• PHARMAC scrutiny a win for transparency

    August 02, 2022 4:36 PM

    “PHARMAC’s appearance before the Health Select Committee tomorrow morning is a triumph for transparency and the result of ACT’s persistent advocacy for a review into PHARMAC,” says ACT’s Deputy Leader and Health spokesperson Brooke van Velden.

    “It was ACT who got the Select Committee to agree to PHARMAC coming along tomorrow, and it was ACT who kicked off the entire process of having an independent review.

    “The Government was dragged into a review of PHARMAC kicking and screaming. The review was first proposed by ACT during the election campaign and National and Labour only agreed after being backed into a corner during an election debate.

    “ACT began calling for a review because it was clear PHARMAC wasn’t meeting its objective of providing the best health outcomes for New Zealanders.

    “Once the review was finally released it was clear that PHARMAC needed to front up to Parliament and respond to the review, so I requested a briefing through the Chair of the Health Select Committee.

    “The review has brought to light serious deficiencies in the way PHARMAC operates. Including that Pharmac staff, rather than clinical experts or those with patient experience, are making decisions about life saving medicines. The idea that medicines could be bumped up or down priority lists based on popular opinion rather than clinical opinion is staggering and should be fixed.

    “Tomorrow is the first opportunity to prosecute these findings and ensure that PHARMAC is providing the best service for Kiwis.

    “They need to be held accountable. ACT will continue advocating for better health outcomes for Kiwis.”

  • Labour’s electoral law reform nakedly political

    August 02, 2022 11:54 AM

    “Labour is cynically using its parliamentary majority to hamstring political opponents a year out from an election with the Electoral Amendment Bill undergoing its first reading today, it should be ashamed,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

    “There are issues with electoral law evidenced by the recent NZ First trial, but instead of proposing an amendment focussed on fixing this loophole, Labour is using the example as a trojan horse so they can hammer their opponent’s finances by changing disclosure thresholds.

    “Labour will have you believe that recent Serious Fraud Office cases involving NZ First, National and Labour itself are precedent for these changes. Ironically, they’re making things worse. By reducing what can be given legally without disclosure, the same sorts of people who end up in court under the current donation laws will work even harder to hide donations. Our democracy will, if anything, become less transparent as a result of this law.

    “To put Labour’s changes into perspective, if the law was in place last election and all donors giving between $5,000 and $15,000 all reduced their donations to $5,000. ACT would have lost $304,807 of funding, National $573,952. Labour and the Greens would lose $169,399 and $67,800 respectively.

    “Labour hasn’t been able to provide any clear reason for the change in threshold. As ACT’s main fundraiser for almost a decade, I can tell you that nobody receives undue influence for $15,000. To run a half decent campaign, you need at least $1.5 million and $15,000 is only one per cent of that. Nobody can get undue influence over a political party for funding one per cent of a campaign.

    “We should value that fact that many people give money, with no tax deduction, simply because they want a party’s people and policies to reach a wider audience and have a chance of winning power.

    “Without donors, our democracy would not function, but they are being made out to be something sinister. In actual fact, donors often fear repercussions for being publicly identified for supporting a particular party.

    “Labour’s changes mark an absolute nadir of policy-making. They’re knowingly limiting parties’ ability to promote their views and policies – and in effect, limiting Kiwis’ choices at the ballot box.

    “It’s a sad day for democracy when the governing party uses its majority to screw the scrum. But as we’ve seen repeatedly from Labour, democracy is not something it values.”

  • Farmers begging for real change

    August 02, 2022 10:24 AM

    “The results of Federated Farmers latest farmer confidence survey shows that farmers have had enough and election day can’t come soon enough so we can have real change,” says ACT’s Primary Industries spokesperson and Ruawai Dairy Farmer Mark Cameron.

    “The survey reported the lowest confidence amongst farmers since its inception in 2009. The Labour Government has been a non-stop shop of on-farm compliance, they’ve introduced an excess of shoddy rules and regulations that has only made it harder for farmers to produce the food that grows our economy and feeds our families.

