A National Government elected next year would move to significantly boost New Zealanders’ retirement savings by gradually increasing KiwiSaver contribution rates to 12%, bringing them in line with Australia, party leader Christopher Luxon says.
Luxon announced the policy on Sunday, arguing that stronger long-term savings are essential for ensuring Kiwis’ financial security in retirement, alongside home ownership and New Zealand Superannuation. He said KiwiSaver plays a vital role in both personal savings and the wider economy, and National intends to “strengthen it further.”
The Government is already committed to lifting default employer and employee contribution rates from 3% to 4% by April 2028. But Luxon said that still leaves New Zealand far behind Australia’s compulsory superannuation scheme.
“For Kiwis working in New Zealand, that means smaller KiwiSaver balances and less financial security than friends or family working and saving in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne,” Luxon said. “If we’re serious about building the future — and I am — it’s time to aim higher.”
Under National’s proposal, default contribution rates would continue rising by 0.5% annually from April 2029 until April 2032, when both employers and employees would be contributing 6% each — a combined rate of 12%.
Luxon said the changes would have a major impact on younger savers. A 21-year-old earning $65,000 today would retire with an estimated $1.4 million in KiwiSaver savings, around $400,000 more than under existing Budget 2025 settings, he said.
“If you’re a New Zealander who does the right thing by working hard and saving for the future, you deserve to get ahead. National backs you every step of the way,” Luxon said.
Default contributions (matched by employers)
- 1 April 2026 – 3.5%
- 1 April 2028 – 4.0%
- 1 April 2029 – 4.5%
- 1 April 2030 – 5.0%
- 1 April 2031 – 5.5%
- 1 April 2032 – 6.0%
Image credit: Andre Taissin
Didn’t they half contributions recently.
Point of note – every dollar you are forced to bank in a pension plan gets clipped by fund managers in suits driving Porsches, and you can’t use the funds to buy a house.
Don’t forget GFC people.
May 2025 Luxon told us he’d deal with the cost of living.
Yet despite countless market studies telling our MPs the NZ government needs to beef up monitoring and punishment of the Aussie: energy, insurance, grocery, and banking cartels; still no action to stop Kiwi money flowing to Australia.
2025
Food up 5%
2024
Car insurance: Up by 18%, with an average premium now at NZ$1,342.
House insurance: Increased 17% to reach NZ$2,702.
Contents insurance: Up 12%, costing an average of NZ$842.
General insurance (comprising home, car, and contents): Up 17% to NZ$4,892.
Luxon, Bishop, Brown, Mitchell, Stanford, Upston, and Penk; did you really enter politics to continue H Clarks corrupt legacy, forcing struggling Kiwis to flee the country?
Have you joined forces with the fraudulant Simpson, Watts, and Willis?
2032 is very ambitious
We need to get through 2026 first
A tsunami of world events is about to unfold and hit the world stage
Exactly! Reduce the Government.
Paid for with what? More loans? As if this nation is not in debt enough, as it is. That said, we all know, in truth, this will be paid for with more sly taxation further down the line, of the kind we have already seen. Wonder why you are paying GST on your AIrBNB rental from dollar one? National has the answer. This looks a lot like a sleazy “sweetener” given they are only one term in and may already be out of office this coming election.
Want peoples support? Start by giving the so called Gene Tech Bill a short trip to the legislative dust bin. 97% of us have told you in no uncertain terms, we DO NOT WANT IT. Or digital ID’s for that matter.
These slimy money launderers want us to all contribute more of our hard earnings into their slush fund while telling us it’s for our own good. F@ck off Chris 🖕
Do something about the cost of basic goods first.
Make the electricity and petrol cheaper.
Deport the 3rd world hoards you’ve brought in who are pushing rent up and wages down. Stop f@cking us as hard as you possibly can from every angle for longer than 5 minutes and maybe people might give an iota of a sh!t about your “vision for the future”.
We aren’t failing to save because we don’t want to do “the right thing”, you pompous twat. Feeding my children IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO – not all of us live off of government kickbacks and laundered tax money.
We aren’t saving because WE CANNOT thanks to decades of team red vs team blue, climate-chasing, mass migration obsessed globalist government.
Piss off Uncle Fester
Bloody well said 👍
The problem is now we need the 3rd world hoards to pay for Our superannuation
Superannuation won’t exist for the next upcoming generation of retirees. That was the whole purpose of Kiwisaver.
We’re completely f****** up the country with genetically modified organisms, Net Zero, Digital ID and mass immigration, but here’s a couple of bucks extra per month for your kiwisaver plebs
What about all the lazy dole bludgers and people living on government benefits paid for by the taxpayer living in houses paid for by the taxpayers? How do they save for “retirement” or do all us other slaves have to pay for that too?
FFS get rid of these communist governments and the paid off bribed sold out globalists who run them. National one of your main foundation principles was self responsibility, but that doesn’t mean having responsibility for people YOU allow to fee off everyone else’s hard work. 😡
The people with a moderate level of savings will be ineligible for government handouts which will leave more money for the people who receive government “benefits” to continue receiving them.
More money to be converted to crown bonds oh they mean for the good of the people when they retire, yeah right. Crown bonds can be borrowed against, who does the nations of the world owe? We have the right to know, it is our money
Asking who we all owe money to and why is antisemitic (I’m told)
Pointing the finger to whom we owe by definition of the word. I believe who we owe goes even deeper
We peasants who are forced into that extortion scam will never see any ‘savings’.
The beehive has become a wasp nest.
And thej are too psychopathic to read the room and see the writing on the wall.
They also said they were going to lock up the Treaty Grievance Industries open cheque book away from professional victims hands
People are struggling to as it is woth food, fuel, insurance skyrocketing. So this clown thinks that mandating kiwisaver contributions will help out.
People will pause their contributions as they won ‘t be able to afford that level of their income going towards kiwisaver.
This policy will shoot themselves in the foot. Not helping the people who need it – worsening their savings.
Also it is suss, as it looks like superannuation is the target
Also, we are not Australia. They have much higher incomes and are more able to afford this.
Chris you are as much as useless sell out and the other Chris.
Plus Australia receives the super profits their banks, supermarkets, insurance companies, and energy companies generate in NZ.
How do they generate super profits far greater than their Australian profit margins in a country with earnings 25% lower than Australia?
Luxon knows how.