This week, the National Party signalled it would withdraw its support for an industry partnership working to price agricultural emissions and announce its own policy instead.
He Waka Eke Noa, or the Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership, was declared dead by National MP Todd McClay on Tuesday and then by party leader Christopher Luxon later on.
The policy shift bore some resemblance to the party’s withdrawal from the bipartisan housing policy, the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS), and not just because it slipped out.
For the second time in two weeks, the National Party appeared to be rearranging its policies in an effort to stop itself from being outflanked by a resurgent Act Party.
The Act Party has been consistently polling above 10% since July last year and has been above 13% in some individual polls. At times, during the pandemic, it polled in the high teens.
In June 2020, the party was polling at around 3.3% but it had more than doubled its support by election night when it ended up with 7.6% of the vote and 10 MPs.
Party leader David Seymour recently told an NZME podcast that he could repeat this performance and double the party’s support for a second year in a row.
“I think that Act getting to 20% is realistic, and the same people who say it’s not, remember they have form making the same doubtful predictions in 2020,” he said.
To achieve this goal, it has been courting traditional National Party voters in rural communities and wealthy suburbs.
On the offensive
Act Party deputy leader Brooke van Velden announced in April that she would stand in the Tāmaki and specifically called out National for its support of more housing densification.
When National withdrew from the bipartisan accord the following month, incumbent Tāmaki MP Simon O’Connor bragged on social media that he had lobbied for the walk-back.
There was a similar pattern for the He Waka Eke Noa policy shift. It followed news that Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard would step down from his role to stand for Act.
Before that was announced, Hoggard had played a leading role in negotiations around He Waka Eke Noa — which the Act Party outright opposes.
The farming community has long been a solid National Party ally, but it has been drifting towards Act which has more aggressively opposed climate policies and Three Waters.
Hoggard was quoted in a press release praising the party for being the only one to oppose He Waka Eke Noa from the start. Less than a week later, National was calling it dead in the water.
He Waka Eke Noa
Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership was set up with primary sector leaders such as Dairy NZ, Federated Farmers and Beef and Lamb and was tasked with finding a way to price agriculture emissions.
It has not made much progress, and the sector is careening towards a backstop policy which would see farm emissions put into the existing Emissions Trading Scheme and forced to pay the going rate.
National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis wouldn’t comment on whether the new policy would put any price on agricultural emissions, when asked by a reporter on Wednesday.
“We will have our own policy on reducing agriculture emissions and we look forward to announcing it,” she said.
“It will ensure we continue to have a productive, profitable farming sector in New Zealand that feeds the world. It will be a better policy than the status quo”.
Willis also said there had been discussions between National and Labour about reviving the bipartisan agreement on housing density, but only if it moved closer to their revised version.
It has felt, at-least to this observer, that Act has been successfully putting pressure on the entire political spectrum from its right-hand side.
The housing policy is a good example. ACT opposes more density, which pressures National into backing away and leaves Labour sticking its neck out.
Labour was willing to negotiate with the Nats because the MDRS is not a popular policy with the most reliable group of voters (older homeowners). It needs political cover.
On the left-hand side of the political spectrum, it doesn’t feel as though the Green Party is getting enough oxygen to breathe — let alone push the Overton window in the other direction.
Act cross
Speaking on the NZME podcast, Act’s David Seymour signalled he wanted to avoid the fate of Green Party co-leader James Shaw, who is a minister in a government he doesn’t control.
Seymour said his party would not accept a coalition deal that handed out ministerial roles but didn’t adopt Act Party policies.
“If we don’t have a coalition agreement where the government is prepared to do worthwhile policy reform, we certainly don’t want Act ministers there apologising for bad National Party policies,” he said.
It would be painful for both parties, he said, but Act would be willing to sit on the cross benches and force National to negotiate each policy vote by vote.
“The National Party have been in power for 47 of the last 74 years, or something like that, so you can’t be critical of NZ’s current state without being critical of the National Party,”
“I do think that the right sometimes needs to be prepared to push back and reform Labour policies and not just bed them in”.
149 Comments
Act is the only right leaning party that has any balls in policy… that’s why they’re polling high and that’s why they’ll help form the next government.
Winnie First is there as well, but unfortunately has form of seeking power and influence over integrity.
that little Goebbels Michael Wood and his sidekick Rohm Willie Jackson are typical models of Labour Party - another 3 years of them will see the emigration flood gates open and our nation bottoming out further in every 1st nation stat!
