“As we enter another year – ACT has some New Year’s Resolution ideas for Jacinda Ardern and her Government,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Firstly, start listening.

“The Government has too many policies that divide people and divide wealth. It should dump them. Instead, we need policies that unite New Zealand behind good ideas to create wealth.

“The Government proved last year it was capable of listening on one issue – it scrapped the highly unpopular cycle bridge in Auckland.

“Here are some other things the Government should dump:

• Three Waters Reforms, complexity and division with questionable benefits
• Fair Pay Agreements, compulsory unionism that will kill productivity growth
• Another public holiday, paid for by employers
• Scrapping interest deductibility on property investors mortgages
• The COVID eradication response, failing despite the Government’s denials
• Firearms reforms, alienated licenced firearm owners but did nothing for gun crime
• Zero Carbon Act, an overcomplicated way of reducing emissions
• Commercial property law changes, shaking confidence in the rule of law
• Significant Natural Areas, confiscation for improving your property
• Live Export Ban, an enormous economic cost based on faulty assumptions
• Car Tax, impractical, inequitable, and won’t reduce carbon emissions on gram
• Oil & gas ban, destroying investor confidence in New Zealand
• National Policy Statement on Freshwater, one-size-fits all and practical nowhere.

“Those are just a few examples where the Government should listen to New Zealanders, back down from its ideological stance and do what’s right.

“ACT has plenty of positive policies the Government can replace these with, including:

• An Epidemic Response Unit to govern the response to COVID professionally and collaboratively
• Student Education Accounts, so parents are in charge of the education budget
• 30-year infrastructure funding and planning partnerships to get infrastructure built in each region
• Private insurance on new builds instead of costly council building inspections and get homes built
• A Regulatory Responsibility Act to ensure law making consults and considers peoples’ rights
• A Mental Health and Addictions agency to ensure the mental health dollar is efficiently spent
• ACT’s alternative budget would cut taxes, and start repaying debt by 2025
• Electronic income management for welfare, so the kids get the benefits
• Gang injunction orders and tougher asset forfeiture laws, so organised crime doesn’t pay
• A four-year term with independent select committees, so law making is sober and considered instead of rushed and reckless
• A straightforward climate policy that links our emission levels to our competitors’

“It’s a New Year and time for some new thinking. Here’s hoping Labour finally starts listening.”

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