Hipkins opens door to super means-testing, Peters vows to block it

Summarised by Centrist

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he is “open” to discussing whether New Zealand Super should be means-tested, raising the prospect of wealthier or still-working seniors losing access to the universal pension.

Hipkins told Newstalk ZB he does not support full means-testing, but said “there are questions” about whether someone “still working full-time, earning a six-figure salary should be claiming superannuation.”

He said any change would need to be handled carefully and with cross-party agreement.

“I don’t want to do this on a unilateral basis,” Hipkins said. “I think these need to be conversations across the Parliament.”

Okay some very rough numbers here about why he is full of it.

The median Kiwi earns around $62,000 a year. So let's say that over a 40-year working life, they pay roughly $465,000 in income tax.

Of that $465,000 in lifetime income tax, roughly $79,000 is proportionally… https://t.co/wnWQoRX2kl

— Liam Hehir (@PronouncedHare) May 1, 2026

Hipkins also ruled out simply raising the retirement age for everyone, saying that would hit lower-income workers hardest, especially those “physically knackered by the time they get to 65.”

Winston Peters reacted sharply, warning that Labour was again willing to attack superannuation.

“‘Means testing’ is another way of saying the government will be able to refuse to give you your retirement super income if they decide you don’t deserve it,” Peters wrote on X.

Peters said New Zealand Super is “not a benefit” but a “long-standing Kiwi entitlement” for people who have worked and paid taxes for decades.

He also pointed to NZ First’s coalition agreement, saying superannuation “won’t be touched” while his party has a say.

Read more over at The NZ Heraldand X 

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