Category: ACT Party

Source: ACT Party

“The Greens say the Government is making a political choice not to end child poverty, by not spending an additional $3 billion. If ending child poverty was as simple as government spending a few billion more taxpayer dollars, the Greens would have well and truly ended it while in government,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“From 2019 to 2023, non-pension Welfare Benefit Expenses increased from $12 billion to $18 billion while unemployment was fractionally lower in 2023. Even allowing for record inflation of 19 per cent in that period, the real increase was far more than $3 billion. And yet, child poverty was virtually static in that period. (The COVID Wage Subsidy Scheme began in 2020 and ended in 2022, so doesn’t affect these figures).

“Despite the Government making a political choice to pump an extra $3 billion per year into welfare, child poverty barely moved in this period. The Greens don’t need to speculate what would happen if a government spent an extra $3 billion dollars to end child poverty.

“The Greens are right about some things, however. Child poverty is a problem in New Zealand, and it is a political choice. New Zealand’s children need a government that makes choices based on values proven to defeat poverty.

“The only true path out of poverty is building the individual’s capacity to provide for themselves and their family. There are no examples of anyone escaping poverty though dependence on others.

“I’m proud to be part of a government that believes the path out of poverty is paved by better school attendance and achievement, making it easier to develop resources and build homes, getting more investment into New Zealand, and ending open-ended welfare in favour of mutual obligation.”

Source: ACT Party

The following is a statement from ACT Tertiary Education spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar, first published as an opinion piece in Times.co.nz last week.

From next year, the University of Auckland will require all first-year students to complete a ‘Waipapa Taumata Rau’ course covering the Treaty of Waitangi and traditional Māori knowledge systems.

ACT has a number of concerns about this plan.

Firstly, students’ time is precious. We fund universities to prepare students for their careers, and that requires time spent specialising on subjects relevant to their chosen majors. Students studying for careers in medicine or computer engineering are unlikely to find much relevance in Māori mythology or Treaty interpretations.

Where students have time in their schedules to study subjects beyond their chosen majors, many use ‘electives’ to pursue subjects of personal interest. This element of choice brings diversity and joy to the university experience. Forcing students to sacrifice valuable time for compulsory courses will make the university experience less enjoyable.

Secondly, the proposal risks damaging the reputation of the university, especially among foreign students who we rely on to pay full fees, subsidising university costs for local students and taxpayers. A student who speaks English as a second language and who only plans to stay in New Zealand for the duration of their study will not benefit from courses on local indigenous belief systems.

Finally, the course risks a dangerous uniformity of perspective on Treaty issues.

Whatever you may think about the current Treaty principles debate, it’s clear these issues are controversial and politically contested.

Having a small group of academics in consultation with local iwi prepare a course on Treaty issues will leave graduates with a narrow, one-sided view of the history of the Treaty and its implications for our rights and democracy.

I would go as far as calling the planned courses a form of indoctrination.

As a university student learning about the scientific method, I was taught that knowledge is contestable. Even the most basic premises can be challenged, and it’s the process of debate, experimentation, and evidence-gathering that results in some ideas enduring while others are consigned to history. But an emerging political perspective is that one particular interpretation of the Treaty should be taken on faith.

Looking at the premises embedded in the proposed course, it’s difficult to see how any student could pass while expressing a contrarian view. We should expect better from our universities.

Source: ACT Party

ACT’s Finance spokesperson Todd Stephenson is criticising Wellington City Council’s flip-flopping on the issue of its shares in Wellington Airport.

“Wellington City Council needs to get on with selling its shares. There is no good reason for a council to partially own an airport,” says Stephenson.

“Rates paid by hard-up Wellingtonians should not be supporting a council to play share market games.

“Councils need to focus on delivering the basic public services they are responsible for: making sure roads are maintained, water systems work, and buses run on time.

“That focus can help to keep rate hikes down for ratepayers.

“Wellington City Council could have been an example to councils New Zealand over, but it will first need to find a spine and make the right call again.”

Source: ACT Party

“Finally, retailers and other sole charge workers will have their rights put at the centre of sentencing,” says ACT MP Dr Parmjeet Parmar.

The Justice Minister today announced the introduction of legislation delivering on ACT’s coalition commitment to introduce new aggravating factors at sentencing to address offences against sole charge workers and those whose home and business are interconnected.

“I’ve spent recent weeks meeting with shop workers and retailers in Auckland, and they have told me of costly security measures they have taken just so they can provide for their families and contribute to society,” says Dr Parmar. “It is heartbreaking because many people come to New Zealand and take these jobs with the understanding that this is a safe country.

“People working alone feel especially vulnerable, as do those who work in a business attached to the family home, because they can’t flee without putting loved ones at risk. Now, these workers’ vulnerability will be recognised in law.