The whole desperation of dancing with the stars always made it difficult for me to take both Hyde and Seymour seriously.
ACT is nothing more than a gun totting neoliberal party.
Neoliberalism is a complete failure and even in its weak form has left NZ is tatters with massive social and environmental deficits.
Low and flat tax rates only benefits the very richest, yet the middle class is suckered into voting right - they end up paying more in user costs.
Neoliberalism is contemporarily used to refer to market-oriented reform policies such as "eliminating price controls, deregulating capital markets, lowering trade barriers" and reducing, especially through privatization and austerity, state influence in the economy.
Classical liberalism, contrary to liberal branches like social liberalism, looks more negatively on social policies, taxation and the state involvement in the lives of individuals, and it advocates deregulation
“Low and flat tax rates only benefits the very richest, yet the middle class is suckered into voting right.”
You mean my work colleagues in Singapore who pay well under 25% tax in well paying jobs? Or friends in IT and banking paying lower tax in Switzerland than me in NZ (none reside in Zurich or Geneva where rates are higher).
" been successfully putting pressure on the entire political spectrum from its right-hand side."...
Seymour feels like he is on the spectrum. Awful party, with awful backward looking policies. If I hear this guy mention ma and pa investors and the plight of the hard working kiwi once more...
National are conceding ACT much space. This is largely because the former in terms of image, and their leader, look pedestrian, lacklustre whereas Seymour is sharp and agile. The polls are recording that public perception. It may well be that ACT will need to carry a disproportionate load in order to get the prospective coalition over the line.
Seymour is sharp and agile
But a party vote for ACT is a vote for all the numpties in his party who cant get through an entire interview without going completely off the rails.
His deputy said at the 2020 debate that Labour loading so much debt on future generations is the worst kind of child abuse.
The climate is quite normal where I live, nothing's changed, except there's been a lot of rain. many years ago there was no rain, for months on end. You've got to remember the herd get very excited over emotional announcements like that . In the 80's many thought the world would run out of oil, they vandalised and set gas guzzling cars on fire. Then there was the approaching ice age, acid rain and ozone layer manias.
Now it's global warming. Kiwis love a 'global emergency'. And if you want proof of the kiwi susceptibility to herd instinct and manias, check out the number of demonstrations over apartheid, riots in Queen Street, 5G, vaccinations, Chile, GPS and the anti-nuclear nonsense. Is it any wonder thousands of NZer's have ditched here for Australia, both my kids have.
Also this year is colder than last year, where I live anyway.
Also, if we don't reduce emissions we will quickly see our access to international markets erode. Consumers and trading partners have quickly changing expectations. I.e. Nestle and Mars and Tesco supermarkets, all some of the biggest buyers of NZ agricultural products, have net zero targets.
Any advanced country relying on a large agricultural export economy with only 5M people will have a similar per capita result, still meaningless in its contribution to global climate. Luckily we live in a temperate climate in the middle of the ocean with plenty of fresh air so no worries.
So go tell Germany and England and France. The first two just fired up old coal fired power stations that they said would never go again because gas is so exspensive. And they both said we are thinking of our people and industries. France has said Nuclear power is the way forward for them. Let's have that here. Oh and by the way Finland just commissioned the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and every EU country was jumping up and down but Finland said our people come first. Who is their neighbour now. Also Copenhagen just commissioned a new waste to entry plant even built a ski field on top. Other countries complained but Denmark said we need to think of our people. Look at the Glenavy waste to energy plant and all the naysayers. Norway in the top ten oli exporters no wonder they can afford a great welfare system. Yet all the liberal over educated kiwis want free health free dentist free education.
Yep, your comment points out the hypocrisy of all political persuasions. Taking our foot off the throat of the life support systems of planet Earth with degrowth is the only option! Not ridiculous fantasies of wall to wall nuclear power plants, fuelling mutant humans exponential consumption. Mr potato head was begging kiwi women to breed more good little consumers only the other day.
