Dr Ganesh Nana, chief economist for the Business and Economic Research Ltd independent economic research group was in Invercargill on Monday to give a public presentation to Southern Institute of Technology students and others, and to meet privately with SIT council members.
During his talk, he identified New Zealand's ageing population as a contemporary issue facing the nation's economy, alongside national debt, jobs and income, societal inequality and climate change.
Dr Nana said he was not saying New Zealand should not pay superannuation benefits, only that there needed to be discussion about how much people should be paid and when payments should start.
''I will say this: New Zealand looks after its elderly way more than it looks after its children.''
The rising cost of universal superannuation - expected to reach $30 billion per annum by 2030 - has long been a political hot potato.
In 2013, Labour announced it would increase the age of eligibility to 67 over time if it became the Government, and many commentators flagged that as a major reason for its decisive defeat at the polls last year.
Asked by a listener when he thought the Government would move on superannuation, Dr Nana said the present Government would never do so.
''Not this Government. It needs a cross-party accord and new personalities at the top.''
Increasing the age of eligibility to 67 ''would not make much difference'' to the economy, he said.
''But we should be openly discussing the options.
''It is time to have that conversation.''
New Zealand's superannuation system had been designed for a period when most people ''retired and dropped dead'', he said, not for today's scenario when many people were retired for 20 or 30 years.