“It’s not just workers who are recognised by the new legislation. The circumstances of any victim will now be given greater weight in sentencing decisions.

“Ultimately, these changes will mean tougher sentences for criminals who victimise peaceful and productive New Zealanders.”

Source: ACT Party

ACT welcomes the Government publishing a draft Critical Minerals List, a step towards fulfilling a key ACT coalition commitment.

“For too long, New Zealand governments have tried to have their cake and eat it too. Any sensible person knows you cannot have modern life without mining, but too many politicians have ignored that fact. Some have literally been using iPhones to campaign against the process that created them,” says ACT’s Energy and Resources spokesperson Simon Court.

“The critical minerals list will not only help get critical minerals into industries New Zealanders depend on, it will inject a dose of realism into our policy settings.

“First world lifestyles require minerals, and this country is in luck. Due to its unique geology, New Zealand is blessed with a wide range of critical minerals needed for mobile phones, specialised steel products, and medical technology. It’s time to join the real world with policies that use our luck.

“Policies that allow New Zealand miners to supply the world with the materials in highest demand will support a high-skill, high-wage workforce in the regions.

“Pro-mining policies will increase royalties for the Crown. With growing pressure on health and infrastructure, among other costs, that should be welcomed across the political spectrum.

“Ensuring a secure supply of locally produced energy and mineral resources is also good for national security. It means New Zealand and its allies have options in the very real technological race that is occurring in the Pacific and beyond.”

Source: ACT Party

“ACT is proud that this government is issuing a Cabinet circular directing all public services be delivered according to need rather than race. This change marks a commitment to ensuring equal rights in the distribution of government resources and services, and reflects the values ACT campaigned on.” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Under the new policy, all public services will be directed to those who are most in need, according to real analysis of all factors, rather than defaulting to race as a person’s primary characteristic. This approach is designed to target resources more effectively, addressing disparities and fostering a more inclusive society.

“Policies like ethnicity-based surgical waitlists and university admission schemes are corrosive to an inclusive multi-ethnic society. They take the lens of ethnicity, and look through it before any other.

“The circular is sophisticated. It draws on the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, to which New Zealand is a signatory. The Convention forbids racial discrimination unless it is necessary, and even then it must be temporary.

“The circular goes on to state the Government is concerned about public servants using race as a proxy for need. It says that, in establishing whether racial discrimination is necessary, it must consider all other variables before automatically using ethnicity to target services.

“A colourblind public service is far better placed to direct its resources toward eliminating hardship and overcoming hardships that face individual New Zealanders.

“Targeting services like healthcare and education based on race is lazy and divisive. The emphasis for the public service should be fitting services to the needs of every New Zealander.

“As an example, the new approach means the public sector can’t simply assume Māori have shorter life expectancy because they are Māori, as Jacinda Ardern once infamously said. Instead, they must drill into the data and ask, is this related to living rurally, is it to do with poor housing, or other known factors? This kind of analysis not only avoids racial profiling, it allows practical insight into how health problems can be solved.

“Policies like race-based surgical waitlists and university admission schemes run roughshod over principles of good policymaking. No-one should be moved backward or forward in a queue for services just because of who’s in their family tree. The public service has a wealth of data and evidence at its fingertips that can be used to target resources towards actual need, instead of making assumptions based on ethnicity.

“Our population is more diverse than just Māori and non-Māori, but you wouldn’t know it from the way government departments have been operating.

“Today we’ve also scrapped the so-called progressive procurement policy introduced by Labour that told departments that eight per cent of their contracts must go to Māori providers. Progressive procurement was a travesty that saw certain businesses gain unfair advantage just because the directors were able to identify the ‘right’ people in their family tree.

“Government contracting decisions should be made on the basis of value for money, full stop.”

Source: ACT Party

ACT MP Todd Stephenson has lodged a member’s bill in Parliament’s ballot to extend eligibility for End of Life Choice services.

The End of Life Choice (Extended Eligibility) Amendment Bill removes the requirement for a terminally ill person to demonstrate a six-month prognosis, while retaining all other safeguards.

“I believe dying Kiwis in enormous pain deserve choice and control over how, when, and with whom they spend their last moments,” says Mr Stephenson. “Two weeks ago, I received a petition from New Zealanders asking for the six-month rule to be repealed. I gave a commitment to do what I can as an MP to change the law.

“The End of Life Choice Act, passed in 2019 and supported by 65 percent of New Zealanders in a referendum, was a landmark achievement for personal choice and dignity in New Zealand. With the legislation in effect for close to three years now, we have heard powerful stories of Kiwis spending their last moments at a time of their choosing, surrounded by people they love. The vast majority of those have been able to die at home or at a private residence, when they would otherwise have likely spent their last days in a hospital, hospice, or aged care facility.