I definitely don't want nuclear here. But if we want renewable then the greens shouldn't be stopping every development wether that hydro/storage geo or wind turbines. Isn't it funny how people say I want green energy but don't want wind turbines in their back yard. So long as it is else we're all good. My point about European countries is that the greens/liberals love to point out how well they are doing to us but always forget those things I pointed out above. Yet their politicians try to bully us into these trade deals (and our trade neg and politicians roll over quick as) look at Jacinda with the EVs and ute tax. Her quote our EU markets demand this of us. Yeah because they hate competition well what about their great pollution industries that have done way more harm that what NZ will ever do. C02 last hundreds of years in the atmosphere well how long has EU countries been burning coal compared to NZ farming cows methane only last upto ten yrs in the atmosphere then let's look at wars and the CO2 that creates 5 percent of CO2 every year is caused by the world's military. So take into account WW1 and WW2 that CO2 is still in the atmosphere. I could go on but these imbecile greens and liberal numbers (forest and bird) need a wake up call or a brain would be better but highly unlikely
As I said. Degrowth is the answer. The current political spectrum ranges between bad, to a disgrace. I see Nats have just came out in favour of opening the country to the corporate gene fiddler's. Somehow every time you think you've had enough of leftist bs, the idiots on the right come up with new vomit worthy policy.
Nestle and Mars and Tesco supermarkets, all some of the biggest buyers of NZ agricultural products, have net zero targets.
And just like before with their hopeless targets, they willl set them to look good, then when everyone has forgotten they will scrap them. Think coca cola using recycled plastic in their bottles, then scrapping the targets or dialing them back and then surprise surprise, they produce more and more bottles annually. Targets are simple greenwashing just like the word sustainable is thrown around to justify doing the same old and simply putting a label on. The seafood industry for example, has been exposed for this in the world of tuna.
Well Mill, the question is answered in NZ. People who make a small contribution tend to get their tax back in Government handouts, so you are right, the question is asked, and they don't pay. Soooo, it would be entirely fair to say that we shouldn't impoverish NZ to try and affect something we cannot affect.
Until the planet cools again as it has done, then the greens will be into "global cooling" and sea level falling"...
Interesting to all you eco worriers that Act get more Support than the Green AKA social Injustice party!
Says a lot about what is really important to kiwis... And it ain't Green, Maori, nor woke!
If MMP threshold was 7 % there would be no green washing!
They’re libertarian until a private company decides to close down an oil refinery, then the state should be taking over! The state should run oil refineries but not schools or prisons.
They’re libertarian until the government creates an optional covid tracing system. Then the state should be like Taiwan and take over our phones with compulsory GPS tracking!
They’re not libertarian at all. Just populists that sow division and feed off mob anger. [edit]
C&P from Daily.
Cut and freeze the Minimum wage
Interest back on all student loans
No Kiwsaver subsidy
Cancel winter energy payment
Dump all climate crisis legislation
no more best start payments for families with new borns
cut welfare payments
no tax credits for research and development
cuts to working for families
$7b a year cut in public services
Abolish Maori seats
Abolish Human Rights Commission
Let's give tax cuts to the rich by cutting services for those vulnerable households who need it the most.
Then remove every incentive for businesses to invest in things such as innovation and staff training, and provide them free access to an endless pool of migrants on a "no questions asked" basis.
Sounds like very little thought has gone into how much these policies could destroy the few things going well for this country of ours.
Agreed, the current virtue-signalling bunch will probably fare worse for NZ on partnering with left-extreme coalition partners.
I'd vote for Seymour if he had more targeted policies for growing our high-value economy.
More private debt, migration and bulk exports aren't getting us out of this economic pickle we're currently in, will probably make it worse.
I actually looked into this the other day, I keep seeing people bringing up "50% of New Zealander's aren't net taxpayers" but people seem to forget that part of those 50% percent are people on superannuation. It's talked about as if 50 percent of workers are contributing nothing but considering there are 842,000 over 65's who will be the ones collecting the vast majority of those "transfers".
Then another big chunk would be WFF, and accommodation supplement which is basically a landlord subsidy, then the classic jobseeker which is $3b out of a $50b budget. There aren't as many working-age people just sitting around doing nothing as it seems to be framed from looking at the data.
The info for that is all in the below link showing what the transfers actually are and what groups are getting what. That data is also a bit out of date as it's from 2018.
https://taxworkinggroup.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2018-09/twg-bg-distributional-analysis.pdf
Then another big chunk would be WFF, and accommodation supplement which is basically a landlord subsidy, then the classic jobseeker which is $3b out of a $50b budget.