    “Freshwater reforms, winter grazing rules, Zero Carbon Act, limiting migrant workers, other ideological climate policies, Significant Natural Areas, taxes on utes… The list goes on. Farmers have taken a hammering from this government.

    “This is reflected by the top concerns in the survey being climate change policy and the ETS, regulation and compliance costs, input costs, debt and interest rates, and biosecurity amidst concerns about foot-and-mouth disease.

    “It is also the first time in history the survey has recorded a negative score for production expectations, Kiwi farmers expect they’re not going to be able to produce as much over the next year as they have in the past. This means less export receipts and higher food prices for everyone.

    “ACT wants to see farmers given the respect they deserve. That’s why we were the only party in parliament to stand up and vote against ideological nonsense like the Zero Carbon Act.

    “We’re also committed to cutting the red tape that increases costs on farmers whether its the RMA, workplace relations changes like the scrapping of 90-day trials, an overcomplicated and underdelivering immigration system, or one-size-fits-all health and safety rules that aren’t fit for purpose.

    “And we’re the only party calling on the Government to be upfront and clear with its plan for Foot-and-Mouth Disease.

    “ACT is the loudest voice in Parliament when it comes to standing up for the rights of rural New Zealand. As a dairy farmer myself, I know that farmers are best environmentalists around. We kept the economy going through COVID. It’s time the Government gave us a break.”

  • Report shows OT Bill has to go

    August 02, 2022 8:57 AM

    "A report released this morning about the Oranga Tamariki Oversight Bill backs up the concerns of every submitter on the legislation,” says ACT Children’s spokesperson Karen Chhour.

    “The report says this Bill risks creating a "vicious cycle" of increasing harm to children and young people. It details the issues in a way that the government can no longer in all conscience say that this Bill is in the best interest of children and young people.

    “Every political party other than Labour wants this legislation dropped. It’s not often ACT and the Greens agree on a political issue but we have a united voice in our opposition to this legislation.

    “This Bill is an example of why I came to Parliament, to stop Wellington bureaucrats making the same mistakes of the past.

    "I can tell you from my experience in dealing with child, youth and family growing up, the worst thing you can do as an organisation is lose the trust of our youth, because to come forward takes huge courage and why would you come forward if you don't trust the system?

    “We need real change to make a difference for the next generation, not the token lip service coming from this Government.

    “To fix Oranga Tamariki the Government first needs to drop this legislation. Then it should adopt my Member’s Bill that says OT and its governing principles should be colour-blind, utterly child-centric, and open to whatever solution will ensure a child’s wellbeing. My Bill would ensure this happens, placing more value on the best interests of the child rather than their nationality." 

  • Forget Shortland St, put nurses on the Green List

    August 01, 2022 3:46 PM

    “In a ridiculous plot twist, the Government’s answer to the nursing shortage is to partner with Shortland St to promote nursing while it stubbornly refuses to put nurses on the immigration Green List,” says ACT Deputy Leader and Health spokesperson Brooke van Velden.

    “In the midst of a global pandemic we are desperately short of nurses. The Government is doing nothing to make New Zealand more attractive for nurses to move here, instead migrant nurses aren’t eligible for residency until after two years in New Zealand.

    “Instead of changing that, Health Minister Andrew Little says the Government is partnering with Shortland St to promote nursing as a career. You can’t script something this absurd.

    “Our health workforce is exhausted, and patients are at risk. We should be attracting nurses here immediately, not using a fictional TV show. People might find that the realities of being a nurse are a bit different to working alongside Dr Warner. ACT understands there are fewer affairs and murders in real life hospitals.

    As an immediate fix, ACT would:

    • Provide all occupations on the ‘Green List’ a fast-track to residency by removing the ‘work to residence’ divide
    • Simplify the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme by abolishing labour market tests, wage rules, and make it easier for migrants to move between accredited employers.

    “It’s time for the Government to get real on our health crisis, Shortland St isn’t the answer. The way things are going our health workers will be wishing they were in Guatemala.”

