Finance Minister Bill English will not say if the minimum wage is enough to live on but says the Government already subsidises those on low incomes.
Tomorrow a "living wage'' will be revealed, an hourly rate campaigners say is sufficient to live on.
Mr English was asked today if he thought the minimum wage was enough to live on and if he could live on it.
He replied: "The minimum wage is very tight; for some people it's enough to live on and for some people it isn't. Where it isn't there is extensive support from government already.''
"When they set the minimum wage, the big question is how it's going to get paid - so if you say everyone should be paid $20 an hour, I think we'd all like to see that, it would certainly save the Government a lot of money if they all earned $20 an hour, but they don't and there are reasons why they don't and we need to understand those reason.''