In the past three weeks I have worked fulltime on rebuilding the www.nzpensionprotest.com website. I had designed the website with Google Sites which will be discontinued by the end of the year and had converted another site to New Google Sites – which should have been an absolutely smooth transition, according to Google. But as usual when tech giants make upgrades and changes, chaos ensues, and this was exactly what happened to my personal website. That’s why I decided to better rebuild the pension website instead of jiggling around for several months to remove chaos.

It was a good exercise because at the same time I updated all pages, so now there is - hopefully - no outdated information on the website and a lot of new stuff added to the site.

Unfortunately you cannot get to it directly yet as Google has not answered yet regarding technical issues, and my domain host in Germany is not very helpful. But until the publishing issue is resolved, you can easily access the new site by clicking the link on the old site.

This is the direct link:

https://sites.google.com/nzpensionprotest.com/nzpensionprotest/home

On the new site you find the navigation in two places: at the top of the page and for easy reading and a better overview about all the topics right under the introduction on the homepage.

Over time more pages will be added, and you can always find the latest news and link to the latest news in the blue text box at the top of the homepage.

Once Google and my domain host have sorted out the publishing issue, you’ll get directly to the new site by typing the usual address: www.nzpensionprotest.com.

[Update 05/2022: issue still not resolved, therefore still detour to the website.]

The real latest news

Regarding the latest news, the 20-year residency requirement has become law on 15 November 2021. The transition from 10 to 20 years will start on 1 July 2024 and go over an extended period until 30 June 2042. The first ones having to fulfil the 20-year requirement will those born on or after 1 July 1977.

Read everything about it here: https://sites.google.com/nzpensionprotest.com/nzpensionprotest/the-law/new-residency-requirement

On this page you will also find the information that you have to be physically present in New Zealand to fulfil the residency requirement. This means that it is not good enough to have lived, worked and paid taxes in New Zealand (which is being “ordinarily resident”) for 10 or later 15 or 20 years. If you have gone on overseas holidays for three weeks every year, makes 210 days in 10 years, you’ll receive NZ Super at age 65 plus 210 days. Once we are at the 20-year requirement, under this scenario that would lead to someone receiving NZ Super at age 66 and 55 days.

This makes the Direct Deduction Policy we are fighting against even more ridiculous. It raises the injustice to ever higher levels. But if you have followed the debate about the Fair!!! Residency Bill – raising the residency requirement from 10 to 20 years – and read my previous newsletter about the debate in Parliament, you will have noticed that our politicians do not care about the more than 100,000 pensioners affected by the policy. We are not even worth a mention.

As you know, it has always been difficult to draw attention to our issue in the best of times, and with the Spousal Provision gone for just over a year, it has become even harder during the COVID-19 pandemic that dominates the daily news. But we can’t give up, the dollar-for-dollar deduction of employer/employee-funded overseas pensions from tax-funded NZ Super is just too unfair and discriminatory. Please don’t give up contacting your local MP and addressing the issue in letters to the editors and where- and whenever you see a chance.

For me who has always been a fighter for justice and – as a sportsperson - for fairness, it is just beyond belief how uncaring our parliamentarians are. And what really concerns me is that they vote about issues they don’t even understand after discussing them for months on end in a Select Committee – which we could see (and hear) in the parliamentary debate about the Fair Residency Bill very clearly. And this certainly is not the only issue they vote on despite not understanding the context and details. It is just the issue we can judge best.

And it is not only the politicians who live in la la land. Just a few weeks ago I had an email exchange with a leading official of International Services at the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). He seriously wrote to me:

“You appear to suggest that the rules governing entitlement to New Zealand Superannuation are unfair. However, it is not an unreasonable expectation, considering that New Zealand Superannuation is funded by the New Zealand taxpayer, that New Zealand Superannuation is paid only to those people who are initially entitled to it and payment continues to be made only to those who meet certain requirements for ongoing entitlement.”

As if I had suggested to pay NZ Super to people who are not entitled to it! Isn’t the entitlement rule easy enough: Someone is entitled to NZ Super when a person turns 65 and has lived in New Zealand for 10 years after age 20, and five of those ten years after age 50. Nothing else. Then, when he says that NZ Super is funded by the New Zealand taxpayer, he seems to think that immigrants and returning Kiwis are not taxpayers despite living here for 10, 20 or even 40 years and still suffering deductions, and they even continue to pay taxes while away on overseas holidays and family emergencies – unlike dole bludgers who receive full NZ Super despite many of them never having contributed anything to the New Zealand tax base and society.

You certainly recognise the distorted way of thinking when it comes to “foreigners”, most of whom don’t come to New Zealand as unwanted refugees like in Europe and the USA but as skilled migrants who boost the economy and fill important roles born-and-bred Kiwis are not able or not willing to fill. It couldn’t be more obvious than in the health sector right now during the COVID-19 pandemic. And still migrants are treated like greedy parasites.

I have written an article on the issue here:

https://sites.google.com/nzpensionprotest.com/nzpensionprotest/what-is-a-pension

You find the latest numbers of ripped-off pensioners at the bottom of the homepage, and older statistics can be found in the Statistics archive:

https://sites.google.com/nzpensionprotest.com/nzpensionprotest/statistics-archive

As you know, the MSD numbers only count pensions where a person receives a few dollars of NZ Super. There are at least 30,000 who do not receive any NZ Super at all because their overseas pensions are higher than the rate of NZ Super. Our alternative statistic can be found here:

https://sites.google.com/nzpensionprotest.com/nzpensionprotest/the-law/facts-figures

I leave you with this, as you have enough to look and read on the new website.

For the first time I wanted to use the Mailchimp programme to send out this email but as I have included screenshots that weren’t visible in the Mailchimp mail, I resort to sending it from my personal email account. Once I don’t include photos, I’ll try again with Mailchimp. Please make sure that: contact@nzpensionprotest.com is in your list of accepted senders. And if you change your email address and want to continue receiving the newsletter, please let me know.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, despite everything that is happening in the world right now.

Sissi