HOW CAN YOU HELP?
If you’re in the second group, then ACT needs you to get active. Please go to the party’s Road to Real Change Tour, and especially its campaign launch on September 17, and show friends and enemies alike where you stand. ACT is also keen on volunteers, sign sites and, of course, donations.
NASTY AND NEGATIVE
As we’ve said before, politicians basically have two options. They can either say ‘vote for us because we’re good for you’ or ‘vote for us because the other guys are worse.’ There’s no way Labour can say they’re good for us, not after the last six years. That’s why they’re running a negative campaign.
GOT THE WRONG GUY?
The odd thing is the Council of Trade Unions, and Chris Hipkins, are targeting Chris Luxon like National’s a danger to them. They’re targeting a party who would keep 98 per cent of Labour’s spending. National’s ‘tax cuts’ could have been announced by Labour, in fact Michael Cullen once campaigned on tax cuts three times as generous.
CHANGE YOUR TIE
The CTU should be comfortable that National would be business as usual, but wear a blue tie, like all the other National Governments. They should be attacking ACT, who would reduce Government spending by $9 billion, fire 15,000 bureaucrats, and give public service chief executives KPIs and performance pay - so they get paid more for getting results instead of just employing more people.
AFFORDABLE, ABUNDANT ENERGY
ACT released more policy to make life more affordable on Sunday. Low-income households and competitive exporters need cheap energy to survive. Expensive energy might be popular with Grey Lynn Green voters, but the rest of us need affordable energy.
HOW IT WORKS
The party’s energy policy is designed to boost private investment in energy. People risking their own money to produce affordable energy is the fastest way to a more prosperous and sustainable future. ACT’s policy would remove the oil and gas exploration ban, remove binding Te Mana o te Wai statements from water management, fast track offshore wind consents, reward carbon capture, usage, and sequestration on par with reducing emissions, and dump the Lake Onslow battery proposal (which fails cost-benefit analysis, but scares competing investors off).
THE DIFFERENCE
Every other party is telling you that if you vote for them you might get a few dollars more, a winter energy payment here or a tax credit there. But nobody is asking how to make the country wealthier. How can we release human ingenuity to solve problems, such as generating more energy with lower emissions? Remove the red tape and regulations. You’ll see a lot of this, others saying ‘we cannot afford it’ and the ACT Party asking ‘how could we afford it?’
HOPE BEATS FEAR
There will be some big fear campaigns this election. That’s all the Government has left. They certainly do not have hope. Those of us who hope for real change, based on fresh new ideas, have ACT. If you believe it’s time to think out of the box, please do your best to help ACT get party votes over the line this year.