NZ First's plan: only citizens get NZ Super and the vote from 2029

New Zealand First wants to change the rules so that only New Zealand citizens can get NZ Superannuation from 2029. Leader Winston Peters announced the policy at a public meeting in Hamilton on Sunday.

Peters said the reason is concern about whether the country can afford NZ Super in the long term, according to RNZ. The party's website, published on 5 September, confirms that from 2029 only citizens will be eligible (NZ First).

The policy includes a three-year transition period before the change takes effect in 2029, as reported by Waatea News. Right now, you qualify for NZ Super if you are 65 or older and have lived in New Zealand for 10 to 20 years (depending on your date of birth) from age 20, including five years from age 50. Permanent residents can get it, not just citizens (1News; RNZ).

NZ First has also said that by 2029, only citizens should be allowed to vote in New Zealand elections (NZ First; NZ First). The party sees the two policies as connected parts of one plan: tying both Super and voting rights to citizenship.

Migrant community advocates have pushed back strongly. Sophie Liu, an Auckland resident originally from China who has been in New Zealand for more than a decade and meets citizenship requirements, told RNZ she was shocked to learn of the policy. Kelly Feng, chief executive of Asian Family Services, called it unfair and inhumane. Vishal Rishi, chief executive of Asian Network Incorporated, said NZ First's earlier pledge to restrict voting to citizens suggested migrants would be left only with "the right to contribute" (RNZ).

RNZ and 1News both reported the policy in early September, with RNZ confirming the pledge to restrict Super to citizens from 2029, and 1News reporting that only citizens would be eligible.

The broader context is that NZ Super is a pension the government pays to everyone who meets the age and residency rules, no matter how much they earn or whether they have worked. Think of it as a universal retirement payment, not something you build up through a fund. Changing the rules so that only citizens qualify, rather than permanent residents too, would be a big shift from how things have worked under governments of both stripes for decades. The people most affected would be permanent residents who have lived here long enough to qualify for Super but have not become citizens.

Linking the Super policy with a voting restriction raises the stakes. Permanent residents can currently vote in general elections. Taking away both the vote and Super from non-citizens would mean that citizenship alone opens the door to taking part in democracy and getting retirement income. That sets NZ First apart from the other parties, which have generally treated permanent residency as enough for both.

Whether the policy goes anywhere will depend on coalition talks after the election. NZ First says the citizenship requirement is about affordability, but the cost argument has not yet been checked against Treasury figures or measured against how many Super recipients are permanent residents rather than citizens. What is clear is that the party is presenting a single, connected package: citizenship as the key to both voting and retirement income, with a 2029 start date and a transition period built in.