Labour wants to buy their way into power at all our expense.

Labour's promise to forgive 10 per cent of student loan debt will sound attractive to loan holders at first, but it is an accounting switch that should be attractive to nobody. There's $12 billion of student debt owed by borrowers currently in New Zealand (and another $4 billion owed by those offshore), so their promise would cost $1.2 billion. With no way of paying for this promise (they've already promised their capital gains tax will go on healthcare), they are really saying they'd have the Government borrow $1.2 billion more to cover repayments it won't collect. Taxpayers are already paying $24.8 million every day, over a million dollars an hour, just to cover interest payments on existing debt. Interest rates on Government borrowing are rising around the world, so that cost will only go higher unless the Government reduces its debt. The net effect is that people who've had the benefit of a tertiary education, and already pay no interest on their loan, will get $1.2 billion paid for by every taxpayer including themselves. The only real solution to the cost of living crisis is for New Zealand to become a wealthier country. That means productivity through investment and innovation. It requires a smaller more affordable Government that leaves more wealth in the private sector, and less red tape leaving people with more time to produce. Anything else is just cynical Chris Hipkins moving the deck chairs in the hope he'll get three years in a limo. It's visionless, focus group driven policy that Labour should really be ashamed of. It's also another reason ACT is campaigning for your Party Vote to Lock Labour Out, and Unlock New Zealand's Potential.

𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿’𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 “Promises are only worth the money a political party puts aside to pay for them. Labour has announced the bribe to remove 10% of student debt but can't say how the bill will be paid," says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Labour is taking debt that is interest-free for New Zealand-based borrowers and shifting the cost onto the Crown’s books. In other words, all taxpayers take on the cost, including New Zealanders who did not receive the benefit of the tertiary education the loans paid for. “This policy reads like Chris Hipkins asked AI, ‘what will make people like me?’ What he needed to ask was, ‘how will we balance the budget?’ “Labour cannot point to its capital gains tax. It has already said the proceeds of that tax will be ring-fenced for health, while the tax would apply only to future gains and revenue would arrive as affected assets are sold. A new spending promise still needs a credible funding source. “Paying down debt and returning to surplus is job number one for any Government serious about unlocking New Zealand’s potential. We pay $24.8 million a day servicing the interest on our debt. By the time you have finished reading this press release, another $50,000 will be gone. In 2018/19 it was $10.1 million a day. “This is the back-to-the-future election for Labour. They’re promising higher taxes, higher spending, more complicated monetary policy, and billions of dollars of promises without showing how the books add up. “New Zealand cannot afford another government that spends without thinking about the consequences. But the challenge is bigger than locking Labour out. In order to unlock New Zealand’s potential we must keep finding savings year after year by forming a government that is smaller, more efficient, and capable of balancing the books. “ACT Ministers have driven $14 billion of savings across three Budgets, helping avoid more debt, taxes, and pressure on interest rates. That discipline has helped put the Government on a path back to surplus a year earlier, but it needs to be delivered year on year. “If we want New Zealand to be the best little country in the world, we need a smaller, more efficient government that focuses every dollar on results. That is how we make life more affordable, rebuild trust in public services, and unlock New Zealand’s potential.”

We welcome NZ First announcing near-identical policy to ACT's to abolish the Waitangi Tribunal. Their proposal to abolish the Tribunal and set up a new Commission to finish the historical settlements is slightly more complicated than ACT's policy. Our plan is to take away all the Tribunal's powers except for finishing the historical settlements before it automatically expires under our amended law. But, details aside, it's good news to see another Party in the Coalition wanting it gone one way or another. The Tribunal has outlived its usefulness. It is undemocratic to have unelected people pronouncing what the elected Government should and shouldn't be able to do. It has become a source of division rather than the reconciliation and unity it was intended to create.

ACT will finish the settlements and wind up the Waitangi Tribunal completely.

𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿’𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 “Chris Hipkins is on a spending spree to buy every vote possible, but the invoice will end up with future generations,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “He has promised another $4.3 billion for health and education infrastructure, funded from future operating and capital allowances. Unless Labour plans to cut spending elsewhere, they will have to increase those allowances and pile more debt on Kiwi households. “Paying down debt and returning to surplus is job number one for any Government serious about unlocking New Zealand’s potential. We pay $24.8 million a day servicing the interest on our debt. By the time you have finished reading this press release, another $50,000 will be gone. In 2018/19 it was $10.1 million a day. “The more we borrow, the more taxpayers have to spend servicing debt instead of building the hospitals, schools and infrastructure New Zealand needs. To sustainably invest in modern public services, we need to balance the books so we can actually afford them. “This is the back-to-the-future election for Labour. They’re promising higher taxes, higher spending, more complicated monetary policy, and empty promises that somehow it will all add up. “New Zealand cannot afford another government that spends without thinking about the consequences. But the challenge is bigger than locking Labour out. In order to unlock New Zealand’s potential we must keep finding savings year after year by forming a government that is smaller, more efficient, and capable of balancing the books. “ACT Ministers have driven $14 billion of savings across three Budgets, helping avoid more debt, taxes, and pressure on interest rates. That discipline has helped put the Government on a path back to surplus a year earlier, but it needs to be delivered year on year. “If we want New Zealand to be the best little country in the world, we need a smaller, more efficient government that focuses every dollar on results. That is how we make life more affordable, rebuild trust in public services, and unlock New Zealand’s potential.”

ACT backs practical environmentalism, not ideology.

𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 “An open letter from 51 business leaders should be a wake-up call for parties competing to see who can go furthest in attacking legitimate businesses this election,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “New Zealand has a serious challenge with productivity, wages and the cost of living. We will not solve it by making this country a more frightening place to invest, build a business, employ people and take risks. “Confidence in this country suffers when politicians decide to scapegoat and attack legitimate businesses. We saw it with the oil and gas ban, and now every other party is proposing intervention in the grocery sector. “Some politicians will write this letter off as the successful protecting their interests, what they fail to recognise is that these are the exact people who invest in New Zealand, hire more Kiwis and drive higher wages. Their warning is important because it signals fewer others will put their money on the line in New Zealand to hire more people and help grow the country. “ACT now stands alone for the simple idea this country was built on. The idea that people should be able to own property and profit from it if they do well, accepting the losses if they don’t. Business is difficult enough without worrying if your own Government will attack you any time politicians get a bad focus group. “We need to get real in this country. Yes, there is a problem with productivity, wage growth, and inflation, but singling out sectors and blaming them for our woes won’t fix it. “The solution will be to cut the red tape that stops new supermarkets being built, welcome new investment into New Zealand, and create the conditions for competitors to challenge the incumbents. “Attacking legitimate businesses on the flimsiest of evidence and damaging our country in the hope of short-term political gain takes New Zealand in exactly the wrong economic direction.”

Other parties have tried and failed to fix New Zealand’s planning laws. ACT has got the job done.

It's a good day for property rights - and a bad day for meddling bureaucrats.

𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸 “The independent review of New Zealand’s monetary policy response to COVID-19 confirms the Reserve Bank fuelled inflation and higher mortgage rates, with Labour’s dual mandate weakening the focus on price stability. This Government has done the hard work of recovering from that economic mess and putting the books on a better track, but we can’t claim victory yet. The next Government will need to be laser-focussed on ending waste so we can grow the economy,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “This is a comprehensive independent review by two respected monetary policy experts, and its findings vindicate warnings ACT was making years ago. At the end of the day, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. You can’t print your way to prosperity. You can only afford things and get wealthy if you produce real goods and services worth real money. “It seemed like good times then, but the hangover isn't worth it. We have spent years unwinding the inflation and higher interest rates that followed. “The extraordinary thing is Labour wants to restore the dual mandate. The Reserve Bank should have a clear focus on price stability. Labour’s changes ‘downplayed the importance of price stability’ and allowed larger and longer-lasting deviations from the inflation target. “That is why we must lock Labour out. But the challenge is even bigger that. In order to unlock New Zealand’s potential we must keep finding savings year after year by forming a government that is smaller, more efficient, and capable of balancing the books. “ACT Ministers have driven $14 billion of savings across three Budgets, helping avoid more debt, taxes, and pressure on interest rates. That discipline has helped put the Government on a path back to surplus a year earlier, but it needs to be delivered year on year. “New Zealand has a serious challenge with productivity, wages and the cost of living. We will not solve it by making this country a more frightening place to invest, build a business, employ people and take risks. Confidence in this country suffers when politicians decide to scapegoat and attack legitimate businesses. We saw it with the oil and gas ban, and now every other party is proposing intervention in the grocery sector. “If we want New Zealand to be the best little country in the world, we need a smaller, more efficient government that focuses every dollar on results. That is how we make life more affordable, rebuild trust in public services, and unlock New Zealand’s potential.”

Here’s how absurd public service accountability has become. The FENZ chief executive withheld serious information from Brooke van Velden for a year. She has lost confidence in him, but the decision about his job sits with the board. MBIE deliberately misled a select committee over a failed $30 million project. Its chief executive offered to resign. The Public Service Commissioner turned him down. Ministers are the ones who face Parliament and the public when things go wrong. ACT says they should also be able to appoint departmental chief executives and remove them for poor performance. You can’t hold someone responsible while denying them the power to act.

𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗹𝘀 “The inquisition-style hysteria gripping the election has suffered a serious blow by historic data showing supermarket mergers didn’t raise prices,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Every party bar ACT is competing to attack grocers in the most disruptive way possible this election, but drastic measures require rock-solid justification. The savings from break-ups are small, far into the future, and will be cancelled many times over by ordinary food price inflation before they arrive and that’s all assuming their most hopeful claims are true. “However, data released today casts doubt on those claims altogether. The logic of the MBIE paper released by National is that supermarket mergers overseas have led to price increases, therefore a demerger here will lead to similar price decreases. “Data reported by Radio New Zealand shows that New Zealand food prices have tracked Australian and OECD average prices since the early 1990s. “In other words, the merger did not lead to price increases. In fact, prices appear to have fallen compared with other countries in the years after the early 2000s merger. So, the whole justification for the breakup is shot. “New Zealand has a serious challenge with productivity, wages and the cost of living. We will not solve it by making this country a more frightening place to invest, build a business, employ people and take risks. “Confidence in this country suffers when politicians decide to scapegoat and attack legitimate businesses. We saw it with the oil and gas ban, and now every other party is proposing intervention in the grocery sector. “We need to get real in this country. Yes, there is a problem with productivity, wage growth, and inflation, but singling out sectors and blaming them for our woes won’t fix it. “The solution will be to cut the red tape that stops new supermarkets being built, welcome new investment into New Zealand, and create the conditions for competitors to challenge the incumbents. “Attacking legitimate businesses on the flimsiest of evidence and damaging our country in the hope of short-term political gain takes New Zealand in exactly the wrong economic direction.”

𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮 𝗩𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 “Labour’s backdown on a policy they invented is a victory for common sense, affordability, and everyone who backed ACT from opposition into Government,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Jacinda Ardern introduced a bizarre wrinkle into the tax system by removing mortgage interest deductibility from rented residential property. With trademark naivete, Ardern said she was trying to ‘tilt the housing market towards first home buyers.’ “Adding pressure on Mum and Dad investors at a time when all their other living costs were going up led to higher rents. ACT’s changes have eased pressure on the rental market and lowered rent, meaning everyone has had some cost of living relief. “She thought she was taxing landlords but tenants, many of them saving for the deposit on their first home, paid the cost. Rents went up by record levels, first home buyers weren’t helped at all. “The policy was part of a disease afflicting New Zealand politics. Whenever there’s a political itch some group is lined up as a scapegoat. The country is left more divided but not more affordable. As a country, we have to stop doing this to ourselves. “Labour accepting the idea is doomed and taking it off the table gives more confidence and certainty to landlords, if you trust them. There is always the risk their $10.4 billion fiscal hole will swallow up renters’ and landlords’ funds through new taxes all over again. “You can’t really trust Labour on taxes, but this position in principle is proof that bad ideas can be banished, rhetorically at the very least.”