  • Free Press, 1 August 2022

    August 01, 2022 2:59 PM

    The Haps 

    The return of Parliament saw the Prime Minister get very angry at David Seymour’s questions. The Government told the reserve Bank to control inflation over the medium term, but the Prime Minister could not define ‘medium.’ If you wonder why we have an inflation problem, just remember that the Prime Minister can’t say what her Government’s official instructions to the Reserve Bank mean.

    False Idols 

    Tina Turner said we don’t need another hero, but New Zealand is desperately short of them. The vacuum has been filled by second rate Flash Harries who let us down but are worshipped nonetheless.

    Exhibit A could only be Ashley Bloomfield. When Labour’s hapless Health Minister David Clark decided to stay out of the capital and instead go mountain biking during a pandemic, he accidentally created the cult of St Ashley.

    For two years the cringe couldn’t stop. A whole country, or at least a large part of it, turned one of its most incompetent bureaucrats into a folk hero. Every failing was met with more adulation as scared people always believed the guy with nice hair probably saved them from even worse.

    Media, for their part, were afraid of their inboxes getting filled with abuse if they questioned the grand illusion, let alone its beloved architect.

    The warning signs were there when poor vaccination led to an outbreak of measles in 1999. It turned out to be the worst measles outbreak since 1938. 

    Come 2020 and the failures just kept coming. The macro decisions, close the border and lockdown to buy time, those were right, at least initially. The failures were in implementation, i.e. the stuff that the Ministry of Health was responsible for (regular Free Press can probably skip the next four paragraphs).

    It started with PPE, Ashley said there was plenty, but doctor after doctor said they couldn’t find any at the hospital they were in. Then there was testing. 

    Saliva made a lot more sense than Nasopharyngeal, but instead of working with business, the Ministry of Health went to war with it. Once a real outbreak came, testing crumbled.

    Tracing was no better, it’s not clear that the NZ-COVID tracer app ever actually traced a case. Like testing, tracing became collapsed at the first sign of a real outbreak.

    The vaccine roll out was the worst. The Ministry of Health was not directly involved in the procurement -that was MBIE- but the fact that industry, iwi, even GP clinics were not involved in the roll out from day one is certainly the fault of the Ministry of Health.

    Exhibit B is the Reserve Bank Governor. While he’s no Saint Ashley, Adrian Orr has achieved a level of celebrity that’s well above what a central bank Governor deserves.

    Orr has his own brand of muscular bonhomie, but in a kind of nerdy finance guy way. His screw ups are arguably larger.

    The Reserve Bank’s conduct and culture review into the banking sector cost a fortune but found no serious issues, perhaps because it didn’t look inwards. With 50 per cent staff turnover at the top, and former senior staff now speaking out, the Reserve Bank itself has problems.

    Then there’s the bizarre metaphor that the financial system is a forest and Adrian’s outfit is, of course, Tane Mahuta. That’s tiresome, but not the real issue.

    Pumping the economy full with cash, slashing interest rates then going further by printing money through the Large Scale Asset Purchase program and the Funding for Lending Program was clearly a massive overreach. 

    The behaviour of these false idols stands in stark contrast with the character and achievements of a real hero. Perhaps the greatest New Zealander ever to live was Sir Edmund Hillary.

    Sir Ed was certainly a world class achiever, unlike Orr or Bloomfield. He was extraordinary in his reluctance to personally profit or seek the limelight, also unlike our current lot. 

    When the American department store Sears took Sir Ed on as a promoter of their outdoor products, he directed the funds earned to help the Sherpas who helped him conquer the Himalayas.

    Maybe we do need another hero, but it needs to be more Hillary and less Bloomfield. Neither inflation nor the virus would not stand a chance against a man like him.

  • Forget welfare nation, Labour creates welfare world

    August 01, 2022 10:06 AM

    “With the Prime Minister blaming “the globe” instead of her Government’s policies for the cost of living crisis, she has decided to extend her welfare agenda from just New Zealand to the world,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

    “There are reports that temporary migrants who have left New Zealand are receiving her cost of living payment.

    “These people aren’t New Zealand citizens or residents and yet we are paying them welfare. It seems it’s not enough to Jacinda Ardern to try to hook as many New Zealanders on welfare as possible, she wants her welfare agenda to go global.

