Super, cut call rejected

Press, 6 July 1988, Page 4

Super, cut call rejected

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The Government has rejected the call from the Employers’ Federation for a 20 per cent cut in the level of national superannuation.

The federation’s direc-tor-general, Mr Dick Jessup, called for the cut when speaking to the Wellington National Superannuitants Association last week. Mr Jessup called for a 20 per cent cut in payment and a five-year lift to 65 years in the age of entitlement to overcome the scheme’s cost problem. But the Minister of Social Welfare, Dr Cullen, has rejected Mr Jessup’s proposal on the grounds that it was the wrong way

to reform national superannuation. Securing an adequate retirement income for everyone must be the heart of any reform, he said. He rejected suggestions of across-the-board cuts. “We have to reform national superannuation in a way which ensures everyone can retire with some dignity and we have to put the scheme on a sound long-term basis so that everyone can look forward to the future with some sense of security,”

Dr Cullen said. Correspondence to his office showed a groundswell of support for equitable and sensible longterm reforms. People did not want to put their heads in the 1 sand by pretending the. present scheme was sustainable but also did not want to see a situation where the elderly did not get adequate support. No-one could pretend that achieving the two ends would be easy, he said.