ACT will crack down on rural crime: 🚨 100,000 extra police patrol hours. ⛓️ Tougher penalties for stock theft, trespass, and burglary. 📲 Expanded Text 111 services.

If private investors are prepared to fund a new transmission line, the rules should let them build it.

𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝘂𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 “I’m launching ACT’s campaign to Make Farming Fun Again, because I’ve spent more than 20 years farming and have seen first-hand what happens when people in Wellington, who don’t understand farming, try to regulate every part of it,” says ACT Agriculture spokesperson Andrew Hoggard. “There’s nothing fun about paperwork, especially when it’s pointless, yet farmers have been hit with endless new rules and freshwater regulations, Significant Natural Areas [SNAs], winter grazing, emissions pricing, the ute tax, firearms changes, health and safety paperwork, and resource management red tape. Successive governments piled on the rules, adding costs and uncertainty to running a farm. “Farmers are exposed to risk that not many other industries are. In Wellington if there’s a heavy hail storm the bureaucrats work from home, on the farm it could mean you lose a crop and face huge losses. “We can’t control the weather or foreign commodity prices, but we can stop the Government from causing headaches through pointless rules and red tape. That’s why I joined ACT and ran for Parliament. “I want my daughters, if they choose farming, to have the freedom to farm well without the red tape I’ve faced for 20 years. As ACT’s Agriculture spokesperson, I cut unworkable winter grazing rules, kept farming out of the ETS by scrapping He Waka Eke Noa, halved Labour’s methane target, and killed the ute tax. We’ve simplified freshwater farm plans, put $79m into wilding pine control, restored 90-day trials, restored common sense to firearms laws, and brought common sense back to health and safety. “Farmers do not need another politician telling them how to farm. They need a Government that respects property rights, sets clear rules around genuine environmental harm, and otherwise lets them get on with it.” ACT has six pledges to make farming fun again: 1. Keep Wellington out of farming. Replacing the RMA is one of the biggest wins for rural New Zealand in decades. The next decisions are key for how well the new system works in practice. ACT will fight for National Policy Direction and National Standards that are clear, practical, locally responsive, and grounded in property rights. 2. Focus on practical environmentalism. Farmers have the incentives to look after their natural environment, because they depend on it for their livelihood. ACT will scrap Te Mana o te Wai and increase funding for rural catchment groups, allow targeted grazing on suitable DOC land, and carry on the war against wilding pines. 3. Keep backing farmers on climate. ACT is the only party that has never supported introducing a price on agricultural emissions. We stood alone against the Zero Carbon Act, opposed He Waka Eke Noa and successfully fought to keep agriculture out of the ETS. We will keep it that way. No other party can say this. We’ll also scrap the climate policy that adds nothing but costs to our economy, like the Net Zero target, the Climate Change Commission and the Zero Carbon Act. 4. Give farmers the tools. New Zealand farmers have always been early adopters of technology, often in spite of, not because of, the government. ACT will continue to cut red tape to make agri-innovation easier. 5. Protect rural communities. We’ll crack down on rural crime with 100,000 extra police patrol hours, harsher penalties for burglary via three strikes, an Open Seat rule so rural children can always catch the bus, and improve access to healthcare by giving pharmacists more tools to treat common ailments. 6. Grow the economy. Farmers make long-term decisions about land, stock, machinery and staff. They need stable prices, lower interest rates and confidence that Government will live within its means and stay out of commercial decisions it has no business making. No other party is prepared to make the savings in Wellington that will balance the books faster than ACT, with no new taxes. "I’m proud of ACT’s record standing up for rural New Zealand," says ACT Deputy Leader Nicole McKee. “When no other party would, we were there giving farmers a voice. Whether it was standing up for licensed firearms owners or opposing the Zero Carbon Act. Now that we’re in Government we’ve been able to make progress in fixing these issues. "Party vote ACT to unlock the potential of rural New Zealand.”

𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝘆𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 “Labour’s announcement today confirms ACT’s diagnosis that a disease has set into New Zealand politics, with every other party now competing to scare off investment by threatening interventions much worse than the oil and gas ban,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The Greens want to expropriate supermarkets and run it themselves. National have joined New Zealand First in wanting to forcibly break up legitimate businesses, and now Labour want to add a whole new layer of bureaucracy to their own version of expropriation. “The oil and gas ban was devastating, but the Government has a right to stop issuing permits, however disruptive that may have been. It is quite another matter to actively break up and take over existing companies. “Labour’s policy is an echo of their actions in Government, only more pernicious. Last time they put in place a grocery supplier code, required supermarkets to wholesale to their competitors, and created a Grocery Commissioner. If any of their past interventions worked, they wouldn’t need to release these policies today. “This time they want to expropriate the co-op that is owned by local Foodstuffs stores, and separate an Australian-owned business without considering the repercussions for our ANZAC relationship. “On their best day these other policies might save a few dollars a week, and that day is far into the future. Ordinary food price inflation will cancel out the gains many times over before any shopper even sees them. On their worst day they will backfire and make groceries more expensive, according to their own reports. “One factor that other politicians never consider is the effect of weakening New Zealand supermarket buying power against the large multi-nationals that provide around a quarter of their goods. Think Unilever, Proctor and Gamble, Nestlé, these companies are whales to New Zealand supermarkets’ tadpoles, and if the logic is to weaken New Zealand supermarkets’ power, the whales will win. “The most likely outcome is simply costly restructures, more hesitancy to invest, and less chance of a third competitor entering New Zealand from overseas. Why would you take the risk when the political environment is so volatile. Why would anyone else think this behaviour will be confined to the grocery sector? “ACT now stands alone for the simple idea this country was built on. The idea that people should be able to own property and profit from it if they do well, accepting the losses if they don’t. Business is difficult enough without worrying if your own Government will attack you any time politicians get a bad focus group. “The disease of New Zealand politics today is cynical, focus-group driven, knee-jerk reactions to large problems. Politicians hear a complaint and try to play the hero by attacking a group of New Zealanders as the scapegoat of the hour. “This politics erodes the trust and certainty needed for investment and innovation. It’s careless about the long-term effect on our country so long as those behind it think they’ll get a short-term political gain. “We’ve seen it over and again these last six years as prices have risen as fast as, or faster than, wages. When petrol felt expensive, Jacinda said we were being ‘fleeced’ by the petrol stations. When rents went up, new taxes and regulations were put on landlords. When butter was in the news, it was Fonterra, then electricity companies, then banks, now supermarkets. “None of this pile on mentality has made life more affordable. It’s usually ended with another layer of regulation and bureaucracy, such as the Grocery Commissioner and supplier code. New Zealand has simply been left divided and blame-happy by this pattern of political behaviour. “New Zealanders are looking for hope, and security to build on that hope. That means tackling our long-term productivity slump, weak monetary policy, and loose Government spending that has seen prices inflate away ahead of wages. None of this is easy, but it is possible with sensible, thoughtful leadership. “If we are serious about making life more affordable, there is no benefit in picking on a different group each year as if that will solve our problems.” ACT will: •⁠ ⁠Shrink the size of Government by making it smaller and more efficient at delivering the services New Zealanders really need for a price this economy can afford •⁠ ⁠Cut red tape and stupid rules that prevent New Zealanders from investing and innovating •⁠ ⁠Unite New Zealanders where each of us are seen as fundamentally good and equal people instead of obsessing over identity politics.