    “Both Ardern and David Parker told media this morning they knew the payment would be made to some people living overseas. That is simply reckless.

    “Ardern and Parker now need to tell us how many people living overseas received the payment, and will any efforts be made to recover it?

    What the Government should have done is cut spending and cut taxes, so that people could keep more of their own money. In fact, ACT’s recent Cost of Living document outlines nine concrete initiatives that the Government could take to beat inflation and the cost of living crisis.

     ACT would:

    1. Embrace free trade by unilaterally abolishing all tariffs to reduce costs of clothing, food and equipment imported into New Zealand by $200 million per year
    2. Simplifying the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme by abolishing labour market tests, the wage rule, and transfer restrictions, clearly not needed in a labour crisis, so firms can produce to their potential without labour constraints
    3. Allow foreign supermarket chains from OECD member countries to bypass the Overseas Investment Act, bringing real competition to our supermarket sector
    4. Creating a Materials Equivalence Register, forcing Councils to accept substitutes for scarce material such as Gib Board, to reduce costs and bring down delays for building
    5. Incentivise councils to build by sharing GST with them, but only if they say yes to residential development, building more plentiful homes for the next generation and bringing down prices
    6. Cut taxes for every earner, including $2,185 for an average full-time worker, with a two-rate tax structure: 17.5 per cent up to $70,000 and 28 per cent thereafter, together with a Low- and Middle-Income Tax Offset. As well as provide Kiwis with a Carbon Tax Refund
    7. Replacing the RMA with a fit-for-purpose law where only those whose property is directly physically affected can object to development, allowing vital supply chain infrastructure to get built
    8. Restore monetary policy credibility to the Reserve Bank by returning its mandate to solely taming inflation, allowing the appointment of monetary policy experts from New Zealand and abroad, and applying stricter scrutiny in future before granting Crown indemnities
    9. Reverse the Government’s workplace relations changes that are hammering businesses like Fair Pay Agreements, an extra public holiday, and bringing back 90-day trials.

    “It’s not enough for them to shrug their shoulders and say, “oh well.” They need to find out how much this has cost New Zealanders who pay tax.”

  • Cost of Living Payment sprays it like a garden sprinkler

    August 01, 2022 7:59 AM

    “The Government’s last minute, made-for-PR, cost of living payment is spraying taxpayer money around like a garden sprinkler,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

    “I’m hearing of people as far away as London, who haven’t been here for years, being told they will receive the payment. The problem lies in the novelty of the scheme, it was rushed together at the last moment for all the wrong reasons.

    “As previously revealed, the Government had to pay hundreds of extra staff millions of dollars to make this policy work. Now it seems after three months even that was not enough.

    “Treasury told Government it would be inflationary to hand out money in the fashion proposed. Jacinda Ardern, under questioning, clung to the idea that it wouldn’t be inflationary for very long.

    “ACT predicts that the Cost of Living payment will be extended. The fuel excise tax, road user charge, and public transport discounts have all been extended. Does anyone really believe that Labour, who couldn’t take away the punch bowl with its transport discounts, will end the cost of living payment right before Christmas?

    “ACT first called the cost-of-living crisis in December. Since then each party, like dominos, accepted it, with Labour the last to fall. The consequence of being late is they had no time to prepare a response.

     “The cost-of living payment was dreamed up on the fly, made for PR rather than good public policy. We know from Written Parliamentary Questions that it was only signed off in April. We bet that Labour had no intention of doing the payment until it was forced to admit there was a cost of living crisis in March.

    “What the Government should have done is cut spending and cut taxes, so that people could keep more of their own money. In fact, ACT’s recent Cost of Living document outlines nine concrete initiatives that the Government could take to beat inflation and the cost of living crisis.