Yes the market will operate on it's own based on supply and demand. Cut the accomodation benefit and landlords would find pretty quickly that not many would be able to afford the rent prices they charge, and certain food items would expectedly drop as folk drop luxury items.
Noodles mate. Your a noodle alright
Until assets are unhidden asset testing will never work... and also at what level do you lift the drawbridge! 2000k for a single v a family of 8 v a widow v a dude worth $1 but has millions tucked away in investments payed to overseas account with a credit card attached...
ACT is the most principled party in terms of individual liberty (regardless of immutable characteristics like race), personal freedom within reason, and tried/tested lesaffaire economics. Certainly the most progressive party in terms of issues like end of life choice and charter schools. Aside from all that, Seymour is a very personable guy. They have my vote.
+1
I'm a Labour voter since Kirk (only 2 exceptions) including Jacinda x2. Never again following their deceit and antidemocratic agenda of the current term.
National will need ACT to drive a liberal policy agenda & hold them to their promises or National will revert to the "born to rule" unbridled arrogance that epitomises their conservative voter base.
Labour considers its policy of reducing the prison population 30% a resounding success, hows that working out for the rest of NZ ?
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2023/03/violent_crime_up_33_under_labour.html
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2023/03/the_most_serious_assaults_are_up_the_most.html
Thefts up 41% under Labour | Kiwiblog
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2023/03/ram_raid_statistics.html
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2023/04/the_facts_on_violent_crime.html
"Arms capable of mass murder"? It's the criminals with firearms, it's not registered gun owners. Anyone with any knowledge of engineering can produce a firearm, even a machine gun. The anti-gun legislation is as stupid as it gets. How many people are killed every year by irresponsible car owners? Shall we ban all cars?
In the meantime the country's going broke as the socialists squander billions on such boondoggles as the Light Rail fail, 3 Waters, the dopey gun legislation, Pike River, the abandoned Income Insurance Scheme and the Harbour Bridge Cycleway cock-up. Never mind - it's someone else's money.
Almost all of that sounds like good spending to me. I’m more concerned about the winter energy handout, the free prescriptions, the pension age we can’t afford, etc. just 3 years of paying $5 for prescriptions would pay for a cycle and waking bridge over the harbour that we would own forever, yet people consider that bad spending, ridiculous.
Both main parties are spineless policywise this time.
Interesting that the Greens have shown how not to act as a coalition party (roll over and be a puppet to Labour), yet Maori have shown how to leverage a rubbish hand and fight to deliver great things for their base.
Based on current situ I will vote ACT.. seymour gets what he needs to do... develop policies for change and dont roll over in power.. as with Maori that will only grow his base. NZF is a conyenter too they just need to be heard over ACT.
This position is more aligned with charter schools than you realise. Most argue in favour of transferable school "vouchers", whereby the school you pick gets the money only by virtue oof you choosing it. That seems compatible with paying parents who home school (which I think is a great idea).
New to Auckland from the Otago hills, and I for one delight in the treed suburbs and long may they stay. I plan to axe long and well for more trees to be planted in the spot we now live in. In between popping the odd gathered acorn from my pocket into the verges lacking in any tree cover. As I think great the council doesn't bother to weed. In Blenheim the Council has for years planted edible trees for the locals to gather. Walnuts Hazelnuts limes plum olives. All there and it makes the town special. Auckland and other cities need to follow their model. Green spaces to delight in.
Nelson also has some 'edible walks' with council planted fruit trees, who doesn;t love them. Wellington has the town belt which allows greenspace for all to enjoy. If only councils required this of developers to factor into their plans, but i won't hold my breath.
tried/tested lesaffaire economics
A spelling (and substance) lesson for you.
I've just presented to Parliament a regulatory solution to move toward abolishment of the accommodation supplement. It will be the real test of just how laissez-faire they actually are.
I suspect that when the taxpayer subsidies benefit their voting base - they are all in favour of them.
To corrupt a well overused saying "New Zealand voters will elect the Party that promises the lowest price of rope, to hang themselves with". And so they have, for decades. And today here we all stand; clutching the deeds to our property portfolios, standing on the trapdoor of Debt that we voted for.
