OPINION: ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL – NZ SUPER INCREASE

Isn’t it great, there has been an increase in superannuation payments from the 1st April? $52 per fortnight for a single person and $80 per fortnight for a couple.

It is not a lot when measured against the increases in the cost of living or when measured against filling the car with petrol or diesel. Still, every little bit helps. Then add in the Winter Energy Payment of $20.46 per week for a single person and $31.82 per week for a couple, which recommences on the 1st of May, and with a little bit of luck and very careful financial management we should just about be able to get through the winter unscathed.

What does concern me though are the constant calls from the zealots and “do-gooders” in our society who continually call on the Government to reduce our superannuation entitlement and to use the funds gained to support children who live in poverty. The primary mover and shaker in this arena is the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). Previous utterances from this group have suggested that a large number of people receiving NZ Super are reasonably wealthy and do not need NZ Super in order to live well above the poverty line. While this may be true in some instances, there are also quite a number of our seniors who struggle week-to-week, just to make ends meet. The real problem for those of us who care about seniors is that we do not have sufficient information or data to quantify just how many people exist from payment to payment.

The CPAG has suggested in its research material that an additional $10 per week would lift a child out of poverty. To do so now, by reducing our NZ Super payment by that same $10 and move it across to help support a child, would take up half of a senior’s entitlement (single person – increase) this year.

For those seniors who live solely on their NZ Super, Grey Power is aware that for many just getting by financially is a real struggle. All too often we are made aware that once rent or a mortgage, together with items like power, HDC rates, doctors and prescription fees and other payments are made, there is little left over for food. We also know that many seniors are starving themselves to the point of malnutrition (Massey University – April 2018). These folk too are living at or below the poverty line. And yet we do not see an organisation called the Seniors Poverty Action Group. Why is that?

It is time to stop continually calling for a reduction to NZ Super so that funds can be transferred to address child poverty. Both issues need to be addressed to ensure that both Grandma and her grandchildren or great-grandchildren can have shoes on their feet and a warm meal every day to avoid the ravages of poverty and malnutrition. The Child Poverty Action Group needs to begin focussing on both ends of the age spectrum so that those two endangered groups can be equally supported.