     ACT would:

    1.     Embrace free trade by unilaterally abolishing all tariffs to reduce costs of clothing, food and equipment imported into New Zealand by $200 million per year

    2.     Simplifying the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme by abolishing labour market tests, the wage rule, and transfer restrictions, clearly not needed in a labour crisis, so firms can produce to their potential without labour constraints

    3.     Allow foreign supermarket chains from OECD member countries to bypass the Overseas Investment Act, bringing real competition to our supermarket sector

    4.     Creating a Materials Equivalence Register, forcing Councils to accept substitutes for scarce material such as Gib Board, to reduce costs and bring down delays for building

    5.     Incentivise councils to build by sharing GST with them, but only if they say yes to residential development, building more plentiful homes for the next generation and bringing down prices

    6.     Cut taxes for every earner, including $2,185 for an average full-time worker, with a two-rate tax structure: 17.5 per cent up to $70,000 and 28 per cent thereafter, together with a Low- and Middle-Income Tax Offset. As well as provide Kiwis with a Carbon Tax Refund

    7.     Replacing the RMA with a fit-for-purpose law where only those whose property is directly physically affected can object to development, allowing vital supply chain infrastructure to get built

    8.     Restore monetary policy credibility to the Reserve Bank by returning its mandate to solely taming inflation, allowing the appointment of monetary policy experts from New Zealand and abroad, and applying stricter scrutiny in future before granting Crown indemnities

    9.     Reverse the Government’s workplace relations changes that are hammering businesses like Fair Pay Agreements, an extra public holiday, and bringing back 90-day trials.

    “A challenge as deep as the cost of living crisis deserves depth in its response. New Zealanders deserve more from the Government than simply  spraying money around like a rogue garden sprinkler.”

  • Prime Minister refuses to acknowledge one-person one-vote

    July 31, 2022 9:58 AM

    “Speaking to Jack Tame this morning on Q+A, Jacinda Ardern couldn’t even answer whether her co-governance regime was undermining the fundamental right of one-person one-vote,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

    “It is chilling to hear Jacinda Ardern describe such an important question as “overly simplistic”. The idea that one person should have one vote, and every human being is born alike in dignity isn’t one that should be so difficult to answer for anyone who believes in a functioning liberal democracy.

    “This is why ACT has called for a referendum, so we can have meaningful debate and all New Zealanders can have their say. We’re the only political party not afraid of having an honest conversation on issues like this.

    “ACT’s petition for a referendum on co-governance has been signed over 25,000 times since it was launched in March this year.

    “It is clear that Kiwis want to have this conversation. Co-governance is now everywhere but it has never been openly discussed or debated.

    “Nobody in Government has ever asked whether we want it. There’s just an assumption that there should be two sets of political rights.

    “No society in history has succeeded by having different political rights based on birth. Many New Zealanders came here to escape class and caste and apartheid.

    “All of the good political movements of the past four hundred years have been about ending discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex and sexuality to treat each person with the same dignity. We are the first country in history that’s achieved equal rights and has division as its official policy. It’s nuts.

    “It’s time for honest and bold conversations. New Zealanders are up for it and ACT will keep leading the debate.”

    ACT’s petition can be found here.

  • Disgraceful donation laws will give voters less choice

    July 28, 2022 4:26 PM

    “The Labour Party’s plan to change donation laws, dropping a bill with just a few hours’ notice is an act that chips away at the strength and trust of our democracy,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

    “Labour will drop the non-disclosable threshold from $15,000 down to $5000. This change will reduce funding to political parties, but it will not increase the transparency of our democracy.

    “The reason is simple. As ACT’s main fundraiser for almost a decade, I can tell you that nobody receives undue influence for $15,000. To run a half decent campaign, you need at least $1.5 million and $15,000 is only one per cent of that. Nobody can get undue influence over a political party for funding one per cent of a campaign.

    “We should value that fact that many people give money, with no tax deduction, simply because they want a party’s people and policies to reach a wider audience and have a chance of winning power.

    “The changes will seriously defund political parties. In the last election year, 2020, there were 225 donations declared between $5,000 and $15,000. The total amount donated at these levels was $2,379,164. The average donation was $9,996.49. If these donors all reduced their donation to $5,000 to avoid disclosure, political parties would have received a total of $1,189,164 less funding to campaign and put their ideas before voters.

    “Without donors, our democracy would not function, but they are being made out to be something sinister. In actual fact, donors often fear repercussions for being publicly identified for supporting a particular party.

