I totally agree with the letter from John Green in The Sun, 12 November: Regrets coming back from Australia.
Pensioners are not getting a good deal. The NZ Super is called generous by some, because at the age of 65 everybody will receive NZ Super, including those who have only lived in this country for ten years from the age of 55.
However, the pension does not cover some very necessary expenses; I will just mention dentists'-and opticians'- bills. These cost have to come out of one's savings and by the time one has lived on Superannuation for several years, many people find that there is not a lot left in their bank account.
Our family migrated from The Netherlands in 1969. Before we made this decision we looked at the choice of moving to Australia or New Zealand. We fell in love with New Zealand, because this is such a beautiful country. Our relatives and friends visiting us from overseas agreed with this. However, living in a beautiful country does not cover the sometimes necessary costs of living, certainly not when one is retired.
My husband and I worked hard until we retired: Like most people from Holland we never needed to be on an unemployment benefit and we paid high taxes while being employed.
When the time came to apply for Superannuation we were shocked to be told that the overseas Dutch pension - for which we paid a high percentage in premium from our income while living in The Netherland - would be deducted from our Superannuation. Because of the deduction WINZ Department takes from our Superannuation this means that in our case we are now only receiving about one third of the full New Zealand Super and rest is 'topped up” by our overseas pension.
We, and many migrants from other countries, have been complaining to the NZ Governments about this. The reply from Members of Parliament is, nobody should get more than those who lived all their lives in New Zealand.
Being that so, we think it would at least be fair if we were paid a proportion of the Superannuation depending on the years we lived and worked in New Zealand before retirement, which actually the NZ Government would pay to us if we decided to move back to Holland.
We believe that in spite of the NZ Government having received thousands of letters of complaints, pensioners are an easy group to ignore. With the exception of the Rt Hon Winston Peters, not any politician has ever admitted that he or she would do something about this unfair situation. This is not the only reason that I hope that the New Zealand First Party will be back in Parliament next time. I am still thankful to Winston Peters for the Gold Card and for the great extension of the bridge.
Louise Konings, Mount Maunganui.