Compromises have to be made when forming a three-party coalition government – so which election promises survived the negotiations? 1News casts an eye over the agreements.
New Zealand’s first three-party coalition government has spent the past few weeks deciding what they collectively want to achieve over the next term.
Speculation during those negotiations claimed there were a few big sticking points for the parties to get past, including parts of National’s tax plan and ACT’s proposed referendum on co-governance.
Here is what did – and did not - make the cut for the new National-led Government.
The tax policies
There were some major questions around National’s plans to fund its tax package through the introduction of a tax on foreign buyers of residential properties when it was announced earlier this year.
But National won’t have to do any more sums around that particular policy with New Zealand First blocking the proposed repeal of the foreign buyer’s residential property ban.
“The tax package will continue to be funded through a combination of spending reprioritisation and additional revenue measures,” Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon said today.
“However, as part of National’s agreement with New Zealand First, the proposed foreign buyer tax will no longer go ahead.”
National said policy changes will help offset the loss of revenue from that change.
Meanwhile, in other tax policy, the coalition parties have agreed to ACT’s proposal to speed up the rate at which interest deductibility for rental properties is restored.
The co-governance referendum
ACT campaigned on a referendum on co-governance but will instead introduce a Treaty Principles Bill based on its existing policy “as soon as practicable”.
National and New Zealand First have agreed to support that bill to the select committee stage.
Meanwhile, both coalition agreements pledge to “remove co-governance from the delivery of public services”.
New Zealand First’s agreement says the Government will review all legislation not related to Treaty settlements that includes “The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” and either repeal those references or replace them with “specific words relating to the relevance and application of the Treaty”.
ACT’s agreement also specifically requires the removal of Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989. Section 7AA represents a commitment to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
New Zealand First’s agreement states the coalition will ensure all public service departments have their primary name in English, except for those specifically related to Māori. It also says public service departments and Crown Entities must communicate primarily in English, except those related to Māori.
Both coalition agreements also promise to restore the right to local referendums on the establishment of Māori wards on local councils.
Māori wards that have been established without referendum so far will also be required to go to referendum at the next Local Body elections.
The superannuation age
Both National and ACT said they would raise the superannuation age from 65 to 67 prior to the election, but New Zealand First’s coalition agreement states the retirement age will stay 65.
Health policies
All three coalition parties pledged to disestablish the Māori Health Authority before the election, so there’s no surprise to see that move forms part of their official agreements.
National’s pledge to establish a third medical school in Hamilton is being held up by a caveat in its deal with ACT, which says a full cost benefit analysis needs to be presented before any binding agreement is made on the school.
The coalition government will also repeal recent amendments to smoke-free laws, including the de-nicotisation of cigarettes and the ban on cigarettes for future generations.
Both ACT and New Zealand First have a commitment in their agreements to make Medsafe approve new pharmaceuticals within 30 days of them being approved by at least two overseas regulators recognised by New Zealand.
The return to sales of cold medication with pseudoephedrine is also included in ACT’s coalition agreement.
Education policies
The coalition government will require every class to do an hour a day each of reading, writing and maths.
It is also adopting ACT’s proposal to reintroduce partnership schools (also known as charter schools) and allow state schools to become partnership schools. These are schools that are not run by the government, but by a business or some other organisation, and can set their own curriculum.
ACT’s deal also says it will “restore balance to the Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories curriculum”. ACT has previously said that curriculum “pushes a number of left-wing narratives”.
The Fees Free programme for tertiary learners will be replaced with a final year fees free policy from 2025.
Law and order policies
Proposed boot camps for serious young offenders are included in the coalition deal.
The parties have also agreed to ACT’s policy to rewrite the Arms Act and New Zealand First’s proposal to train no fewer than 500 new police officers.
The Three Strikes legislation will also be restored.
Other policies included in the coalition agreements
A wide variety of issues have been included in each party’s coalition agreement. Some other policies to make the cut include:
- Repealing the Fair Pay Agreements system by Christmas.
- Allowing landlords to issue 90-day notices to end tenancies without providing a reason or applying to the Tenancy Tribunal.
- Immediately stopping work on several high profile projects like Three Waters, Auckland Light Rail and Let’s Get Wellington Moving.
- Repealing the Clean Car Discount and repealing the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration.
- A commitment to reduce farming regulation and “undertake comprehensive regulatory review across Government”. This replaces National’s pre-election promise to remove two farming regulations for every new one introduced.
- Reversing the ban on live animal exports.
- Ending work on hate speech legislation.
- Establishing a select committee inquiry into banking competition and exploring options to strengthen the powers of the Grocery Commissioner.
- Supporting a bill to the select committee stages that would enable a four-year parliamentary term.
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