A political novice has stepped out in front of a crowd of curious Hawke’s Bay residents to prove why they should vote her party to its first seats in Parliament.
Qiulae Wong, the new leader of The Opportunity Party (Top), formerly The Opportunities Party, met with supporters and curious voters at the Napier Golf Club on a very wet Wednesday evening.
Wong said she came to Hawke’s Bay to learn directly from the voters what they want from their Government, but also to share what they want to do for the region.
“One of our big things is around building the industries of the future and making both our big cities and our small towns great places to live.
“But that’s got to be new industries, a new economy that’s built on renewable energy, making communities more resilient, which is a big thing for around here.”
She said the issue is that current and recent Governments have been throwing old solutions at new problems and believes we need to “think bigger”.
Wong said the party is thinking of the future and wants to keep New Zealand’s agricultural sector a global leader.
“We are definitely here for farmers, and I do think that we’ve probably had too much stick and not enough carrot in the agriculture sector, where farmers have felt like they’re being told what not to do but not necessarily being given the incentives and the support to innovate.”
Founded in 2016 by Gareth Morgan, Top has competed in every election since but never secured a seat in the House.
Wong was appointed leader of the centrist party in November 2025 after the party publicly advertised the job of leader.
She learned of the job in the party’s newsletter and decided to apply after watching the current Government “not take the environment seriously”.
That made her think about what she could do.
Wong was working at multinational KPMG, a place where she thought she could help big businesses pull levers to make big change.
She worked there with people who knew lowering emissions and changing business models was the right thing to do, but she claims signals from the Government prevented them from following through.
This frustrated Wong. She realised the Government is the biggest lever you can pull, and that Top was the only party she could work for.
Wong said Top had always been a very centrist party, and she believed there was a real need for that style of politics in New Zealand.
“We’ve got two blocks, a left block and a right block, that pretty much say they won’t work with the other side in terms of the minor parties.
“That means there’s not much leverage to hold those big parties accountable, and we kind of end up with this increased division, more flip-flop from left to right, less chance of bipartisan support on big issues like infrastructure and education and health spending.
“We think that a centrist party like The Opportunity Party can hold both sides accountable and kind of keep that focus on moving forward rather than playing into this tribal, us versus them division, which really seems to have taken hold in New Zealand.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced yesterday that the 2026 election will be held on November 7.
Wong is aiming to get her party over the 5% party vote threshold to secure Top’s first seat in Parliament.
Top’s policies will be released in February.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in Britain, Germany, and New Zealand.