Media Insider: AM transmissions of up to seven Auckland radio stations – including sport and Pacific broadcasts – threatened under RNZ plans to replace transmission masts
At the heart of the looming showdown are two prominent AM transmission masts on either side of Auckland's Northwestern Motorway, at the Lincoln Rd interchange in Henderson.
RNZ's AM transmission towers in West Auckland are used by 15 radio stations. Photo / Michael Craig
The red and white masts are well-known landmarks; 15 radio stations rely on them for their AM services.
There are eight on the 'northern' mast (Radio Waatea, Humm, BBC World Service, Chinese Voices, Newstalk ZB, Rhema, Radio Tarana and Radio Samoa) and seven on the 'southern' mast (531PI, RNZ National, Parliament, APNA, Ake 1179, Gold Sport AM and Sport Nation).
According to RNZ, both masts need replacing. The southern mast on Lincoln Rd is 153m high and 70 years old. The northern Selwood Rd mast is 122m high and 91 years old.
'The masts have a design life of 50 years, which RNZ has managed to extend until now,' says RNZ chief technology officer Mark Bullen.
RNZ says it needs to remove both masts and – while it insists no final decision has been made – it has proposed replacing just the northern mast.
Scotty Stevenson and Israel Dagg host Sport Nation's breakfast show, which broadcasts on 1476AM in Auckland.
Sources say RNZ has been prepared to build a new southern mast but only if every existing tenant agrees to pay increased fees. The radio industry is baulking at the proposed fees and wants to see RNZ's costings.
Under the one-mast scenario, RNZ would move RNZ National and Parliament from the southern mast to a new northern mast at the expense of at least one and possibly two of the existing northern mast stations.
Up to five other stations on the southern mast would also lose their AM transmissions, including Sport Nation – the Entain channel that has live cricket rights – and NZME's Gold Sport AM, which has live rugby rights.
Other AM stations on the southern mast are those that cater to specific communities in Auckland, including 531PI for the Pasifika community, APNA for the Indian, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Punjabi communities, and Ake 1179, the official station of Ngāti Whātua.
Many of the 15 stations have a digital presence, but for some of them, AM is the main or only means of transmission.
The radio industry says New Zealand still has strong AM audiences because of the country's geography, topography and high percentage of second-hand imported cars from Japan with radios that usually go up to only 90FM.
Media Insider understands some in the commercial radio industry are infuriated by RNZ's position, believing its proposed costs are inflated.
They are also angry about what they label sky-high, ongoing fees RNZ is proposing for those who are lucky enough to have a spot on the new northern mast.
The Radio Broadcasters Association has engaged a lawyer and fired a shot across RNZ's bow, threatening legal action.
It is understood that the lawyer has told RNZ that withdrawing transmission services would come at a high cost for the public and broadcasters. And that from a charter, public law and a plurality perspective, this included broadcasting to the Pacific Island, Samoan, Chinese, Indian, Māori, and Christian communities.
531PI hosts specialist Pacific language shows on the AM frequency each week.
RNZ's position
RNZ would not agree to chief executive Paul Thompson being interviewed for this story, instead providing a statement because it said it was in the middle of consultation with the industry.
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson. Photo / Mark Mitchell
RNZ's Mark Bullen said in the statement that 'no legal proceedings have commenced'.
'While RNZ cannot speak to the specific intentions of the co-siters, we are in ongoing conversation with them,' he said.
Bullen said RNZ had engaged with the industry about AM transmission at its Henderson sites 'for many years'.
'Based on structural engineers' reports, we have decided to decommission both towers by June 2026 to ensure the health and safety of both sites,' Bullen said.
RNZ's transmission towers have been features of the West Auckland skyline for decades. Photo / Michael Craig
'The building of a new mast on the northern site would be sufficient to meet RNZ's transmission needs.
'RNZ is now talking to broadcasters ... about the financial viability of building a new mast on the southern site. Whether there are sufficient clients and ongoing revenue to make it financially prudent for RNZ to invest in the southern site [is] part of RNZ's consideration.'
He said if RNZ decided 'not to fund the mast, RNZ is open to ideas from co-siters that would provide other viable, funded plans'.
'RNZ has also had discussions with Government officials on technical options around additional FM services, but were advised this is not viable.'
