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I had this over on Twitter a couple of days ago as a Twitter article. It's a bit long. So I'll have to split it across a few posts. Bottom line: taken literally, NZ First would break a pile of international agreements by doing this, and it's a terrible idea.

New Zealand First promises that NZ Superannuation will only be for NZ Citizens. His supporters may not be familiar with the current eligibility rules, the set of international agreements that the proposed policies would break, and the near-certain consequences for Kiwis living abroad.

Eligibility for NZ Super requires being at least 65 years old; being a citizen, resident, or permanent resident; being ordinarily resident in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau when you apply; and, have lived in New Zealand for a long-enough period.

'Ordinarily resident' means normally living in NZ, or normally living in a country with which NZ has a Social Security Agreement.

Imagine a Kiwi who spends half their life in Canada. NZ has a Social Security Agreement with Canada: the Social Welfare (Reciprocity with Canada) Order 1996. Time in either NZ or Canada counts toward their eligibility for NZ Super or Canada's government pension - because of the agreement.

NZ has Social Security Agreements with Australia, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, South Korea, and the UK. Somewhere between 700,000 and a million NZ Citizens live abroad, mainly in Australia.

If NZ First goes ahead with its proposed policy, Australians and Canadians living in NZ as residents and permanent residents would no longer be eligible for NZ Super. This would be inconsistent with the equal-treatment provisions of the SSAs.

NZ First's announcement did not have an asterisk for citizens of countries with which NZ has an SSA. So the treaties would need to be renegotiated or terminated, or legislation could just override the provisions.