NZ First says if elected only New Zealand citizens would be eligible for NZ Superannuation from 2029.
Currently to receive NZ Super, you must be aged 65 or older, live in New Zealand (or certain associated territories), and be either a New Zealand citizen, a permanent resident, or hold a residence-class visa.
You must also have lived in New Zealand for a minimum number of years after age 20, including at least five years since turning 50.
Speaking at a public meeting in Hamilton this afternoon, New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters made the announcement, saying the party "believes we need to instil some meaning and value back into being a Kiwi, and back into being a New Zealand citizen".
"Kiwis who left school sometimes at the age of fifteen or sixteen, worked two, sometimes three jobs, for forty or fifty years of their lives paying taxes – sometimes through the highest tax periods in our country’s history deserve to be looked after in their retirement," he said.
He said NZ Super was "designed to look after our seniors in their retirement".
"With our growing older population and the increasing costs of super on taxpayers, how is it fair that the tax burden of supporting seniors now goes to paying for the full retirement of someone who has migrated to our country and only lived and paid taxes for sometimes less than half of the time compared to those who have worked their whole lives here?"
Peters said the policy would have a "grace period" of three years before it took effect.
"If you want to get NZ Super then you need to sign up, be proud enough of New Zealand, and show full commitment to our country and become a citizen – our taxpayers should no longer continue to be used as a bottomless pit by some migrants to our country," he said.
"This is about economic fairness, and it is about putting New Zealanders first."
He said when NZ Super was established in 1977, it was not under the context of the immigration levels currently experienced in New Zealand.
"Over just the past twenty years, New Zealand has had a total net migration of around 650,000 people into our country, at an average of over 30,000 each year.
"With that 650,000 migrants that has come with it a percentage tax burden just for NZ Super which is a ticking timebomb.
He said it was currently "unfair" that someone who has lived in New Zealand for just twenty years, and only had to be in the country for five years after the age of fifty, could be eligible for full super payments.
"That means they only have to be in New Zealand for one year out of every three after the age of fifty, and they can get the same full amount as someone who has worked their entire life paying taxes since they were fifteen years old," Peters added.
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