ACT drives most business-friendly Government in a generation

“All the gnashing over the Government’s relationship with business misses one basic fact. This is the most business-friendly Government in a generation, and ACT has driven the change,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“The latest ANZ survey, showing business confidence jumping 19 points in July, is encouraging, and the result of changes to laws that encourage people to hire, invest, build and compete.

“For too long, New Zealand politics has been trapped in zero-sum thinking. When a business succeeds, someone else must have lost. When a company makes a profit, politicians look for a way to tax it, regulate it, break it up, or cut it down. Labour and their allies still share that view, which is why we need to lock Labour out to unlock New Zealand’s potential.

“ACT recognises that successful businesses employ people, invest in communities, develop new products, pay wages and taxes, and compete to give customers better choices. Their success creates opportunities for other New Zealanders.

“ACT’s record in Government speaks for itself:

•⁠ ⁠Savings: ACT Ministers have saved $14 billion for the taxpayer to keep inflation and interest rates under control.

•⁠ ⁠Repealing Fair Pay Agreements and restoring 90-day trials: Brooke van Velden repealed of Labour’s one-size-fits-all bargaining regime before industry-wide agreements could be imposed on employers and workers. She also restored the right for businesses of every size to take a chance on a new worker without the risk of becoming trapped in an employment relationship that does not work.

•⁠ ⁠Reforming employment law: Brooke’s changes have delivered clearer contractor rules, removed the compulsory 30-day rule, stopped personal-grievance remedies for serious misconduct, and introduced new rules for unjustified-dismissal claims involving employees earning over $200,000.

•⁠ ⁠Replacing the broken Holidays Act: Brooke led the Employment Leave Bill through Parliament, replacing complicated rules that caused payroll errors, remediation bills, and uncertainty with a clearer hours-based system.

•⁠ ⁠Overhauling health and safety law: Brooke’s health and safety reforms allow small, low-risk businesses to focus on critical risks, provide clearer compliance pathways, sharpen WorkSafe’s role, and reduce paperwork that does not keep anyone safer.

•⁠ ⁠AML reforms: Nicole McKee has simplified Anti-Money Laundering regulations so there is less confusion for honest operators and a sharper focus on organised crime, fraud, and dirty money.

•⁠ ⁠Establishing the Ministry for Regulation and Red Tape Tipline: New Zealand now has a dedicated agency challenging rules that impose more cost than benefit, and is projected to deliver an estimated net public benefit to the New Zealand economy over 10 years of between $223 and $337 million.

•⁠ ⁠Passing the Regulatory Standards Act: ACT delivered legal requirements for greater transparency around the costs of regulation and established an independent board able to scrutinise poor rules.

•⁠ ⁠Repealing Labour’s anti-growth policies: ACT campaigned on and the Government has scrapped the ute tax, repealed Labour’s RMA replacement, reversed the ban on oil and gas exploration, repealed the Auckland regional fuel tax, and stopped blanket speed-limit reductions.

•⁠ ⁠Easing restrictive lending rules: ACT campaigned on and delivered the removal of overly prescriptive affordability assessments that made it harder for responsible people and businesses to access finance.

•⁠ ⁠Opening the building-products market: The Government has delivered ACT’s policy to recognise trusted overseas standards and certifications, increasing competition and allowing tens of thousands of additional products to be used in New Zealand.

•⁠ ⁠Reformed overseas investment rules: I’ve overseen reforms that simplify screening and introduce a 15-working-day decision requirement for most investments unless national-interest concerns are identified.

“ACT has also influenced what has not happened. Without ACT at the Cabinet table, there would have been far greater pressure to attack successful industries, break up productive businesses, and pile new rules and costs onto employers in pursuit of a headline.

“New Zealand needs more investment, more successful businesses, more people in work, and higher wages. The only way to ensure this is to vote for a greater ACT presence in Government dedicated to unlocking the potential of every New Zealander prepared to build, hire, innovate, and take a risk.”