Promises Kept

The Haps

ACT has a good week in Parliament with many Bills the Party’s been working on reaching the business end: The Regulatory Standards Bill, Medicines Amendment Bill (if two countries approve a medicine it can be used here), Education and Training Amendment Bill (no more Treaty obligations for school boards) and Overseas Investment Act (yes to investment, we need it). These are all examples of the little party that can change New Zealand’s future for the better.

Promises Kept

We didn’t mention the Arms Act. This week Nicole McKee will unveil a piece of work she’s campaigned on since she entered Parliament five years ago. It’s nearly seven years since David Seymour stood against the whole Parliament because the rushed firearm laws were silly. ACT has deep principles and a long memory, it is delivering better firearm laws for the whole country.

When a crazed foreign terrorist opened fire in two Christchurch mosques, we all felt devastation plunged into the heart of our peaceful nation. Jacinda Ardern’s leadership in the hours and days following the tragedy have been praised around the world. We agree with that analysis, peace and conciliation, not fear and retaliation, was the right approach.

Then the response changed. A ham-fisted attempt to ban ‘all the guns used in the attack’ was doomed to failure from the beginning. Police estimated there were 250,000 centre-fire semi-automatic firearms in the country, but their amnesty only collected 60,000-odd.

Behind this technical failure was the real problem with Ardern’s response. There was fear and retaliation, but it was directed at Kiwi licensed firearm owners who were just as horrified by the tragedy as anyone. The problem was caused by one person, and arguably those who wrongly gave him a licence. The logic, or lack of it, was that changing the law for all licenced firearm owners would fix a problem caused by a small handful of people.

And so it played out. Massive amounts of distrust caused by poor problem definition and a rushed parliamentary process left nobody better off. The ACT Party not only had the courage to stand up against the madness, but to follow through and fix it.

This week Nicole McKee will take a major step to doing just that. She will unveil an entire new Arms Act, the first new Arms Act since 1983. Free Press cannot tell the story of what is in the Arms Act, that is up to Nicole McKee who’s done the hard yards and heavy lifting on it for years.

But we can say we’re proud as a publication to support the ACT Party. All around the world, trust in politicians is falling and democracy is in decline. This year’s Freedom House survey of countries shows less democracy around the world than any time since the Cold War ended. That was when dozens of countries turned democratic overnight, before democracy started sliding backwards again.

We think the reason is simple. Politicians come and go, but the problems they promised to fix remain. This week’s unveiling of the Arms Act is one example of dogged commitment to doing right by voters. Other parties have changed their positions several times while ACT has stayed true on this issue.

The Medicines’ Amendment Bill is another promise kept. During COVID, David Seymour said it was silly to make Kiwis wait for medicines approved overseas in countries we trust. This week will see a law passed that means a medicine approved in two trusted countries must be approved here within 30 days of application.

The Party has railed against red tape for decades, championing the Regulatory Standards Bill as a kind of red-tape constitution. It means politicians and bureaucrats must explain the costs to ordinary people before making another law. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. It looks likely that that law will likely pass this week, too.

Then there’s Overseas Investment. We don’t lose any pride when other people want to invest in New Zealand. In fact, it’s the opposite. We should panic when foreigners stop wanting to hold assets in New Zealand, just ask any South American or African.

Actually, they’re not doing so bad these days, it’s New Zealand that’s been ranked fourth from the bottom for openness to investment. David Seymour’s changes to streamline Overseas Investment law and focus it on genuine security risks is long overdue.

There is an awful lot of posturing and bumper sticker politics going on at the moment. Just look at Labour’s promise to give you a credit card for healthcare instead of fixing the problems in healthcare. At Free Press we’re proud to stand with ACT, a party of gutsy politicians who quietly do the work to fix what matters to New Zealanders.