Gareth Morgan celebrated his 65th birthday in typically idiosyncratic style.
In a sarcastic celebratory video posted to his Facebook page, The Opportunities Party (TOP) leader put out his birthday cake candles with a fire extinguisher before addressing the camera.
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"It's a very special birthday, 65 - the golden age when all the benefits drop from the sky," he said.
"I actually don't need anything, but from today I join that generation of people with their hand out, these wide mouthed frogs who will take everything you give us."
He mentioned "Winston's gold-plated Gold Card" as one of the special benefits given to New Zealanders his age and older.
"I think I'll use that to take the ferry to Waiheke, where I've yet to buy a mansion."
He railed against the current superannuation scheme as unfair and unnecessary for people like himself, who are of retirement age but don't need financial aid.
"What do I need an energy discount for?" he asked.
"Why is it that I get that when there's so many people who can't even afford their own housing to rent, let alone to buy?"
TOP advocates cutting NZ Super in half for all pensioners and means testing to determine who needs more financial support.
The party says the money saved from Super cuts would go towards a universal basic income to parents of young children to reduce child poverty.
In the video, Mr Morgan challenged the new wave of younger politicians and party leaders to consider a similar approach.
"I wonder if they've got the mettle to do anything about this obscenity?"
He's running a poll on the TOP website for people to vote on how he should spend his superannuation fund. Options include spending it on motorcycles, giving it to charity or letting the government keep the money.
Newshub.
