bring back, but only for children born after a certain date, meaning the children born before they miss out.

"They're now proposing to increase contributions ... government contributions, which used to be quite a significant part of KiwiSaver, particularly for a lot of low-income families, have been cut by National governments I think three times now."

However, when asked if Labour would reverse those cuts, he only said the party would set out its KiwiSaver policies "in due course".

When it was pointed out Grant Robertson had previously committed to reinstate the $1000 KiwiSaver kickstart, Hipkins said he would have to check but he believed that had not been part of Labour's subsequent election policy.

"Look, oftentimes you oppose things in opposition, which you don't then reverse when you're in government. That is the nature of democracy. The needs and the pressures and the issues do move on."

He did support the increase in default contribution rates for employers and employees, but would not say whether he backed compulsory enrolment or the other changes proposed.

However, he firmly ruled out any changes to superannuation.

"Labour's position since introducing KiwiSaver has always been and will continue to be that it is a supplementary form of income in retirement, not an alternative to New Zealand superannuation," he said.

"Labour will not means test New Zealand superannuation, and we will not increase the age."

That was despite in April saying Labour was "open" to a bipartisan conversation about means testing superannuation. Hipkins said he "cleared that up very quickly the next day".

He also committed to outlaw total remuneration packages, saying that if Willis felt it was an important issue "she could have done something about it in the last two and a half years, and yet all the government's done is block it".

At the release of the Budget this year, Willis said parties unwilling to tackle the problem of the rising cost of superannuation were "prepared to rob everyone in this country under the age of 50 for their own political expediency".

Luxon has also confirmed the party would campaign on raising the age of eligibility, but has not yet unveiled the policy.

New Zealand First has committed to not changing the settings for superannuation, while ACT's David Seymour has backed those saying the age needs to increase.