I feel I must take issue with at least some of the views expressed by Louise Konings in The Weekend Sun November 26 – 'Pensioners in NZ not getting a good deal.”
I have successfully navigated my way through one working life and now receive one pension, from the country I live in. Only 25 years of that life was spent working in NZ, yet I receive as much as those who have contributed to the NZ economy for twice that period. When I retired I applied for the UK pension in full knowledge that it would go to the NZ government and not to me. This I consider right and proper, as the UK had benefited from my previous 20 years work there.
On the face of it the suggestion that migrants should only get a proportion of the NZ pension – calculated on the number of years worked in NZ – but get all their overseas pension, sounds fairer. But, and there are always buts, this would surely be followed by complaints from those who ended up on less than the NZ pension. There are bound to be some, perhaps migrants from a country not providing any form of pension.
The value of the NZ pension is an entirely different question and should be argued quite separately from that of overseas pensions.
No pension scheme can ever be perfect but I feel that the NZ one can claim to be equitable for all.
John Skippen, Tauranga.