The fund has previously defended its right to comment on public policy issues. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has given the New Zealand Superannuation Fund a clear message to stop talking to the news media about policy issues. But his office said there is nothing new in the direction and that Robertson has previously told the fund to refrain from public debate on government policies. In his latest letter of expectations to the fund’s outgoing chair Catherine Savage – dated December 22 last year – he wrote that he welcomed discussions with her on policy settings to deliver on the fund’s mandate.