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- MSD: Deceiving Parliament and the Public
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MSD: Deceiving Parliament and the Public
Discrediting the Review of NZ Super Portability
The earlier reports in the Review of NZ Superannuation Portability (2001 - 2007) warned Parliament that the state retirement program was unstable, inequitable, damaging to our international relations and in urgent need of reform. The adoption of a proportionalised system was recommended, the recommendation supported by all government departments.
Given the refusal of Cabinet Ministers Cullen and Maharey to accept the recommendations of the Public Service and their demand for "more modest options", the final report presented to Parliament in 2007 was so watered down as to be reduced to a meaningless document with the sole purpose of appeasing politicians seeking to avoid responsibility. The 2007 report basically stated that the nation's retirement program is "generally sound"! It was a monstrous lie.
In one of the sorriest cover-ups in New Zealand's political history, attempts have been made to establish the 2007 report as the valid conclusion of the 7 year Review of NZ Super Portability, while any references to the Public Service's earlier warnings and urgent recommendations have been completely erased. It is as if they never existed. But they do - the two most important reports (2004 and 2005) are posted in full on the nzpensionabuse.org website.
Deceiving Parliament
In 2012, Labour MP Jacinda Adern called for a Parliamentary inquiry into the unfair treatment of overseas pensions through a social services select committee. National MPs appointed to the committee held a majority of one and given National's steadfast opposition to making NZS more equitable, the prospects for a favorable outcome were not encouraging. The Coup de Grace however came from MSD.
NZ Pension Abuse has obtained a copy of the MSD "BRIEFING ON PENSION ELIGIBILITY AND ENTITLEMENTS, INCLUDING PORTABILITY" (November 2012) prepared for the social services committee. Much of the document is statistical (probably to impress politicians that the nation has an equitable, benevolent retirement program) but there are several misleading, or dishonest, statements. Two are quoted:
"A Review of New Zealand's treatment of overseas pensions and payment of New Zealand pensions overseas was led by MSD between 2001 and 2007. Over the course of the Review a number of reports were submited to Ministers, some of which are now in public circulation. These reports were superseded by the final reports to Cabinet in October 2007. It concluded that overall, the direct deduction policy was reasonably sound and should be maintained."
"The direct deduction policy is underpinned by the 'one pension principle' which means that a person should not be able to receive two forms of state financial assistance for the same or similar circumstances."
Deceiving the Public
Out of thousands of items of correspondence from civil servants and politicians attempting to justify the government's plunder of overseas pensions, we have selected for this website just one example to illustrate the extent of government deceit. The following was chosen because it came from one of our highest ranking, highest paid public servants - and who was caught out.
After journalist Rob Stock published a succession of articles in the Sunday Star Times (SST) highlighting the injustices many elderly people face with the appropriation of their overseas pensions, Iona Holsted, Deputy Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development submitted an article to the SST justifying her department's position. It was printed in the SST July 15th, 2012, and reproduced below.
The newspaper received a flood of letters from readers, outraged over Holsted's perfidy, her one questionable claim after another - and of course the ubiquitous "persons who have worked overseas should not be advantaged over New Zealanders who never went anywhere".
The following week the SST printed two of those letters, one of which focussed on Holsted's bogus claim that the Reviews on Portability didn't favor a proportional pension scheme. The letter pointed out that, given her position, Holsted would have been thoroughly familiar with the contents of the 2004 Review: anyone could see through her deception by checking out the 2004 Review (or its summary) for themselves on the nzpensionabuse.org website. Her dishonesty was well and truly exposed.
When the Deputy Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development, one of the nation's most senior civil servants, considers it perfectly acceptable to deliberately deceive the public, the entire Public Service is brought into disrepute. Did Holsted's chief executive fire her? No. Did Holsted have the decency to resign? Of course not. Is Holsted still collecting an enormous salary with yearly increments plus the prospect of performance bonuses? Yes.
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