KEY POINTS:
John Key was today giving no guarantees a National government would keep the "mark two" version of the KiwiSaver scheme.
Mr Key said National did support the original scheme, which included a $1000 start-up contribution from the Government. But he said it still had to decide whether to keep the extended KiwiSaver scheme as announced in last week's budget.
National has expressed concern over the requirement for businesses to contribute 1 per cent of a worker's gross salary, rising to 4 per cent in 2011-2012.
Employers will receive a tax credit of up to $20 to partially pay for the cost.
Mr Key said it was "a little too early to tell" what National would do. He could give "no guarantees over KiwiSaver mark two".
But Mr Key said he did not believe the issue was a "hugely pressing" one for New Zealanders.
Even if National canned the scheme when people had already signed up to it, their own savings and the Government's contribution would not be affected, he said.
"By the time we get to an election they'll understand completely the approach National intends to take to that," he said.
National's approach might be more heavily focused on upfront tax cuts.
He said: "We're not going to go into an election without complete and clear transparency of how we'll have everything from Working For Families, KiwiSaver and tax but we'll do that within plenty of time but we'll do it on our timetable, not a timetable that suits Labour."
Earlier this week, a spokesman for Finance Minister Michael Cullen said National's unwillingness to state its position on KiwiSaver suggested "this is yet another Labour policy that they're going to adopt, just like they adopted interest-free student loans".
He added: "They're not being honest with voters, just as they aren't willing to say what public services they'll cut to fund their tax cuts."
- NZPA
