Matisyahu's Blog

I slept in today and decided to have a lazy day at home – no going down the road, just enjoying the vibes of being at home and watching television. Mum dropped off some food for me to cook tonight when we have dinner together – roast chicken, potatoes, kumera, parsnips and pumpkin, boiled broccoli and cauliflower, and topped with a chicken gravy. I’ve been able to make use of all the cooking utensils I’ve bought over the last month which makes the investment all the more worthwhile. After dinner I headed down to the supermarket to pick up a few bits and pieces – I’m getting myself into a habit of making sure I always have cupboards that are full or otherwise I’m tempted to order take aways and although they are healthy takeaways I would sooner avoid that and use the money for something more productive.

I was watching the news today regarding the National Party announcing their Kiwisaver policy of making it compulsory along with a $1500 starting amount when a baby is born they’re automatically signed up for the Kiwisaver scheme (I assume that parents will be able to make contributions). It sounds like a good idea at least on paper but the problem is that:

a) The government haven’t addressed when employers do the dodgy with the whole ‘total renumeration package’ nonsense where employers will double dip into the employees salary or wage. A while ago there were some minimum wage employees who signed up for Kiwisaver believing they were doing the right thing only to find that their employer was double dipping resulting in them earning below the minimum wage as a result. Has the National Party mentioned anything about fixing that up? nothing has been announced so far.

b) When it comes to the issue outlined in (a), how are the government going to ensure that wages aren’t stagnate as in any pay increases go to the Kiwisaver rather than in the employees hand? once again you need to force the hand of employers because when employers are left to their own devices they willl do everything humanly possible to screw employees over.

c) If the government are going to encourage New Zealanders to return from Australia to New Zealand, are they going to make it easier to move savings from Australia to New Zealand? I’ve currently have some money in a superfund in Australia from when I was working over there and yet the Australian provider I was with, Rest Superannuation, have made it as difficult as humanly possible to transfer that balance from Australia to my New Zealand Kiwisaver – get this document, get that document, talk to a government department etc. basically the ultimate test of endurance to see whether you’re worthy to get access to your own money. All I should need to do is provide my bank with my details for my superannuation provider and that is the end of the conversation.

We need to improve our rate of saving and investment but when you have one half of the equation playing silly buggers and the other half are struggling to make ends meet thus they need every single dollar they earn to keep their head above water…well, lets put it this way, it isn’t going to end well. Yes, you have to plan for the future and 99% of people understand that but at the same time you also have to deal with the here and now which means paying the mortgage, groceries, petrol for the car, electricity and all while getting the kids off to school. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is a good policy at least in abstract but something tells me that National isn’t going to address the concerns that many have raised when speaking to the media.