Bullen said replacing both masts would cost in the range of $7 million, with the southern mast estimated to be close to $3m.
'In summary, no final decision has been taken on the southern site and we are awaiting further feedback from co-siters who we have been engaging with regularly.'
The industry's position
Radio Broadcasters Association chair Jana Rangooni said the association had known for some time that the towers might need to be replaced or relocated.
'Until December last year, we had understood RNZ was looking at a range of options to do this,' Rangooni said.
'Our members and other broadcasters became concerned when a consultation process started in December. It appeared RNZ only intended to rebuild the northern tower. This means all southern tower AM radio stations could be taken off air, along with a number of the northern tower stations RNZ wants to move off that tower to accommodate themselves.
'We believe this raises numerous commercial and public law issues that we have flagged to RNZ on behalf of our members.'
Radio Broadcasters Association chairwoman Jana Rangooni says RNZ's plans for the towers raise commercial and public law issues. Photo / Supplied
Rangooni said she understood all broadcasters wanted to continue to broadcast on both towers at reasonable fees, similar to current pricing.
'We are aware RNZ is requiring increased fees of 200% to 400% uplift on these.
'We believe the option to provide both towers at current prices is a viable one for RNZ, taking into account that the northern tower needs to be built for them to remain broadcasting. The transmission profits they have made from the commercial broadcasters in the past decade would fund most of the southern tower.
'We would not expect commercial operators to be subsidising RNZ operations. We have expected that profits would be recognised towards tower replacement, given their age and well-known need for replacement.'
She said the association was also concerned RNZ would not meet with association members as an industry group 'to discuss all possible options'.
This included 'any joint approaches that might need to be made to the minister or relevant ministry'.
'We believe the option to build both towers based on current fees is a viable and indeed sensible one for a public broadcaster. Should they decide not to, we, along with the impacted broadcasters, will look at all avenues open to us to ensure the respective Pacific, Asian, religious, sporting and other audiences do not lose the services they rely on.
'Recognising these audiences fits well with the role of RNZ in the public interest at a time all New Zealand radio organisations are focused on maintaining and growing our local audiences.'
NZME chief audio officer Jason Winstanley said the company - which also owns the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB - was disappointed with RNZ's position. NZME believed it was financially viable for the southern tower to be rebuilt.
'We don't believe the proposed cost increase to accommodate the rebuild of both towers is required, based on the financial modelling we've done,' said Winstanley.
'We have requested Radio NZ's modelling several times, but they have declined to provide it. We believe the millions of dollars all broadcasters have paid to date should be used to maintain and rebuild the towers.
'If the southern tower isn't rebuilt, 1332AM would cease broadcasting in Auckland. At that point, for Gold Sport to continue in Auckland, we'd need to find another frequency for it. We're urging Radio NZ to fully explore all options before a final decision is made by their board.'
Brian Kelly hosts Gold AM's The Country Sport Breakfast, which broadcasts on 1332AM in Auckland. Photo / Alex Cairns
MediaWorks director of content Leon Wratt told Media Insider: 'MediaWorks is continuing to work through the RBA with RNZ towards both AM towers at Henderson being replaced so all stations, including Humm on 702AM, remain on-air. With Henderson being Auckland's sole AM transmission site, the future of these stations now sits with RNZ.'
Entain Australia and New Zealand chief media officer Christopher Haigh said the company was 'actively working through potential distribution challenges with RNZ and are committed to bringing Sport Nation to audiences around the country'.
'We'll keep working on our AM/FM coverage plans, alongside bolstering our digital content offering, that already includes livestreaming of sport like cricket, netball and rugby league amongst others.'
While Sport Nation has an AM frequency in Auckland, it does not have an FM frequency.
Pacific Media Network
Pacific Media Network chief executive Don Mann. Photo / Mike Scott
Another impacted station is 531PI, operated by the Pacific Media Network, on the southern mast. It broadcasts 10 specific languages across specialist shows each week.
'If that southern tower goes, there won't be any AM transmission of pan-Pacific languages in Auckland,' said PMN chief executive Don Mann.
'It'll be the end of terrestrial AM transmission of publicly-funded Pacific languages.'
531PI is not part of the GFK radio ratings survey, but Mann said Pacific Media Network, through its various platforms, targeted the 440,000 Pacific Islanders living in New Zealand, about 275,000 of whom were in Auckland.
