Chris Hipkins addresses the media about his leadership status and his intention to continue leading the Labour Party.
Video / Mark Mitchell
It’s possible, even likely, that a Christopher Luxon-led National Party may need Act and New Zealand First’s help to form a government after the special votes are counted.
Both Act and NZ First campaigned to bin a slew of the outgoing Labour Government’s reforms and policies, but there are severalpolicies the three parties differ on.
Here’s where the possible coalition parties sit on different policies.
What’s (almost) definitely going to go? The policies the three parties agree on axing:
NZ First says it will repeal the Crown Minerals (Petroleum) Amendment Act 2018 and look at a state-owned exploration company to explore offshore in the Great South Basin and Canterbury Basin.
National also wants to repeal the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration and scrap pumped hydro plans for Lake Onslow.
Agricultural emissions pricing
Act says they want to keep agriculture out of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and cancel plans to price farm emissions unless our trading partners also do so.
NZ First also opposes agricultural emissions pricing unless adopted by trading partners.
National also want to keep agriculture out of the ETS, but wants an agricultural emissions pricing system by 2030.
Aurora Garner-Randolph and a friend protesting while Act leader David Seymour speaks to media. Photo / Nathan Mckinnon, RNZ
Three Waters
Act, National and NZ First all oppose Three Waters and have different approaches to replacing it.
Act and National both want to give water assets back to local authorities and allow them to amalgamate to make borrowing for infrastructure easier if they want to.
NZ First wants a Regional Infrastructure Fund, but there are no details on where this money would come from. The party manifesto does say, however, that regions should keep half of the Crown Mineral royalties in their areas.
Act has called the light rail process “a disaster” and wants to introduce a new toll roading system and increase the level of private sector funding into roads instead.
NZ First wants voluntary liquidation of the Crown company for the light rail project, “given costs have spiralled from $168m a kilometre in 2019 to at least $608m in 2023”.
NZ First will instead back a heavy rail spur from Puhinui Station to the airport at “a fraction of the cost”, and a new road tunnel and funding to connect the airport to SH1 as “four lanes to the planes”.
Changes to bright-line test and tax interest deductibility for rentals
National, Act and NZ First all want to restore tax interest deductibility for rental properties, which they say will encourage more landlords to meet rental accommodation shortages.
National wants to bring the bright-line test (the period in which someone can sell a residential property without paying any tax on capital gains) back down to two years.
Act wants to repeal the bright-line test altogether.
Act wants to scrap Significant Natural Areas protections, which would, in their words, restore private property rights.
NZ First has a similar policy. It wants to put property rights into the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and require full commercial compensation where any right is affected or taken for biodiversity and special natural areas.
National said it wants to focus the definition of Significant Natural Areas on areas that are significant by making the rules workable and clear for landowners and councils.
Act also wants to repeal the Clean Car Standard, National wants to see it reviewed.
NZ First doesn’t have a policy on the Clean Car Discount, but wants to develop the infrastructure with industry to expand the use of electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
They want to pass a Treaty Principles Act that would replace the Treaty of Waitangi and the impact it has on laws and legislation.
NZ First leader Winston Peters has long taken umbrage at the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and previously attempted to have all references to Treaty principles removed from legislation in 2005. The bill was voted down despite support from NZ First, National and Act.
Luxon has stopped short of ruling out the Act’s Treaty policy, but has said a referendum would be divisive.
Zero Carbon Act
Act wants to repeal the Zero Carbon Act and carbon budgets and replace them with a new plan setting the carbon price to the price paid by the top five trading partners.
National doesn’t agree with this - they want to keep in place the Zero Carbon Act and maintain carbon budgets and New Zealand’s agreed international climate change pledges.
NZ First has said decarbonisation must be at the “forefront of our country’s thinking. Businesses that operate within the sector must be given surety, and this includes consumers of energy”.
Superannuation age
Both Act and National want to increase the NZ Super age, something NZ First is against.
Act would increase the eligibility age to 67 at a rate of three months per year, starting from the 2024/2025 financial year.
National wants to increase the age of eligibility to 67, but would not start the changes until 2044.
NZ First would keep the age of eligibility at 65.
Climate Emergency Response
Act wants to scrap what they call “wasteful and ineffective schemes” such as the Climate Emergency Response Fund.
National has previously announced a “climate dividend”, which would include taking money out of the Climate Emergency Response Fund (ETS funds) to help fund tax cuts.
NZ First does not have a policy directly about the Climate Emergency Response, but says they want to repurpose money funded by the ETS (which funds the Emergency Response Fund) to instead support climate and emission-related science.
Jaime Lyth is an Auckland-based reporter who covers crime. She joined the Herald in 2021 and has previously reported for the Northern Advocate.
