The ACT Party is proposing a suite of policies - including removing tariffs and work visa requirements - which it says would lower the costs of living.
ACT Party leader David Seymour. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Party leader David Seymour announced the policies at the Backbencher pub across the road from Parliament this morning, calling for all clothing, food and equipment tariffs to be eliminated from imports.
The change would cut $195 million a year from the government's books.
The party would also remove labour market, wage and employer transfer requirements for applicants seeking a visa under the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme, and allow foreign supermarkets to dodge the Overseas Investment Act.
The announcement also wrapped in previously signalled policies: tax cuts; replacing the RMA; ending the government's fair pay agreements, income insurance and the extra public holiday brought in with Matariki; the return of 90-day trials; requiring the Reserve Bank to focus solely on inflation, removing considerations of unemployment and housing from its remit; introducing a materials equivalence register to force councils to accept substitutes for materials like plasterboard.
While it was not included in the suite announced this morning, the party also proposes halting minimum wage increases for three years.
Seymour said New Zealanders were sick of hearing Labour blame everyone else - from supermarkets to fuel companies to Vladimir Putin - and they should not have to accept the high prices.
"We're proposing genuine solutions, with enough political courage we can turn the tide and make life better for New Zealanders."
Deputy leader Brooke van Velden, the party's Trade Spokesperson, said tariffs increased the price of imports and the burden on importers, and reduced competition.
She said removing them would have little effect on free trade negotiation bargaining power.
"They no longer apply to most agricultural products anyway, and the rest of our market is small enough that offering the carrot of reduced tariffs is unlikely to make an impact. Singapore is a shining example of this, unilaterally abolishing tariffs and becoming an archetype of free trade."
Immigration spokesperson James McDowall said it made sense to remove restrictions on bringing in workers from overseas during a labour crisis.
"The few professions that are eligible for residency are held back by leisurely visa processing times," he said.
He said the party would also remove the "work to residence divide" for occupations on the government's Green List.
The government is already working on replacing the RMA, but instead of Natural and Built Environments and Spatial Planning laws working their way through Parliament, ACT would bring in a law which would only allow people whose property was physically affected to object to development.
Infrastructure spokesperson Simon Court said the government's reforms would repeat many of the mistakes of the past.
"They are not clear about who has the right to do what on their land and who has the right to object. That means projects will still be held up by years of hearings, appeals, consultants' reports, and iwi consultations."
The party would set up a "planning tribunal" to compensate neighbours affected by looser planning rules, and neighbourhoods would be able to exempt themselves from some planning rules.
Inflation hit a 32-year high in the most recent quarter, and building costs have been rising at their fastest rate on record, but economists say much of the rising cost of living can be blamed on Russia's war on Ukraine and disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