Wrote an article on it here a while back;
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/119377/katharine-moody-takes-look-r…
Brought it up for them on the SC screen - interesting, they seemed more impressed/understanding of the proposal having scanned the article than having read the written info I'd prepared for them :-). That was all good and I specifically emphasised they should read the comments stream as well.
The end of life choice has a lot of traction. The baby boomers are seeing friends getting ill younger than expected, and having to be kept alive against their will lest they become a financial burden on their familt etc. Although the legislation is there which is a good start, the proposal for Barbies Bill to go through giving more freedom of choice of the end of ones life with a advanced health directives having legal status. This is the chatter amongst many in my parents circles and friends parents also
LOL. That's the most ridiculous post here. Packing more and more humans into NZ is the opposite of "liberty". It's slicing a depleting cake into smaller and smaller pieces resulting in LESS freedom and guaranteed civil unrest. An actual libertarian would never vote for this party of yeasty, science denying ......
"On the left-hand side of the political spectrum, it doesn’t feel as though the Green Party is getting enough oxygen to breathe — let alone push the Overton window in the other direction. "
Hold my beer...
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/greens-promise-wealth-tax-as-res…
I've said this before but I'm seriously concerned about some of their policies. Particularly around cutting R&D tax credits, scrapping Callaghan Innovation, removing all film subsidies, and selling the rest of the power company assets so we no longer have any control over them. It's ideology-driven, it doesn't matter if these expenditures bring in more revenue and economic activity than it costs if it goes against their dogma.
Then there is their "two-rate" tax system that effectively raises taxes on everyone earning under $58k which is rough, to say the least.
I get why people want to vote for them and maybe they agree with some of the above proposals but I feel like most people really haven't focused on how damaging some of their policies could be. I actually don't mind David Seymour he is clearly a very smart guy but the whole ACT policy platform would potentially do a massive amount of unintended damage for very little gain.
If their policies are shit what exactly am I meant to be voting for then? Am I supposed to rest assured that the worst of their policies will magically get stopped by a castrated national that could end up being more of a junior partner compared to ACT which seems far more cohesive and organised.
I don't mind David Seymour for the most part, I can see why people like him and he does speak a lot of sense at times, but his party's policies are Lizz Truss-level things, and we saw how that went for the UK.
Then you have other gems like their immigration policy.
ACT's immigration spokesperson James McDowall said the employer levy would likely be set at $1350
$1350 to "pay for infrastructure". Would be lucky to get a bike rack for that, let alone pay for transport, healthcare, services, etc.
Mind you the Greens aren't much better on this, they want to make love and cuddles our formal immigration policy, letting anybody in from anywhere basically, and of course, letting migrant's elderly family members move as it is unfair that only higher income people can afford for their relatives to move over, despite our health system barely coping with our own elderly as it is.
https://www.greens.org.nz/immigration_policy
Why are they all so awful?
They actually don’t pay for it though that’s the point. $1350 is a laughable amount and ACT’s policy actually has less restrictions than the greens. $1350 is insanely cheap considering each new worker requires hundreds of thousands worth of new infrastructure to accommodate them.
Oh well, I for one will be voting for ACT. We are in a strong National seat so yea party Vote Act. I've been impressed with David Seymour clarity of thinking and his ability to keep his team firmly in line.
And to be honest if I can see Todd Mcclay sidelined to a minor role and see some sensible Act people get ministerial roles I would have some hope. The way Todd McClay hovers at Luxton's shoulder gives me the willies. National hasn't enough talent on the benches to sort the mess we are facing and Health Education DOC and many others need a severe cull with some major right turn on direction.
How you spend money demonstrates your principles, and this government is almost completely unprincipled, as it spends to buy votes, nothing else. As a case study, look at transport, for which there is no overriding objective - just a series of vote buys e.g. Auckland light rail, unused cycleways, the Harbour cycle bridge etc etc. Meanwhile, we have a windy, congested two lane road over a mountain range to our largest port - Tauranga. I could accept that if roading investment decisions were based on robust cost benefit priorities. But labour swept that away when they got in, so they could buy votes with roading money.
Just one example of their moral bankruptcy.
I would suggest NZ get's it's Act together
https://jameshfetzer.org/2019/04/mona-alexis-pressley-does-max-igan-hav…
Lets look up to the reality
Twitchbar@ is employing a subtle propaganda / nudge strategy here. He’s linking to horrifically distasteful and offensive material to poison the comments section, and tarnish ACT indirectly. It’s a strategy that I’ve seen before but I don’t know if it has a name? The interest editors should remove the comment and thread because it certainly violates the standards.
