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Speaker 1: Now Nichola Willis has been dropping the bread crumbs, hasn't

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Speaker 1: she when it comes to the budget, confirming today she

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Speaker 1: will be making some changes to Kiwi Savior, but wouldn't

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Speaker 1: say any more genative. Traine, as The Herald's Wellington Business editor, Hey,

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Speaker 1: you know, hey, Heather, So it sounded like the opposite

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Speaker 1: of what I was expecting. I was expecting that she

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Speaker 1: was going to do some sort of means testing and

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Speaker 1: actually take things away from us when it came to

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Speaker 1: Kei Wei Saver. But now it sounds like she's going

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Speaker 1: to beef it up. What's going on?

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Speaker 2: Well, no, I think you're right. I think Nikola Willis

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Speaker 2: will means test that five hundred and twenty dollars contribution

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Speaker 2: that the government gives you if you contribute a certain

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Speaker 2: amount to your Keii Saver every year. That costs the

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Speaker 2: government about a billion dollars a year. It's a lot

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Speaker 2: of money. I wouldn't be surprised if the government means

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Speaker 2: tests that so that higher income earning people, perhaps people

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Speaker 2: earn more than say one hundred and eighty thousand dollars

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Speaker 2: a year, so that they don't get that payment. I

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Speaker 2: think she'll push on with that this is just my guess,

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Speaker 2: but I did wonder because she has said, look, we

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Speaker 2: want to boost people's kei wei saver balances, you know,

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Speaker 2: help them prepare for their retirements. So I thought, well, okay,

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Speaker 2: you want to boost you want to boost those So

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Speaker 2: how do you do that? There are a few ways

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Speaker 2: of doing that. Either we as members contribute more, our

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Speaker 2: employers contribute more, or the government contributes more. I asked

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Speaker 2: Simon Watts today, the Revenue Minister, whether the government would

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Speaker 2: consider cutting the tax that employers pay on the contributions

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Speaker 2: they make to our balances, and he said no, So

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Speaker 2: that that was you know, if the government chose to

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Speaker 2: cut that tax, that would have meant that here we say,

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Speaker 2: members would have more money in their balances, you know,

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Speaker 2: which would help us in their retirements. I had wondered

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Speaker 2: whether that would have been a way that they could

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Speaker 2: have boosted our balances, but the Revenue Minister said no.

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Speaker 2: So I'm playing we're playing the rule and rule out

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Speaker 2: game here. If they're not going to cut the tax

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Speaker 2: they're going to means tests this contribution that the government makes,

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Speaker 2: then how on earth are our balance is going to rise?

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Speaker 2: That only leaves us with some options, and that's basically

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Speaker 2: us putting more money in.

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Speaker 1: What about the possibility of them means testing cutting off

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Speaker 1: the wealthiest people no government contribution, but then beefing up

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Speaker 1: the government contribution for the poorer people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, that's totally an option, and I haven't you know,

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Speaker 2: I have played the rule in a rule I came

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Speaker 2: with the government, but I haven't gone to that length.

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Speaker 2: But that would make sense. You know, if you say

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Speaker 2: your lower income you get a larger government contribution, or

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Speaker 2: even you are self employed, which means you can't get

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Speaker 2: an employer's contribution contribution, so then maybe the government gives

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Speaker 2: you a larger contribution.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's clear the politics if you

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Speaker 1: take it, we take away with one hand, give with

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Speaker 1: the other. They're hardly going to compel people to put

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Speaker 1: more of their own money, and are they in a

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Speaker 1: cost of living crisis so we can rule that out.

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Speaker 2: No, you know, I wouldn't rule that out. I think, well, well,

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Speaker 2: you know, we're guessing, but we desperately need to save

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Speaker 2: more for our retirements. In Australia, the contribution rate is

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Speaker 2: much higher. I wouldn't be surprised if the government said

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Speaker 2: over time we're going to up that yeah rate, the

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Speaker 2: minimum from three percent to four percent. Will it go

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Speaker 2: down well with people? I'm not too sure, but I

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Speaker 2: wouldn't I wouldn't rule it out.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, over time, I think is the key thing. Jenna.

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Speaker 1: As always, Thank you so much, Jene to Bstrainey, the

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Speaker 1: Herald's Wellington Business editor. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,

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Speaker 1: listen live to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,

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