Election Candidate Profile: Karl Matthys (Democrats for Social Credit
Napier Electorate
Ensuring a universal, unconditional basic income is available for New Zealanders is the catch cry of Karl Matthys, the Napier candidate for the Democrats for Social Credit party.
Mr Matthys describes this policy - which is gaining popularity - as "basically like superannuation but not just for the retired people, for everybody".
A Dutch native, Mr Matthys emigrated to New Zealand in the late 1960s as a 24-year-old, with his wife and child. He settled in the Waikato and worked as an electrician, before moving to Hawke's Bay for a change in lifestyle - growing apples.
Now retired, the Taradale resident is working to promote, and spread the message of a universal income, and generate publicity for his party.
A former Labour supporter, he joined the Democrats for Social Credit as they were the only party then supporting the theory of a universal income. Although always a small party, it once had members of parliament, he said.
"The concept is if there is a man on the ground going for the seat that generates quite a few party votes.
"Though my chances of defeating [Labour candidate Stuart Nash] are nil, just me standing up and taking part in these meet the candidates meetings generates quite a bit of publicity and causes some people to give us their party vote.
"If that's done nationwide we might get a foot in the door again."
If they were in Parliament - Mr Matthys hoped the party could push for the universal income to become a reality.
"A lot of people say it can't be done, and our previous prime minister called it barking mad.
"I think it's just going to have to come, there's just no other way the systems going to cope with the enormous changes that our world is facing in the next 10, or 20 years."
Automation and developing technology would mean more people would become unemployed.
"Not only are these people going to be unemployed but they will be unemployable because there's basically no jobs for these people.
"The argument is what are we going to do about it. If we just gave everybody just enough money just to get by, a roof over your head, just enough to eat, it would totally change our society for the better."
To provide the funds for this programme, roughly half would come from the existing social welfare system, while the rest "would have to come from a quite a drastic change to our taxation system".
The housing crisis in the Napier electorate also needed to be addressed.
"It's desperately in need of some low rental housing and we hope to achieve that, and we can achieve that we think by giving the Reserve Bank of New Zealand the authority to issue interest free loans to local bodies for infrastructure.
"That's one of our main platforms, financial reform to make the Reserve Bank the lender at zero per cent interest rates for infrastructure, and also to enable Housing New Zealand to start building the kind of housing that we need again."
He added the party also thought GST should be abolished, as it disadvantaged those on low incomes.