Yes I think you're correct. I found a paper on it https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12427 I think the above is a specific type of trolling with a so called "perlocutionary" intention of revulsion. ie the post intends to invoke a sense of revulsion in the target audience.
Labour's performance throughout covid period has been a catastrophe of epic proportions. Economically, socially, and health-wise, whichever way you look at it. I detest the clampdown on free speech, and the deep social engineering around the culturally-Marxist “principals of the treaty”, which I find disturbing to say the least. Labour are also ideologically driven on climate change. Look at Methane! even the IPCC AR6 report acknowledges that methane is 3 to 4 times less harmful than previously thought, and the actual reality is that methane probably has virtually zero effect on climate. However, Labour are ignoring scientific reasoning and pressing on with a wildly pessimistic model that demands an enormous cost to mitigate an imaginary problem. It exactly what they did with COVID regarding the pessimistic modelling. Conversely everything that David Seymour says rings true to me. They guy’s an engineer too which I respect. I wish Act and National good luck in the next election. I hope they can undo some of the damage that's been done.
As a lifetime slightly left-leaning voter, I'm being reduced to voting for who I dislike least. My personal read:
Labour have ceased being a broad-church party and are so social-doctrine driven they seem to have forgotten there's a country to run, and look focussed on centralising power in ways that are turning out to be inept and corrosive to our social cohesion and prosperity.
National come across as intellectually bankrupt with no new ideas, but at least their policy does mention things like infrastructure, even if it's mute on how, how much and rationale - so is it trustworthy?
The Greens have stopped being a party of environmental concerns and want to change the world - but are so light on detail it's hard to understand what they are proposing other than: "stop doing what you are doing, now!" There are no comprehensible detailed alternatives offered, so it all feels like a busybody desire to scold people - which is admittedly part of New Zealand culture.
ACT will likely break a lot of stuff if they get in to a position of power. This might not actually be a bad thing, but will be agony for all concerned - particularly the public service and anyone, such as beneficiaries, who has anything to do with them.
TOP. Some good ideas but appear a group of rational-maximiser economists who don't seem to have heard of behavioural economics and have no apparent clue about what might actually be politically achievable. There is a difference between knowing what needs to be done, and what can be done, meaning they'll remain a historical footnote for as long as they remain addicted to theoretical purity.
NZ First. Uh. What was the question again?
Under all these parties the public service seems ever more politicised, ever less productive and less capable of constructively managing change, as they are at the sharp end of policy implementation. The amalgamation of the DHBs, three waters and the polytechnics have all become a communications omnishambles of dubious benefit as central government becomes an ever bigger part of our economy, run by people who have only ever run a bureaucracy.
Ah yes Winston first. At least you know where you stand with him. NZ First is a vehicle for him to enjoy the baubles of office. Rails about immigration and the excessive influence of the Maoris but has never done anything about it. Keeps the horse racing fraternity happy. Makes quite a good foreign minister schmoozing with other foreign ministers, especially Condoleezza Rice. Puts the handbrake on occasionally. Unfortunately due to his age he sometimes forgets which is the handbrake and which is the accelerator.
ACT is a one-trick pony, utterly stuck in the failed neoliberal trickle down policies of 30+ years ago. There's nothing new from them -they're a well worn old crowd pleaser rock band. A low tax base, shouldered disproportionately by non-property owning lower-middle income voters, has been a recipe for disaster for NZ . A brave party would advocate a more progressive tax system, a capital gains tax, and serious long-term infrastructure investment. Only the Greens and TOP have the vision and interest in making tough choices. ACT still tries to make greed a grand virtue.
Not far off the mark. The problem is who is going to screw up the country more, economically. I think the Greens will screw it up more than ACT. TOP is a bit of a conundrum. When Raf said they have the CC Commission being "independent" and act like the RBNZ did it in for me for TOP.
Yes, their disingenuous approach on 'freedom to build' when it affects their constituents is the reason I won't vote for them. It's quite frustrating - as there are other aspects of their policy that I like. But, if you can't be consistent where your principles are concerned - well, you can't be trusted on anything to my mind.
Here's the article/issue that made them laughable;
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/77521/epsom-mp-david-seymour-highli…
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