Dear current and future pensioners,

Looking back at the past months I am sad to see that obviously extreme action is needed to get our politicians’ attention. You guess right, I think of the anti-everything protests in front of Parliament. And perhaps you can imagine that I am not interested in camping on the Parliament grounds – and even less in being rained on by Trevor Mallard’s sprinklers.

No, seriously. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and now with the war in Ukraine and the global ramifications of the constantly rising cost of living, it has become more and more difficult to raise awareness of the unfair treatment of people with overseas pensions in New Zealand, not to speak of effecting change to the Direct Deduction Policy.

With the nation’s spiralling debt there is no will at all to stop the legalised (indirect) theft of employer/employee-funded overseas pensions, as the cost would be somewhere between NZ$ 500 and 800 million. That’s why many of us struggle to make ends meet. And what does the Government do to help vulnerable pensioners?

Oh yes, the good news announcements are flooding in! About two months ago I received a letter from my local MP in which she informed about the extra income support the Government would be paying from April respectively 1 May. She mentioned the increase in superannuation payments and the Winter Energy Payment.

Not all pensioners can celebrate increases and additional payments

But clearly she and many of her colleagues in Parliament do not seem to know that not all pensioners can celebrate these increases and additional payments because, for a start, the New Zealand government still finds it fair to only pay a fraction of NZ Super or no NZ Super at all to migrants and returning Kiwis after decades of living, working and paying taxes in New Zealand. And all this because they receive an employer/employee-funded overseas pension, a pension they have paid for during their working years overseas, and which is deducted dollar for dollar from the tax-funded NZ Super (Sections 187 to 191 of the Social Security Act 2018: the Direct Deduction Policy).

For many of these people nothing changes at all. While about 100,000 pensioners with an overseas work history do receive varying amounts of NZ Super, from a few hundred dollars per fortnight to tiny amounts between $ 5 and 10, there are probably about 60,000 pensioners in New Zealand who do not receive a cent of NZ Super because their overseas pensions are higher than NZ Super.

How can it be that Parliament does not acknowledge the contributions these people have made to the New Zealand tax base and society by not at least paying them proportional NZ Super for all these years and hard work in New Zealand? How can it be ok that migrants are used as cash cows only to keep NZ Super sustainable for another few years?

Tens of thousands of pensioners miss out on Winter Energy Payment

And now winter is near, the Winter Energy Payment (WEP) has started again – and again tens of thousands of pensioners miss out. If the NZ dollar were lower, even more pensioners would be affected. I have a friend whose overseas pension was a few dollars higher than NZ Super last year, so she didn’t receive any Winter Energy Payment. This year the exchange rate is different, the NZ dollar is higher against the Euro, so she receives NZ$ 9 a fortnight in NZ Super payments, and as a consequence she receives the WEP. If she will receive it again next year is everyone’s guess.

Let’s just use an example with the WEP rate for singles ($80 per month). If my friend’s overseas pension is NZ$ 1 higher than NZ Super, she doesn’t receive the WEP and is $79 worse off than any New Zealand pensioner who doesn’t receive an overseas pension. If her overseas pension is NZ$ 1 lower than the rate of NZ Super, she receives NZ$ 1 a fortnight in NZ Super plus the WEP of $80 per month, the same as every other New Zealand pensioner who receives full NZ Super, even if they have not worked a minute – for whatever reason – during their “working” lives in New Zealand (age 20 to 65). Where is the fairness?

Before the WEP was introduced, I read the draft of the bill and thought MSD had made a genuine mistake by saying that only pensioners who RECEIVED NZ Super would receive the WEP. I contacted MSD and the responsible Minister Carmel Sepuloni and asked to change the wording from “receive” to “entitled”.

But I was told that the wording was not a mistake but intended. This means that it was INTENDED to further disadvantage pensioners who do not receive a cent of NZ Super and who are only abused to fund “real” Kiwis’ pensions and lifestyle with their taxes, being denied any acknowledgement of their contributions to this country. They are treated like useful garbage by parliamentarians who feed xenophobia and discrimination with their actions.

No genuine exchange of giving and taking: the theft starts with a visa

With the exception of partnership visas, New Zealand accepts only foreigners with skills and well-paid jobs into the country, but the system is not a genuine exchange of giving and taking. The Government “gives” a visa and then takes everything: the skills, the contributions, the taxes, the overseas pensions. And in the end there is no reward for giving everything to New Zealand, not even a few dollars for keeping the house warm in winter.

Just making this little difference could save huge amounts in health care costs for physical illness and mental stress, caused by the despair and frustration about the appalling overseas pension policies.

While I don’t hold much hope that the pension system and its unfairness will change anytime soon, I urge the Government to address the unfairness of the Winter Energy Payment. It can’t be fair when a third of all migrants and returning Kiwis over 65 miss out on this payment which, according to my and your local MP, makes “a real difference for older residents, helping them to stay warmer and healthier through winter”. If everyone over 65 could receive it, I would agree. But I can’t as long as Kiwi millionaires who don’t need it receive it, and migrants who have to survive on $1 more than NZ Super do not receive it.

It's winter now, please contact your local MP, relevant Ministers and MSD and demand the Winter Energy Payment for every pensioner, even if the Government indirectly steals their overseas pensions by denying them NZ Super. And, of course, always try to keep the big issue – the unfairness of the Direct Deduction Policy – alive, as the Winter Energy Payment is directly linked to this discriminatory law.

Email addresses here:

https://sites.google.com/nzpensionprotest.com/nzpensionprotest/the-fight/contact-the-nz-government

A few other issues for people under age 65:

On a relaunched page on the www.nzpensionprotest.com website I have compiled some information about the process of applying for NZ Super and why you should not make monetary gifts to the New Zealand government.

1. Many people don’t apply for NZ Super because their overseas pension will be higher than the rate of NZ Super. As most overseas pensions kick in at age 66 or even 67, it would be too generous to not apply for NZ Super at age 65 and cash in NZ Super until you receive your overseas pension.
   

2. Some people apply for the wrong rate, mainly couples who have become flatmates but keep living together for financial reasons. You do not need to divorce to be able to apply for the single sharing rate.

Direct link to the page and details:

https://sites.google.com/nzpensionprotest.com/nzpensionprotest/the-law/what-winz-wants-to-know

I hope you can keep warm this winter.

Sissi