National's foreign buyers tax will not go ahead, NZ First has secured a $1.2 billion regional infrastructure fund, and the new government will support a Treaty Principles bill to Select Committee.
There are some... interesting things in this list.
An email from NZ First also says they have got agreement to repeal the Therapeutic Products Act 2023, which seems to require marketing of medicine/health stuff to only make claims that are real (i.e. it's anti-homeopathy, etc).
It's a viewpoint. National and especially Act are big believers in the idea the the government should be involved as little as possible, and "the market" will sort it out. Of course the MPs and their donors own the companies that make up "the market", so they financially benefit as well.
However, they are not bad guys. They, for the most part, truly believe that this system of government makes for a better country.
It just seems way more about defining themselves via negatives than we saw each time the Key govt was incoming (or even the Bolger government, to really dredge up the past...) Compare this with stuff like Bill English's obsession with social investment.
However, they are not bad guys
Hmmm. I think their supporters are not bad guys. When I've discussed politics - I lived in the Epson electorate for a long time - most everyone wants what's best for New Zealand as a whole, and in cases where they do specifically want bad outcomes for certain groups it's usually because they think the groups deserve bad outcomes. For which I blame cognitive biases like the Just World hypothesis, bigotry, or a misunderstanding of finance.
But when it comes to policy-making, I think there's a level at which it's your ethical responsibility to actually assimilate all the facts and look at international best practice and long term outcomes instead of just going by what you think "feels like" the truth. And I think over the years, along with the well-meaning people you describe, we have also had a number of intellectually lazy/dishonest types who don't do that - and a few cynical people who are in politics simply to benefit their in-group.
Yup, Act has got this one in:
"Explore allowing home builders to opt out of requiring a building consent provided they have long-term insurance for their work"
And for schools, NZ First:
"Refocus the curriculum on academic achievement and not ideology, including the removal and replacement of the gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines".
What does the last bit mean? Remove and then replace? You can't remove something and then replace it. No more sex education?
A very depressing list of changes, nothing positive. I still don't understand why anyone would vote for one of these parties.
Yup, Act has got this one in: “Explore allowing home builders to opt out of requiring a building consent provided they have long-term insurance for their work”
Hopefully this is just in name. They probably got told no, and they said can we at least look into it?
And for schools, NZ First: “Refocus the curriculum on academic achievement and not ideology, including the removal and replacement of the gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines”. What does the last bit mean? Remove and then replace? You can’t remove something and then replace it. No more sex education?
I think this is not related to the kind of sex education we had as kids, I think this is basically banning schools from discussing bi/homosexuality, trans, an non-binary genders. It's pandering to the "anti-woke" crowd who don't even understand what that stuff is but definitely don't want their kids learning about it. Because the youth suicide rate isn't high enough, we need some policies that aim to take it higher.
Ok reddit-esque echo chamber, here's a hot take - most of its pretty good and reverses several backwards trends.
Nationals tax cuts are random and don't really do much. However reinstating deductibility on mortgage interest is a no brainer, since it's removing an arbitrary exception that makes tax law more complicated than it should be
Treaty Principles Bill that everyone is complaining about - it's about clarifying things that are currently grey areas so there is certainty. We can't keep paying out for historical injustices forever. Besides, it's a bill that can still get shot down at select committee, not the referendum that ACT wanted
Regional Infrastructure Fund aka Shane Jones slush fund - don't see anyone complaining about this. Last time they used it to upgrade and fix marae around the country, a good thing imo
Removing the last of the covid BS - good. Throwing money at an inquiry about if the BS was justified - just move on already...
ACT stopping large projects - some of those projects have been dragging on for too long and achieve very little (such as Let's Get Wellington Moving). Some are unnecessary (such as Three Waters). Not sure about the others but probably costing too much for what they're delivering. The need for some of the projects still exists, most likely those ones will be re-assessed, scope modified and relaunched under a new name
Fees Free final year instead of first year - this would save a lot of money while also rewarding those who stick it out and finish instead of dropping out after a year. Maybe will result in more people actually graduating
Retirement staying at 65 is just unsustainable, but this would have been Winston's doing. Thanks to the medical system people live longer and drag their lives out longer when they get terminally ill. Easy for Luxon to kick this can down the road though to get Winston onside
Fair Pay agreements scrapped - good. These are compulsory unionism agreements. If you want to form a union then form a union, but don't make it compulsory for your entire industry to join...