New Zealand is drifting into the second tier and pretending otherwise won’t save us

"New Zealanders deserve honesty about our future living standards," says ACT Leader David Seymour.

"IMF data on GDP per person (PPP) shows the scale of the problem. In 2008, New Zealand sat around $33,390 per person. By 2025, we’re estimated at $55,781.

"That might sound like progress, until you look at who has surged past us.

"Take Poland. In 2008, Poland was on about $19,757 per person, well behind New Zealand. By 2025, Poland is effectively level at about $55,340. In one working lifetime, they've caught us.

"Meanwhile, traditional peers have pulled away. Australia is about $71,431 per person while New Zealand is about $55,781. That gap shows up in wages, investment, and how much room a country has to fund hospitals, schools and infrastructure.

"And here’s the part no other Party will say out loud: if we just keep doing what we’ve been doing, the gap gets worse.

"If we extend the trend into the near future, Poles – who were $13,633 poorer per person than New Zealanders in 2008 – will be about $62,000 richer per person than us by 2042. We will be overtaken by countries like Hungary and Romania. The case for building a life in New Zealand becomes weaker.

"This isn't destiny, but it's the implied destination of our recent performance.

"New Zealand cannot borrow, spend, and regulate its way back into prosperity. We cannot keep promising gold-plated services on a productivity base that is slipping relative to the world. And we can’t keep pretending that a few minor tweaks will reverse nearly two decades of drift.

"ACT is prepared to do what others won’t: campaign on the hard but necessary choices. That means taking on the red tape that makes it too hard to build, invest, hire, and innovate. It means being honest about what the country can actually afford. And it means putting long-term living standards ahead of the easy, short-term politics that got us into this mess.

"ACT will campaign on those choices. Because the alternative is easy politics now, and a poorer New Zealand later. We would rather be criticised for telling the truth than applauded for selling false comfort."