'Our roots are in linear terrestrial transmission, but we do use third-party platforms, we do use multimedia. We do use visual content, and we stream.
'But the issue is that target audience. The target audience for 531AM, given that it's a language channel, is the Pacific people [for whom] English is not their first language.
'Their first language is Pacific. It's generally an older audience that's been trained over 35 years to listen by appointment on linear radio.'
For example, the Tongan community knew their show was broadcast at 3pm every Wednesday; the Samoan community knew their show was on 3pm every Thursday.
While PMN had made strong gains and growth in multimedia, Mann said there were still issues for some in the Pasifika community not having easy access to online connectivity or devices.
Mann said the industry accepted there was probably a limited timespan for AM transmission, whether that was 'five years or 10 years, or whatever, I don't know'.
It was an issue being grappled with across the world.
AM still played a critical role in emergency situations, and for ethnic communities, that timespan tail was likely a bit longer when they relied on specialist languages.
'It will be a critical situation if we just turn off terrestrial broadcasting to an older Pacific audience.'
Radio Tarana chief executive Robert Khan said Tarana was offered a position on the new northern tower, but the fees had doubled. 'If we don't accept it, we're out of business, quite frankly. The choice was yay or nay - yay if you want your lifeline, nay if you don't want your lifeline.'
Further questions for RNZ
Media Insider went back to RNZ with further questions on Friday.
'RNZ has not made a final decision on the southern mast. If we decide not to fund the replacement mast, then RNZ is open to ideas from co-siters that would provide viable plans consistent with our charter,' said a spokesman.
RNZ says it has been through a fair and robust process with other broadcasters over future AM transmission options. Photo / Michael Craig
'RNZ has a primary responsibility to prudently use its funding to create public media content for audiences. That means we need to ensure all infrastructure investment is affordable while also providing the best value to New Zealanders. RNZ is not established as an infrastructure provider to other broadcasters who have independently secured AM licences from the Crown.
'To fund a southern mast, RNZ must be able to recover its costs and take into account the risks and uncertainties involved. This means we have proposed an increase in fees.
'The majority of RNZ's infrastructure investment has been in maintaining its AM network, which has never been profit-driven. The goal has been to maintain a resilient national network for our services, given our statutory emergency lifeline role.'
RNZ did not directly respond to a question about why it had not met the industry as a group but said it had embarked on a 'fair and robust process' with each broadcaster.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand's most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
Watch Media Insider - The Podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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NZ Herald
8 hours ago
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Media Insider: AM transmissions of up to seven Auckland radio stations – including sport and Pacific broadcasts – threatened under RNZ plans to replace transmission masts
At the heart of the looming showdown are two prominent AM transmission masts on either side of Auckland's Northwestern Motorway, at the Lincoln Rd interchange in Henderson. RNZ's AM transmission towers in West Auckland are used by 15 radio stations. Photo / Michael Craig The red and white masts are well-known landmarks; 15 radio stations rely on them for their AM services. There are eight on the 'northern' mast (Radio Waatea, Humm, BBC World Service, Chinese Voices, Newstalk ZB, Rhema, Radio Tarana and Radio Samoa) and seven on the 'southern' mast (531PI, RNZ National, Parliament, APNA, Ake 1179, Gold Sport AM and Sport Nation). According to RNZ, both masts need replacing. The southern mast on Lincoln Rd is 153m high and 70 years old. The northern Selwood Rd mast is 122m high and 91 years old. 'The masts have a design life of 50 years, which RNZ has managed to extend until now,' says RNZ chief technology officer Mark Bullen. RNZ says it needs to remove both masts and – while it insists no final decision has been made – it has proposed replacing just the northern mast. Scotty Stevenson and Israel Dagg host Sport Nation's breakfast show, which broadcasts on 1476AM in Auckland. Sources say RNZ has been prepared to build a new southern mast but only if every existing tenant agrees to pay increased fees. The radio industry is baulking at the proposed fees and wants to see RNZ's costings. Under the one-mast scenario, RNZ would move RNZ National and Parliament from the southern mast to a new northern mast at the expense of at least one and possibly two of the existing northern mast stations. Up to five other stations on the southern mast would also lose their AM transmissions, including Sport Nation – the Entain channel that has live cricket rights – and NZME's Gold Sport AM, which has live rugby rights. Other AM stations on the southern mast are those that cater to specific communities in Auckland, including 531PI for the Pasifika community, APNA for the