Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ/Dan Jones
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has announced a policy to automatically enrol all newborn New Zealand citizens into KiwiSaver with a $1000 government contribution, alongside a proposal to buy back the Bank of New Zealand and merge it with Kiwibank to create a new state-owned bank.
Speaking at a campaign event at the Trusts Arena in West Auckland on Sunday, Peters said the party would make KiwiSaver enrolment compulsory at birth for New Zealand citizens as part of what he called the “KiwiSaver Generation”.
Speaking at a campaign event in West Auckland on Sunday, Peters said the party would make KiwiSaver enrolment compulsory at birth for New Zealand citizens as part of what he called the “KiwiSaver Generation”.
Under the policy, each child would receive a one-off $1000 Crown contribution at birth.
Peters said the scheme would work alongside New Zealand First’s existing proposal for compulsory KiwiSaver enrolment across the workforce, with employee and employer contribution rates eventually increasing to 10 percent.
“Universal birth enrolment will ensure every child begins their financial life as a KiwiSaver member,” Peters said.
The party also unveiled plans to buy back the Bank of New Zealand from Australia’s National Australia Bank and merge it with Kiwibank to form a new fully Crown-owned bank, to be called the “National Bank of New Zealand”.
Peters said the new entity would be commercially run and designed to compete more aggressively with the major Australian-owned banks operating in New Zealand.
He said four Australian-owned banks controlled about 85 percent of the banking system and accused them of extracting billions of dollars in profits from New Zealand each year.
The proposal would be funded through a mix of sovereign banking bonds, Crown debt, investment from the NZ Future Fund and ACC, and Kiwibank’s existing capital base, Peters said.
“This is not nationalisation – this is taking back our country,” he told supporters.
Much of Peters’ speech focused on immigration, superannuation and opposition to what he described as “globalist” policies.
He criticised Labour, National and Act over the recently signed India Free Trade Agreement, claiming it would significantly increase migration and allow uncapped numbers of international students into New Zealand with work rights attached.
Peters also repeated New Zealand First’s opposition to any changes to NZ Super, including means testing or raising the eligibility age.
He accused both major parties of considering asset sales and reiterated the party’s opposition to selling state-owned assets such as Kiwibank or Air New Zealand.
The speech also included criticism of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Paris climate accord, and references to Treaty principles in legislation.
Peters said New Zealand First would continue campaigning against co-governance arrangements and in support of freedom of speech protections.
The West Auckland event also served as a candidate launch, with former National MP and minister Alfred Ngaro announced as New Zealand First’s candidate for Glendene, while current NZ First MP David Wilson would contest Henderson.
Watch the livestream in the player above.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand