pn916. A Vote for National would be a vote for these reactionary ACT policies

Update. See also this Tweet from AynRandy. Click here. 

If National wins next year's elections, it will almost certainly have David Seymour's ACT  Party as its coalition partner.  With the ambivalent Christopher Luxon running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, we can always rely on David to spell out the unambivant.

 Make no mistake:  a vote for National is a vote his reactionary policies. 

In an interview on Q&A on Sunday  he promised to axe a raft of Labour policies during the first 100 days of office. 

 Here is his bulleted list, arranged under my headings with notes from various sources.  

HELPING THE RICH GET RICHER

• Scrap the 39c tax rate and we should simplify to a two-rate tax system as in ACT’s Real Change Budget

Note: the rate is for annual incomes over $180,000, and will affect only the very rich. The previous top rate was 33%.

• Mortgage interest deductibility, the bright-line test, and Residential Tenancies Act changes would go

Note:  1) Residential property investors can no longe claim mortgage interest as a tax deductible expense on existing properties.  2) The bright-line test is a tax on financial gains made from  buying or selling a house for income. It's just like paying tax on any other income you might make.  Currently, the bright-line test comes into play if you sell an investment property within five years of buying it.  3) Tenancy:  Rent can only be increased once every 12 months. 

Seymour's proposals would benefit investors and remove protection for tenants.

ANTI-ENVIRONMENT

• Repeal the Zero Carbon Act along with it goes the associated ute tax and the Tesla subsidies

Note:  The Act sets targets  to counter the damaging effects of climate change See here.  Seymour would have us set no targets.

• Overturn the ban on oil and gas exploration. 

Note: New exploration is now forrbidden.  See here. Seymour would allow new exploration and mining.

• Nullify the anti-property right Crown Pastoral Lease reforms

Note: The CPLR Bill reaffirms the leaseholders' rights as pastoral farmers while amending the existing regulatory system to manage these leases in a way that balances the ecological, landscape, cultural, heritage and scientific values inherent to the land.

ANTI- WORKERS

• Bring back 90-day trials

Note:  An employer could employ a new employee on a trial period for up to 90 days as long as this is agreed in the written employment agreement. 

• Get rid of so-called Fair Pay Agreements

Note: These provide a framework for collective bargaining for fair pay agreements across entire industries or occupations, rather than just between unions and particular employers.

Both of Seymour's proposals favour employers to the detriment of employees..

LESS GOVERNMENT INFLUENCE

• Repeal Three Waters, returning ownership to councils

Note:  Three Waters' is the delivery and management of 1) clean drinking water; 2) wastewater (sewerage) reticulation, treatment and disposal; and 3) stormwater management. The local government sector has been asking successive Governments for water reform.

Government proposes four new, large water service delivery entities whose scale means they would be able to borrow enough to fund the investment needed in water services and infrastructure over the next 30 years. Scale would create operating efficiencies over time, especially in terms of procurement. The larger entities would have more power in the contracting market than 67 disparate councils, and be better able to fund and demand levels of service. Some Councils support the reform; others do not.

• Nullify changes to live animal export bans 

Note: In 2019 Government began a review of the livestock export trade. In  2021, following the independent Heron report, carried out after the sinking of the Gulf Livestock 1 in September 2020, the Government decided to ban the export of cattle, deer, goats, and sheep by ship.  The  ship capsized in a typhoon in the South China Sea with a loss of 43 crew including two New Zealanders, and 6,000 cattle.

Seymour's proposal would allow live exports.

GOODBYE BICULTURALISM

• Oranga Tamariki - Section 7AA, says it’s more important a child is placed with its iwi than anything else, it would go.

Note:  Family/whānau placements comprise over one-half of placement type for children in longer term placements.  Oranga Tamariki try to keep children with their family/whānau where possible.

• Repeal the Māori Health Authority

Note: Te Aka Whai Ora – the Māori Health Authority (MHA) is a departmental agency within the Ministry of Health tasked with managing Māori health policies, services, and outcomes.  The Health Authority will work alongside the Ministry of Health. 

While the National Party admits  Māori health statistics are far worse than those of Pākehā and should be "a priority area", it says the Authority will create a "two-tier system" based on race.  Labour says it will ensure Māori input in funding and improving Māori health outcomes.

• Stop the Public Interest Journalism Fund. At $55 million over two years it’s not large enough to help or hinder the media as much as many suspects. However, it is pernicious enough to destroy faith and trust in our institutions .   

Note: The Fund supports and promotes Māori and Iwi journalism that is made by, for and about Māori prioritises the perspectives, issues, interests, and needs of Māori.)

Seymour's proposals are anti-Māori, surprising because he has some Māori ancestors. 

LESS RESERVE BANK INFLUENCE

• Reserve Bank Act changes: Giving the Reserve Bank two targets (price stability and employment) with one tool (the Official Cash Rate), was illogical. These changes have let inflation back and should be reverved.

Note:  David Seymour fails to note that inflation rates have doubled in 37 of 44 advanced economies over the past two years (Pew Research Center) as a consequence of supply chain problems, Covid-19,  the Ukraine war and other issues.  It is now 8.6% in the USA, its highest level since 1981, and 9.1% in the UK, the highest in 40 years, Our rate is 6.9%. 

Check on your facts, David.

CRUDE UNDERSTANDING OF CRIME

• Bring back three strikes

Note: The law was intended to deter repeat violent and sex offenders with the threat of progressively longer mandatory prison terms, and to penalise those who continued to re-offend through a three-stage process,  with a maximum penalty of seven years or greater imprisonment. 

Concerns around the three strikes law have included:

1) There is little evidence that the law has reduced serious offending. 2) It restricts the judiciary’s ability to consider the individual circumstances and context of the offending when determining sentences. 3) Māori are overrepresented in the group of offenders who have received a strike. 4) The High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court have found sentences imposed under the regime contravene the Bill of Rights Act. 5) The Courts can already impose sentences equivalent to those under the three strikes law, when it is considered appropriate. 

David has a too simple solution to a very complex problem, not a sign of an educated, thoughtful man.

ELITISM

• Bring back charter schools

Note: Charter schools were introduced in legalisation by the National Party coalition in 2011. They are a form of private education establishment that rely on government funding but are subject to fewer rules and regulations than public schools. 

They have been criticised by a wide range of educational authorities, teacher organisations, the public, and political parties because of their autonomy in setting their own curricula, qualifications, pay rates for teachers, school hours and school terms. Labour said there was no place for them in the New Zealand education system. The PPTA called them a “failed experiment" and welcomed their re-integration with the state school system.

SUPPOSED SUPPORTER OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH

• Get rid of hate speech laws (if introduced before the election)

Note: Hate speech will become a criminal offence and anyone convicted could face harsher punishment, under proposed legislative changes. Anyone who "intentionally stirs up, maintains or normalises hatred against a protected group" by being "threatening, abusive or insulting, including by inciting violence" would break the law. The punishment could also increase - from up to three months' imprisonment or a fine of up to $7000, to up to three years' imprisonment or a fine of up to $50,000..

By and large, this is a measured proposal that requires serious consideration and public debate before they finally become law.

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-- ACW