Indian, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Punjabi communities, and Ake 1179, the official station of Ngāti Whātua. Many of the 15 stations have a digital presence, but for some of them, AM is the main or only means of transmission. The radio industry says New Zealand still has strong AM audiences because of the country's geography, topography and high percentage of second-hand imported cars from Japan with radios that usually go up to only 90FM. Media Insider understands some in the commercial radio industry are infuriated by RNZ's position, believing its proposed costs are inflated. They are also angry about what they label sky-high, ongoing fees RNZ is proposing for those who are lucky enough to have a spot on the new northern mast. The Radio Broadcasters Association has engaged a lawyer and fired a shot across RNZ's bow, threatening legal action. It is understood that the lawyer has told RNZ that withdrawing transmission services would come at a high cost for the public and broadcasters. And that from a charter, public law and a plurality perspective, this included broadcasting to the Pacific Island, Samoan, Chinese, Indian, Māori, and Christian communities. 531PI hosts specialist Pacific language shows on the AM frequency each week. RNZ's position RNZ would not agree to chief executive Paul Thompson being interviewed for this story, instead providing a statement because it said it was in the middle of consultation with the industry. RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson. Photo / Mark Mitchell RNZ's Mark Bullen said in the statement that 'no legal proceedings have commenced'. 'While RNZ cannot speak to the specific intentions of the co-siters, we are in ongoing conversation with them,' he said. Bullen said RNZ had engaged with the industry about AM transmission at its Henderson sites 'for many years'. 'Based on structural engineers' reports, we have decided to decommission both towers by June 2026 to ensure the health and safety of both sites,' Bullen said. RNZ's transmission towers have been features of the West Auckland skyline for decades. Photo / Michael Craig 'The building of a new mast on the northern site would be sufficient to meet RNZ's transmission needs. 'RNZ is now talking to broadcasters ... about the financial viability of building a new mast on the southern site. Whether there are sufficient clients and ongoing revenue to make it financially prudent for RNZ to invest in the southern site [is] part of RNZ's consideration.' He said if RNZ decided 'not to fund the mast, RNZ is open to ideas from co-siters that would provide other viable, funded plans'. 'RNZ has also had discussions with Government officials on technical options around additional FM services, but were advised this is not viable.' Bullen said replacing both masts would cost in the range of $7 million, with the southern mast estimated to be close to $3m. 'In summary, no final decision has been taken on the southern site and we are awaiting further feedback from co-siters who we have been engaging with regularly.' The industry's position Radio Broadcasters Association chair Jana Rangooni said the association had known for some time that the towers might need to be replaced or relocated. 'Until December last year, we had understood RNZ was looking at a range of options to do this,' Rangooni said. 'Our members and other broadcasters became concerned when a consultation process started in December. It appeared RNZ only intended to rebuild the northern tower. This means all southern tower AM radio stations could be taken off air, along with a number of the northern tower stations RNZ wants to move off that tower to accommodate themselves. 'We believe this raises numerous commercial and public law issues that we have flagged to RNZ on behalf of our members.' Radio Broadcasters Association chairwoman Jana Rangooni says RNZ's plans for the towers raise commercial and public law issues. Photo / Supplied Rangooni said she understood all broadcasters wanted to continue to broadcast on both towers at reasonable fees, similar to current pricing. 'We are aware RNZ is requiring increased fees of 200% to 400% uplift on these. 'We believe the option to provide both towers at current prices is a viable one for RNZ, taking into account that the northern tower needs to be built for them to remain broadcasting. The transmission profits they have made from the commercial broadcasters in the past decade would fund most of the southern tower. 'We would not expect commercial operators to be subsidising RNZ operations. We have expected that profits would be recognised towards tower replacement, given their age and well-known need for replacement.' She said the association was also concerned RNZ would not meet with association members as an industry group 'to discuss all possible options'. This included 'any joint approaches that might need to be made to the minister or relevant ministry'. 'We believe the option to build both towers based on current fees is a viable and indeed sensible one for a public broadcaster. Should they decide not to, we, along with the impacted broadcasters, will look at all avenues open to us to ensure the respective Pacific, Asian, religious, sporting and other audiences do not lose the services they rely on. 