Labour leader David Shearer has recommitted his party to a capital gains tax but says it will delay restarting Super Fund payments.

Gareth Morgan’s call for the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to be shut down is a good idea in theory but a fiendishly difficult one in practice. That's because former finance minister Michael Cullen built the thing so it couldn't be torn apart.

Mr Morgan says that in the wake of National’s decision to suspend contributions, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund should be shut down and the current $12.5 billion under management be given back to the public in the form of KiwiSaver contributions.

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has lost nearly 5% on its investments over the past year, a pre-tax loss of $716 million.

But the fund still grew from $13.1 billion to $14.1 billion, boosted by government contributions to its pot.

Popularly known as the “Cullen fund,” it was set up to help pay for baby-boomers’ pensions. It’s expected to manage $100 billion in 20 years, and the government cannot withdraw any funds until 2020.

The $14.7 billion Cullen Fund will reveal on Monday whether it has taken a hit through the market’s turbulence in the last four months.

The NZ Super Fund, as it is properly known, has not provided any performance figures since May 31 as it works on producing its annual report.

The fund posted positive returns in April and May but for the year from July 2007 to May 2008 was down 1 per cent.