“However, political compromise resulted in strict eligibility criteria that have denied some terminally ill Kiwis access to the service just because they can’t prove a six-month prognosis. Annual reporting on assisted dying shows that the six-month terminal prognosis rule is the most common reason for a patient to be deemed ineligible.

“Even those who are eligible have found that six months is a very short window for discussion and self-reflection, diagnosis by medical practitioners, and statutory steps that need to be taken to give effect to the patient’s wishes.

“I’m proud to carry on the legacy of David Seymour and Brooke van Velden who worked hard to get the original legislation passed. I encourage New Zealanders with personal stories about terminal illness to share these with their local MPs, because if my bill is drawn, it’s likely to be subject to a conscience vote.”

Source: ACT Party

A number of councillors have complained about the cost of holding referendums on Māori wards at next year’s local elections. Responding to this, ACT Local Government spokesman Cameron Luxton says:

“Activist councillors are using the cost of democracy as an excuse to grandstand against a government they don’t like while opposing the rights of their communities to have a say.

“The same councillors criticising the cost of referendums are more than happy to continue wasting money on vanity projects and international travel. Before criticising the modest cost of adding a referendum to next year’s local elections, they should look in the mirror.

“Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Daran Ponter said the referendum was ‘yet another example of expenditure that the Government is forcing on local government’. Meanwhile, his council has spent $200,000 in just two years on international flights. Ponter himself jetted off to Brisbane and the United Kingdom and stayed at the five-star Hyatt in London at a cost of $900 for a single night.

“And just last month we saw the opening of a gold-plated $2.2 million bus stop with a garden on top in Kāpiti, funded by Wellington Regional Council ratepayers.

“Of course, it’s not the ratepayer money that these councillors are really concerned about. They would sooner hike rates than cut back on jaunts overseas or put an end to over-the-top bus stops.

“The reality is it is the councils themselves forcing the costs of referenda onto ratepayers. Knowing that most voters oppose separate Māori wards, they could have simply voted to disestablish them.

“ACT campaigned against Labour’s divisive Māori wards regime. Voters put us in Government with the expectation that we will keep our promises, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Source: ACT Party

The following is ACT Energy and Resources spokesman Simon Court’s response to news of mill closures at Winstone Pulp in Ruapehu.

Labour’s economic vandalism has come home to roost in Ruapehu.

Today around 230 workers heard confirmation they’ve lost their livelihoods with the closure of two Winstone Pulp mills.

Mills have to pay for energy, and lots of it. When there’s a shortage of energy coming from our hydro lakes, and we can’t make up the difference with natural gas, prices rise and profits become losses.

The previous Government’s kamikaze approach to climate change crashed the reliability of our energy supply. The Lake Onslow Hydro proposal frightened off desperately needed private sector investment in new generation.

The oil and gas ban made things even worse. It told energy companies not to bother exploring, even under a new Government, because a future Labour government would just shut them down again.

Of course, rising energy costs came on top of painful inflation and high interest rates – the legacy of Labour’s COVID spending splurge that made running any kind of business more difficult.

We can’t rely on a miracle here. We need to get real about the role of gas in our energy supply, focus on lowering costs instead of spending on boondoggles, and restore New Zealand’s status as a safe place to invest.

Restoring energy security will take time but sadly Winstone Pulp’s workers have none. Many will leave Ruapehu for greener economic pastures, taking their families with them, and leaving fewer customers and workers behind for the remaining shops and factories. This is how regional communities get hollowed out from the inside.

In Government, ACT is doing its part to turn the tide. By cutting back wasteful spending in Wellington, we’ve seen inflation track down, and now interest rates are following.

We’re also tackling energy shortages. We repealed Labour’s oil and gas ban. But it’s time for Chris Hipkins to come to the table and take some responsibility. We’ve invited him to join a cross-party accord giving energy companies confidence that they can invest without the threat of being made unviable or illegal by a future Labour Government.

We know his party doesn’t like natural gas. But even he ought to be able to see how gas saved households from blackouts through the winter. So, we wait in hope.

Source: ACT Party

“ACT is celebrating the Health Minister’s intervention to ensure free GP and nurse services in Hawke’s Bay are targeted according to need, not race,” says ACT Health spokesperson Todd Stephenson.

“We raised the alarm last week that Health NZ’s decision to target free local services to Māori and Pacific would see patients in greater need miss out purely because they have the wrong ancestry.

“ACT has long argued that all New Zealanders deserve the same basic respect and dignity as humans, and that includes having government agencies treat us as individuals, with our own challenges and needs – not as members of an ethnicity.

“The Health Minister’s swift intervention ought to send a strong message to the rest of the public service that targeting government services based on race is lazy and divisive.

“Regardless, ACT’s coalition agreement commits that every central government organisation will recieve a Cabinet Office circular confirming that it is the Government’s expectation that public services should be prioritised on the basis of need, not race.”