'Recognising these audiences fits well with the role of RNZ in the public interest at a time all New Zealand radio organisations are focused on maintaining and growing our local audiences.' NZME chief audio officer Jason Winstanley said the company - which also owns the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB - was disappointed with RNZ's position. NZME believed it was financially viable for the southern tower to be rebuilt. 'We don't believe the proposed cost increase to accommodate the rebuild of both towers is required, based on the financial modelling we've done,' said Winstanley. 'We have requested Radio NZ's modelling several times, but they have declined to provide it. We believe the millions of dollars all broadcasters have paid to date should be used to maintain and rebuild the towers. 'If the southern tower isn't rebuilt, 1332AM would cease broadcasting in Auckland. At that point, for Gold Sport to continue in Auckland, we'd need to find another frequency for it. We're urging Radio NZ to fully explore all options before a final decision is made by their board.' Brian Kelly hosts Gold AM's The Country Sport Breakfast, which broadcasts on 1332AM in Auckland. Photo / Alex Cairns MediaWorks director of content Leon Wratt told Media Insider: 'MediaWorks is continuing to work through the RBA with RNZ towards both AM towers at Henderson being replaced so all stations, including Humm on 702AM, remain on-air. With Henderson being Auckland's sole AM transmission site, the future of these stations now sits with RNZ.' Entain Australia and New Zealand chief media officer Christopher Haigh said the company was 'actively working through potential distribution challenges with RNZ and are committed to bringing Sport Nation to audiences around the country'. 'We'll keep working on our AM/FM coverage plans, alongside bolstering our digital content offering, that already includes livestreaming of sport like cricket, netball and rugby league amongst others.' While Sport Nation has an AM frequency in Auckland, it does not have an FM frequency. Pacific Media Network Pacific Media Network chief executive Don Mann. Photo / Mike Scott Another impacted station is 531PI, operated by the Pacific Media Network, on the southern mast. It broadcasts 10 specific languages across specialist shows each week. 'If that southern tower goes, there won't be any AM transmission of pan-Pacific languages in Auckland,' said PMN chief executive Don Mann. 'It'll be the end of terrestrial AM transmission of publicly-funded Pacific languages.' 531PI is not part of the GFK radio ratings survey, but Mann said Pacific Media Network, through its various platforms, targeted the 440,000 Pacific Islanders living in New Zealand, about 275,000 of whom were in Auckland. 'Our roots are in linear terrestrial transmission, but we do use third-party platforms, we do use multimedia. We do use visual content, and we stream. 'But the issue is that target audience. The target audience for 531AM, given that it's a language channel, is the Pacific people [for whom] English is not their first language. 'Their first language is Pacific. It's generally an older audience that's been trained over 35 years to listen by appointment on linear radio.' For example, the Tongan community knew their show was broadcast at 3pm every Wednesday; the Samoan community knew their show was on 3pm every Thursday. While PMN had made strong gains and growth in multimedia, Mann said there were still issues for some in the Pasifika community not having easy access to online connectivity or devices. Mann said the industry accepted there was probably a limited timespan for AM transmission, whether that was 'five years or 10 years, or whatever, I don't know'. It was an issue being grappled with across the world. AM still played a critical role in emergency situations, and for ethnic communities, that timespan tail was likely a bit longer when they relied on specialist languages. 'It will be a critical situation if we just turn off terrestrial broadcasting to an older Pacific audience.' Radio Tarana chief executive Robert Khan said Tarana was offered a position on the new northern tower, but the fees had doubled. 'If we don't accept it, we're out of business, quite frankly. The choice was yay or nay - yay if you want your lifeline, nay if you don't want your lifeline.' Further questions for RNZ Media Insider went back to RNZ with further questions on Friday. 'RNZ has not made a final decision on the southern mast. If we decide not to fund the replacement mast, then RNZ is open to ideas from co-siters that would provide viable plans consistent with our charter,' said a spokesman. RNZ says it has been through a fair and robust process with other broadcasters over future AM transmission options. Photo / Michael Craig 'RNZ has a primary responsibility to prudently use its funding to create public media content for audiences. That means we need to ensure all infrastructure investment is affordable while also providing the best value to New Zealanders. RNZ is not established as an infrastructure provider to other broadcasters who have independently secured AM licences from the Crown. 'To fund a southern mast, RNZ must be able to recover its costs and take into account the risks and uncertainties involved. This means we have proposed an increase in fees. 'The majority of RNZ's infrastructure investment has been in maintaining its AM network, which has never been profit-driven. The goal has been to maintain a resilient national network for our services, given our statutory emergency lifeline role.' RNZ did not directly respond to a question about why it had not met the industry as a group but said it had embarked on a 'fair and robust process' with each broadcaster. Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand's most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME. Watch Media Insider - The Podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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KiwiSaver providers are unsurprised by the public support, and hope it will see default contribution rates increase further. Susan Edmunds, Money Correspondent KiwiSaver providers are hoping public support for increased contribution rates could provide the incentive to push them still higher. The latest RNZ-Reid Research poll included questions about the changes to the KiwiSaver scheme announced in the Budget. From 1 April next year, the default contribution rate for employers and employees will rise to 3.5 percent. The following April, it will be 4 percent. But the government will halve the credit it offers to people who contribute at least $1042 a year to their KiwiSaver, to a maximum $260.72. It will not be available to people earning more than $180,000. The poll showed a total of 61.2 percent of respondents supported the contribution change, 21.4 percent opposed it and 17.4 percent were not sure. Among National voters, almost 80 percent supported the change. But only 23.7 percent of total voters supported the government's move to halve the contribution rate, and fewer than half of National supporters. Fisher Funds chief investment officer Ashley Gardyne said he was not surprised by the findings. He said we should not stop at 4 percent plus 4 percent, and should push towards higher contribution rates. 'I think it's really positive we've seen the contribution rates increase, and ultimately if we want people to get to the right amount of savings in retirement those rates do need to move up through time.' He said the Australian model, where contribution rates slowly lifted over a number of years, could be one to follow. 'They took a really long-term, 10-year approach of increasing contributions by a little bit every year. The reality is it's tough to find extra money in your pay cheque to put into KiwiSaver but it is really important long-term as well to make sure you end up in the right position for retirement. 'Having a long-term vision like that is really important.' Kirk Hope, chief executive of the Financial Services Council, which represents KiwiSaver providers, agreed the results were expected. 'We've known for some time that in terms of contributions those will be relatively well received. Obviously it's a bit tougher if the government contribution is being halved or in some cases removed that's not going to be particularly popular, the key thing is the government continues to contribute something.' He said there should be a bipartisan agreement about a long-term strategy for retirement income. He said it was also worth discussing other steps the government could take, such as adjusting the tax settings. 'Other changes the government might be able to make to the tax system in the future to continue to incentivise particularly savings and even up the playing field between savings and investment and housing. That's some fundamental shifts in the tax system.' More incentives needed Ana-Marie Lockyer, chief executive at Pie Funds, said it was good to see that most people supported the contribution increase. 'In terms of the halving of the government contributions we need to acknowledge the government faced some hard choices as a result of the tight fiscal environment. But I believe we should be offering more incentives for Kiwis to save for their retirement, not fewer. 'Reducing the government contribution is more likely to impact the retirement balances of lower income earners – a group who deserve the same opportunities as everyone else.' She said even a reduced contribution of $261 a year could grow to more than $40,000 over a person's working life. 'I think what's more important than the dollar amount of the government contribution is the number of Kiwis who don't receive it, either because they're not eligible or they're not contributing enough. 'While it's a good thing that the government contributions are now available for 16- and 17-year-olds, I think the government missed a trick by not extending it to the increasing number of over-65s who are still working, whether by choice or necessity. 'What's probably more concerning is the thousands of KiwiSavers missing out on the MTC government contribution each year because they're not contributing enough to qualify, leaving millions of dollars on the table. 'So the poll is actually a timely reminder for people to ensure they've contributed at least $1043 by 30 June in order to receive the full government contribution of $521 – before it reduces to $261 next year.' A spokesperson for Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the changes to KiwiSaver were designed to help Kiwis to save more and make the scheme more fiscally sustainable. 'For example, an 18-year-old earning the minimum wage of just under $49,000 a year who invests in a balanced fund can expect to have almost $910,000 in KiwiSaver at age 65. Under the old settings it would have been about $732,000. 'The results are similar for most other people. The Retirement Commissioner estimates the changes will increase retirement savings for about 80 percent of KiwiSaver members.'
