English deserves credit for some guts in attempting to deal with NZ’s massive superannuation problem. A problem his spineless govern-by-opinion-polls predecessor refused to face up to.

When Treasury forecast govt debt to rise to 200% of GDP (from the 25% it is today) by 2060, John Key scoffed that they were talking nonsense. Because he’s never had the ability to make a case for an idea. He’s never been able to construct a narrative. He’s always allowed the left to set the agenda, and then caved in time and tine again over the period he was PM.

Likewise he couldn’t construct a counter argument to Treasury’s predictions, and in his typically leftist manner, just ridiculed them.

Once Key said he would resign if he had to raise the superannuation age. Even in December last year he was saying it wouldn’t be necessary as the govt would produce surpluses that would allow NZers to “have it all”. This is/ was garbage. The NZ economy actually sits on a knife edge, and it is balanced there by large scale immigration and resultant housing demand, underpinned by low interest rates.

Any change to any one of these three elements could mean disaster.

NZers are wrong to let the corrupt media scare them into rejecting these changes. Even worse is to use them as a reason to vote for Labour. The changes do not take effect until 2037 and then will only be implemented in gradual steps.

In fact, its doubtful that this will be enough, but its so weak and so far out its insane to regard it as a reason to reject the Nats and or Bill English. National needs to be chucked out of govt for their surrender to the left. Not for this reason, which is one of the few occasions when they’ve shown a glimmer of spine.