Govt conflict on superannuation

Press, 24 July 1986, Page 16

Govt conflict on superannuation

By

MARTIN FREETH

in Wellington

Uncertainty surrounds the fate of detailed proposals on national superannuation apparently presented to the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, by backbench Government members last week.

Ms Annette King, the member of Parliament

for Horowhenua and chairwoman of the Labour caucus committee on social welfare, has said she expected the Cabinet would discuss the report on July 28. Ms King said her committee had presented the report to last Thursday’s caucus meeting where there had been long discussion on superannuation. That discussion apparently prompted comments on likely changes by the Minister of Internal Af-

fairs, Mr Tapsell, during a . speech at the week-end. Mr Tapsell said the Government was giving “a good deal of consideration” to superannuation and he hoped an outcome from this would be announced soon. Reacting sharply to the remarks on Monday, Mr Lange told reporters that, in fact, Ms King’s committee had not yet reported to the Cabinet. Mr Lange dismissed Mr Tapsell’s suggestion that changes might be an-

nounced in the eligibility for the benefit of people aged 60 and still earning other income. Ms King said the contents of the report were more complex than implied in Mr Tapsell’s comments. She. declined to discuss it but said the report did make recommendations and looked at all aspects of superannuation. The committee began in March its study of past superannuation schemes in New Zealand and

models adopted in other countries. r The report may have been discussed at yesterday’s meeting of the Cabinet social equity committee, but its chairman, the Minister of Mr Marshall, said it had not been on the agenda. Superannuation . .will also be reviewed in the context of submissions on a recently-released Social Welfare discussion paper on all benefits, and eventually, of the Royal Commission on Social Policy.