The Act Party will create a Ministry for Regulation if elected as part of a National-led Government, to enforce rules limiting wasteful Government spending on unnecessary red tape.
Act leader David Seymour made the policy announcement during an impassioned speech to 600 people at Auckland’s SkyCity today after making a showy entrance, driving on to the stage in a Suzuki Swift embossed in Act Party colours.
He also issued a plea for $1 million in donations, while also highlighting the high cost of living early in his speech. Act has already raised millions largely from wealthy donors in recent years.
It comes after Seymour told the Herald on Sunday he considered one of Act’s chief roles in a potential National-Act Government as the “red tape and regulation police”.
Act’s policy proposed officials responsible for assessing the impact of regulations at the Treasury and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment would be housed inside the Ministry for Regulation and report to a new minister.
“Their sole responsibility would be to police the rules and regulations Ministers are constantly foisting on unsuspecting Kiwis just trying to get ahead,” Seymour said.
“Rather than the constant badgering and bludgeoning Kiwis get at the moment, it would be this minister’s sole job expressly to ease the blockages and smooth the pathways to dynamism and drive.”
It’s very similar to what was agreed in National and Act’s confidence and supply agreement after the 2008 election, when then-Act leader Rodney Hide was made the Minister for Regulatory Reform - a portfolio designed to prompt “higher productivity growth and improvements in the quality of regulation”.
The policy proposed the new minister would choose a sector to conduct a six-month inquiry into, hearing from people affected by regulations and test them against a Regulatory Standards Act - legislation Act tried to introduce last year before it was voted down by Labour and the Greens.
The minister would then publish a report address to their ministerial counterpart of the sector being evaluated, who would have three months to respond before either a bill was introduced to Parliament removing unnecessary regulations or the latter explained why they disagreed with the inquiry’s findings in the House.
According to the policy document, regulations that could be repealed included the ban of pseudoephedrine in over-the-counter medicine, which was banned in 2009 to counter the production of meth.
The document claimed it hadn’t stopped the prevalence of meth and had instead “increased the costs and harm to everyday New Zealanders every time they catch a cold”.
It also proposed stripping regulations currently imposed on temporary traffic management operations, early childhood education and those contained in the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA) that had “radically altered the regulatory requirements for consumer lending, treating registered banks like loan sharks”.
The policy document said resourcing the ministry would come from “within existing budgets”, despite Seymour’s belief current regulatory assessment was inadequate.
He believed every sector was “ripe for red tape cutting”, particularly the construction sector, and suspected half of this Government’s passed legislation wouldn’t have made it through.
“The others [politicians] like to start by thinking of how they can spend the money you earn. I want us to start by thinking of how we can get out of your way.”
During last weekend’s Labour Congress, senior Labour and National members traded blows through speeches and media statements in a marked ramping up of negative rhetoric ahead of the election campaign.
Specific attacks on Labour and National were rare in Seymour’s speech, the two major parties were more often lumped together when Seymour spoke of the lack of progress under successive governments.
“In every area that troubles New Zealand, the pattern is the same.
“Labour is promising to make it worse faster. National are promising not to rock the boat or scare the horses.”
Seymour touched on several issues that had become hot election-year topics - the cost of living, crime, co-governance, education and health.
He accused Labour of accelerating the “drift towards separatism” with its “constant insertion of race-based policy”, while proclaiming Act would remove Treaty of Waitangi references from legislation and re-define Treaty principles.
Seymour claimed the health system was in a “state of chaos” and promised to reform the delivery of mental health funding, boost funding for GPs, use private surgeries more and build facilities through more public-private partnerships.
To indicate the impact of the current cost of living crisis, Seymour cited comments from 12-year-old students from the wealthy Auckland suburb Remuera who, when asked what they’d do as King or Queen for a day, they reportedly said “make food cheaper” and “make petrol cheaper”.
“Kiwi Mums and Dads are proud ... they won’t put it as plainly as kids will, but the pain is there.”
Parents’ struggle to meet their everyday costs didn’t stop Seymour from asking for donations however, saying the party was in need of another $1m before October to meet its campaign budget.
Act’s party donations return for 2022, filed with the Electoral Commission, showed Act had raised slightly more than $2m in those 12 months - $1.2m of that was made up of donations of more than $15,000.
That didn’t include the $1m the party had received in donations of more than $20,000 in the last three months.
Seymour said the party’s “fixed costs” had been covered but that the additional $1m was needed to “bypass the media’s editorial decisions and the tech companies’ algorithms” with paid advertising.
“It’s true, times are tough but pulling New Zealand out of this funk must be a good investment so please, if you can give, do,” Seymour asked of his members.
The 600-strong audience was treated to almost two hours of speeches from various MPs, standing at a bright pink lectern on an empty black stage apart from the big screen behind the speakers.
Deputy leader Brooke van Velden opened her speech by asking who in the audience lived in Auckland, and whether they lived in Tāmaki - the electorate she will be contesting during the election.
Even though only a handful Tāmaki residents put up their hands, van Velden took many chances to indicate her advocacy for the electorate, including when speaking of her recent visit to Taiwan.
“Now, it’s a long way from Taiwan to Tāmaki, but in a funny way, many of people’s concerns are just the same in Taiwan and in Timaru and Twizel - each wants only the best for their kids, each wants a place to call home and each wants an interesting and well-paying job.”
She referenced Taiwan’s resistance to China in her aspirations for freedom in New Zealand, saying Taiwan was a “country that understands a thing or two about the importance of freedom and no matter how big or small you may be, how important it is to stand up to bullies”.
She also launched several attacks directed at Prime Minister Chris Hipkins for his record as education and police minister, as well as his role in New Zealand’s Covid-19 response.
“We will be paying the price for his botched ordering of the vaccines and the ludicrous Byzantine PSR testing regime for years.”
Karen Chhour followed her, addressing co-governance and the party’s intention to strip applications for the Treaty of Waitangi from government.
Ahead of Northland farmer Mark Cameron’s speech, the audience was treated to a short montage of all things rural - MPs at Fieldays, dairy cows being milked, muddy gumboots, strong handshakes and utes driving in slow motion.
While proclaiming “small town New Zealand” hadn’t suffered more than under the current Government, Cameron introduced fellow farmer Andrew Hoggard, who had recently resigned as Federated Farmers president to run for Act in the Rangitīkei electorate.
Hoggard gave an engaging speech and switched well between written notes and off-the-cuff comments.
However, his messages may not have meant much to the audience of primarily Auckland residents, particularly when he went launched into a detailed discussion of stock exclusion rules, which prohibit stock from polluting wetlands, lakes and rivers.
Another new Act recruit, Dr Parmjeet Parmar, followed Hoggard’s lead by examining many specific issues with her interest area - science and technology development.
The former National MP only once acknowledged her association with the Opposition, but gave no explanation as to why she made the move.
Simon Court came the closest to making the first reference of the Coalition of Chaos, saying Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori would be “fighting amongst themselves like ferrets in a sack” in a potential government.
He also gave the first real criticism of National, which had been scarcely mentioned, for not reforming the Resource Management Act when it had the chance.
MC Leah Panapa had barely begun to introduce crime and justice spokeswoman Nicole McKee and her passion for firearm legislation reform before some in the crowd started clapping.
Interestingly, firearms legislation did not get mentioned throughout her speech, instead focusing on the level of crime and Act’s intention to bring back the Three Strikes legislation and have it apply to burglary offenders.
“I don’t give a damn what your skin colour or ethnicity is ... we are all equal under this law,” McKee said, echoing comments made earlier by Chhour.
PM Christopher Luxon will meet Xi Jinping in Beijing before attending the Nato summit.