    “As I wrote to Kris Faafoi, when such a change was first proposed, people are reluctant to give if they will lose their privacy and potentially face political repercussions. They say things like ‘we support you, but our business does work for government, and we cannot risk that.’

    “Not only will the law damage, rather than improve, our democracy, its timing is terrible.

    “Introducing this law while Labour and National are before the courts for electoral fraud is a further problem. It would have been more respectful of comity with the Courts to have left this legislation until after these high profile cases, affecting parties voting on the legislation, had concluded. The Government might say that no time is the right time, but they’ve been in Government for five years, and we hope Labour and National will not always be getting prosecuted by the SFO.

    “Ironically, by reducing what can be given legally without disclosure, the same sorts of people who end up in court under the current donation laws will work even harder to hide donations. Our democracy will, if anything, become less transparent as a result of this law.

    “Making changes before an election, rather than gaining consensus and implementing post-election is the most egregious timing issue. The Government should seek bi-partisan consensus and seek for electoral law changes to come in after the election they are currently leading up to. No Government should change the laws to aid its own re-election.

    “The change is nakedly political. Labour and Greens have pushed for these laws, knowing full well they will affect National and ACT more than other parties.

    “If the law was in place and all donors giving between $5,000 and $15,000 all reduced their donations to $5,000, the effect on current parliamentary parties would be quite different. ACT would have lost $304,807 of funding, National $573,952. Labour and the Greens would lose $169,399 and $67,800 respectively.

    “They’re screwing the scrum like the Republicans in America. Passing electoral laws falsely claimed to ‘strengthen democracy’ when in reality they are working for their own partisan advantage.

    “What this will do is ensure people who are not prepared to have their support public due to business interests or basic privacy basic will not give, will or give less as a result. This means political parties will be less able to promote their views and policies - meaning voters will have less choice and our democracy will not function.

    “It’s a sad day for democracy when the governing party uses its majority to screw the scrum. But as we’ve seen repeatedly from Labour, democracy is not something it values.”

  • Michael Wood defends transport mega spend

    July 28, 2022 3:40 PM

    “Minister of Transport Michael Wood has basically told Kiwis that their taxpayer dollars don’t matter when it comes to the cost of Labour’s transport projects,” says ACT’s Transport spokesperson Simon Court.

    “When questioned in Parliament whether he stood by his claim that Waka Kotahi was spending money in a “proportionate and reasonable way”, Minister Wood doubled down and said that he is confident Waka Kotahi delivers expenditure that is responsible.

    “Taxpayers would differ with his opinion though. Kiwis are going through a cost-of-living crisis and tightening their belts to get by. The Government should be doing the same.

    “Just some examples of “proportionate and reasonable” spending according to Minister Wood are:

    • $311.9 million on a 4.5kim shared path between Petone and Ngauranga – possibly the most expensive cycleway in New Zealand at $69,000 per metre
    • $337,000 on an opening ceremony for Transmission Gully
    • $44,320 on an engineering review of two spinning top sculptures on the Waikato Expressway
    • $25 million on a new fit-out for the Waka Kotahi office
    • $51 million on developing the Auckland cycle bridge that was subsequently cancelled
    • $72.4 million to be spent on Lets Get Wellington Moving’s business case.

    “Michael Wood has clearly lost control of the purse strings in his department but refuses to take responsibility.

    “Inflation is caused by too much money chasing too few goods. When the Government throws around cash like this, it drives up the cost of everything.

    “Waka Kotahi has become one of the worst offenders. It has increased its communications team from 32 staff to 88 – 65 of whom earn $100,000 or more. It’s also come under fire for spending $30,000 on five giant zeros that light up.

    “This is why ACT would zero base the public service. The justifications for each department and ministry will have to fit with a robust view of what government can do:

    • Can the private sector provide this service?
    • Is there a genuine conflict between citizens’ interests that cannot be resolved without Government intervention?
    • What are the costs and benefits of this activity, and do the benefits outweigh the costs?

    “Michael Wood needs to explain to taxpayers why he’s allowing such exorbitant spending with, in most cases, such little return on investment.”