Shearer David: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Shearer David: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 26 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3360. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 Well I can tell you what John Key has said. He said that he would resign before putting up the retirement age. Now that is a good idea. That is one good idea that the Government has come up with. 
Hon Nathan Guy 
: Did you make that up yourself David—that line? Did you? 
DAVID SHEARER 
: That is what your leader has been saying Mr Guy. That is what your leader has been saying. I think you should hold his feet to the fire my friend. 
The important point about this debate is that the Retirement Commissioner has actually come out and said that if you do not do something about superannuation you have simply got your head in the sand. Therefore this Government has got its head in the sand. 
The bottom line here is that when I go around and talk to young people—people in their 20s but certainly people in their 30s and 40s—they honestly do not believe that superannuation will be there when they get to the point of retirement. They think that the people who are around today will have pulled up that ladder and they will be having to fend for themselves. The statistics the maths and just about every reputable organisation has come out and said that if we do not do something about it soon that is exactly what will happen. There will be 2.4 people in work for every one superannuitant in 30 years’ time. Those people in work cannot possibly look after their own health and education and the superannuation for people who need superannuation. We need to do something about it now and that is exactly what the Retirement Commissioner has been talking about. 
It is about lifting the age but it is about doing it fairly. We need fairness in three areas: fairness so that we do not disadvantage our young people today and that we give them exactly the same opportunities that we enjoyed in the past fairness so that those people who cannot work to 67 because they are in manual jobs and are unable to work to 67 are treated fairly and fairness—and this is what I think is going to happen—around the ability of people to plan into the future. If you do not give people that ability what is going to happen is that they will have this foisted upon them because suddenly we will not be able to afford to continue as we are today. 
Darien Fenton mentioned the statistic about education. In 3 years’ time superannuation will exceed our entire education budget—our entire education budget—and it just gets worse and worse from there on in. The superannuation budget is going up like this and education will be staying flat. So this Government putting its head in the sand and John Key’s saying he would resign before putting up the retirement age is simply just closing off options and not being responsible about where New Zealand has to plan and where it has to go. 
What we have said that we will do is we will sit down with any party and talk about this issue right across the Parliament and right across New Zealand society because this is too big an issue to be politicking about. But I can tell you what we will be putting the pressure on this Government to actually realise what it is doing by ignoring the statistics and the time bomb that awaits us if we do not do something about this. We will sit down and talk about it but we are not going to take our eye off the ball in terms of making the responsible decisions—the responsible decisions—for New Zealand. 
This is an issue that affects us all. It affects those people who are about to go into retirement. It affects those people who are being born today—or my kids who are going to have to foot the bill for my retirement into the future. And I do not think it is fair. I do not think it is fair that they are going to have to foot the bill at the same time as pay for their education pay for their health— 
Maggie Barry 
: Save up. Buy some shares. 
DAVID SHEARER 
: You can argue and yell all you like on the other side but you know—sorry Mr Speaker—that party knows that it cannot ignore this issue. The IMF the OECD Treasury—just about every single reputable organisation around the world recognises this. We see Australia the UK the US and most of the OECD lifting their retirement ages to 67 because they know that it is the responsible thing to do and this Government should realise it as well.