ACT's Record

ACT has driven major changes toward equal rights, democratic accountability and a politically neutral public service. They include:

• Making need, not race, the rule for public services: ACT secured a Cabinet circular directing agencies to target services according to individual need instead of using ethnicity as a proxy.

• Removing race-based institutions and legal duties: The Government abolished the Māori Health Authority, removed race-based requirements from health law and repealed section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act so decisions focus on children's safety and wellbeing.

• Restoring local democracy: ACT secured the return of binding local referendums on Māori wards. The Government has also adopted the substance of Cameron Luxton's Member's Bill so unelected council appointees will no longer be able to vote or count toward quorum under the Local Government Act.

• Putting merit and neutrality back into the public service: The Public Service Amendment Act reinforces political neutrality, merit-based appointments and professional competence, and removes statutory requirements to pursue demographic representation in public-service employment.

• Ending race-based procurement targets: ACT secured the removal of the target requiring eight per cent of government contracts to be awarded to Māori-owned businesses. Public contracts should be awarded on value and performance.

• Protecting liberties and property rights in lawmaking: The Regulatory Standards Act requires new laws to be assessed openly against principles including personal liberty, property rights, equality before the law and good legislative process. An independent Regulatory Standards Board can examine complaints and report publicly.

• Stopping state-backed speech policing: The Government halted Labour's proposed hate-speech expansion and agreed to disestablish the Broadcasting Standards Authority after ACT challenged its attempt to extend broadcasting rules to podcasts and online media.
  
  The coalition Government has not gone as far as ACT would like, but it has gone further than it would have without ACT.