A KiwiSaver Generation: enrolment at birth

NZ First would make KiwiSaver enrolment automatic at birth, with an immediate $1,000 Crown contribution for New Zealand citizens only — a once-per-lifetime payment meant to compound for decades. It is designed to work with their existing campaign policy of compulsory KiwiSaver across the workforce, with employee and employer contributions rising to 8 percent and eventually 10.

Points the document defers or leaves undefined. These are gaps in the document, not criticisms of the policy.

• Enrolment is described as universal while the $1,000 is for citizens only, and the document does not say whether a non-citizen child is enrolled without the payment or not enrolled at all.
• No total cost is given, and none can be worked out from the document, which states no number of births.
• Which fund a newborn’s account would default to, and who would choose it, is not stated.
• When the balance could be accessed, and whether the existing first-home withdrawal rules would apply to it, is not addressed.
• The rise to 8 and then 10 percent contributions is referred to as existing policy, with no timeline given here.
• Whether the $1,000 would be indexed, or fixed at that amount for future cohorts, is not said.