By Victor Billot, Leader of the Alliance Party

Last week I was elected leader of the Alliance Party. It’s been a long day, but I have a few thoughts to share. I have a State of the Nation speech. I have a very important audience – you.

Over the past few weeks, the people of Aotearoa New Zealand probably mostly missed the annual political theatre known as the 'State of the Nation' addresses.

In their speeches, the two leaders of our political establishment sought the approval of their audience – the Auckland Business Chamber.

I’m addressing the Alliance message to the 90% of New Zealanders outside this world.

While Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins pitched to the lunching elite, the New Zealanders who keep the wheels of our nation turning may have been grabbing a sandwich or working through their lunch breaks.

A nurse under pressure in an over-crowded emergency department.

A port worker setting off for a 12-hour shift.

Cleaners grabbing a few hours of interrupted sleep as their partner leaves for a day shift and their children rush to school.

A teacher trying to work with students who come from abusive homes, who are hungry and distracted, who have poor mental health.

Firefighters dealing with long hours and equipment that is falling to pieces.

The hundreds of thousands without work, facing economic ruin.

And finally, the sick and the homeless.

These are real New Zealanders.

They are our families, our friends, our workmates, our communities.

To use a saying: they are us.

What is the state of our nation?

If you listened to the Prime Minister, you would think Aotearoa is a corporate branch office that just needs a few more restructures to return a dividend. Christopher Luxon’s vision of New Zealand is dictated by the boardroom.

It is a one-dimensional, shallow, and unable to grasp the magnitude of the challenges that will face our nation in coming decades.

His bland “business as usual” politics is an exercise in managed cruelty. Slashing public services, ignoring our failing infrastructure, and squeezing the very workers who keep this country running, all to preserve the lifestyles of his strata.

If there is a lack of urgency in his actions or comprehension in his eyes, it is because he is not choosing between paying the rent or putting food on the table.

In the words that will define his mediocre leadership, he is “sorted.”

What of the loyal opposition? Chris Hipkins stood before the same audience and offered a reassurance that the Labour Party had long ago folded up its proud banners into the cupboard for good.

He was their man, and he offered himself up as a branch manager who might do a better job than the incumbent.

His speech was full of slogans that smelled of long days with focus groups. “Jobs, health, homes” offered stranded nouns floating in space. Labour is so transparently terrified of upsetting the establishment that they have forgotten how to fight for their people. They offer a kinder, gentler managed decline, but a decline nonetheless.

No political party is owed your vote because they are the ‘lesser of two evils.’ The people of New Zealand are told to settle for the second or third best simply to keep a broken system running. And then chins are scratched when the young don’t vote, or vote with their feet and say goodbye.

In the next few years we will be facing major challenges. The world is breaking down into violence and intolerance. We are already seeing the first wave of extreme weather than will wreak havoc across the world. Rapid technological change threatens incomes and job security. Wealth and power continues to be concentrated in the hands of an irresponsible few.

This is the state of our nation. The other nation, outside the polished glass windows of the Chambers and Convention Centres.

In 2026, the Alliance Party is back.

Working people are tired of being told to wait. We are back to offer a genuine, democratic socialist alternative to the stifling consensus that has hollowed out our communities for the last forty years.

Our platform is not a tweak to the margins. It is a transformation of who holds power in Aotearoa.

• Housing is a human right, not a commodity. We will end the era of property speculators treating our neighbourhoods like a casino. We must return to a massive scale of state-led housing construction, ensuring that an affordable, warm, and secure home is guaranteed to every New Zealander.
• A fair tax system that targets the ultra-wealthy. For too long, the burden of funding this country has fallen on wage-earners while the elite hoard untaxed capital. We will implement a comprehensive wealth tax and a financial transactions tax, and we will immediately remove the regressive GST from food.
• Fully funded public services. We believe all people should enjoy high-quality, free education and healthcare. We will rebuild our hollowed-out public infrastructure, with our KiwiWorks plan, from our hospitals to our water networks, keeping them 100% in public ownership.

The few have had their say for far too long. They have bought influence, they have written the laws, and they have reaped the wealth.

But history shows us that the real power in this country was never handed down from the top. It was built from the ground up by working people who demanded a fair share of the wealth they created.

The Alliance Party operates without the large corporate donations that silence the major parties, which means we answer only to you.

The time for tinkering is over. The time for political theatre has passed. If you want a country that works for working people, you have to fight for it.

Join us, and let’s build a society where we can all live in dignity and mutual respect.

It was once said by a leader in our country there are four things that matter to people: they have to have somewhere to live, they have to have food to eat, they have to have clothing to wear, and they have to have something to hope for.

The Alliance is about all those, and most of all, it is about something to hope for.

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