June 7, 2016 4:00pm by David Farrar

A seniors party

A new political party founded by disgruntled pensioners has formed, calling itself the New Zealand Seniors Party.

According to a statement sent out by party spokesperson Barnaby Perkins, the party intends to enter candidates in the 2017 election.

Members have complained about the “lack of interest” shown by the Government in the deduction of employer and employee-funded overseas pensions from the New Zealand Superannuation scheme.

For every dollar a pensioner receives from an overseas pension, the New Zealand payment is reduced by a dollar.

If you spent 25 years working in the UK and paying taxes there, earning a UK pension, why should you also get a full NZ pension when you may have spent just 10 years in NZ?

“Today’s seniors are tired of being ignored and dictated to by politicians, government departments and their overpaid staff,” the statement says.

“They are educated and bring a lifetime of experience and knowledge to the table, and they are certainly capable of taking an active role in the running of their own country. Australian pensioners have already formed a political party as they too have been ignored far too long. Exactly the same is happening here in New Zealand. Now is the time to stand up and be counted and have dedicated representation in Parliament.”

The party’s goal was “to achieve fairness and justice” for all pensioners, including future generations.

Great – they may take votes off NZ First.

Note the level of superannuation has risen 28.4% since 2008, which is 12.4% in real terms. Far far more than anyone else on welfare has got.

If we want fairness and justice for all, we’d means test the pension, as we do for all other welfare payments.