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Dear Friend,
NEW POLL: Centre Right could form government while Greens see bump in support 📊🟢
Exclusively for our supporters like you, here are the results of June's Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll:
National is unchanged from last month on 36% while Labour drops 1 point to 33%. ACT is also unchanged on 13% while the Greens are up 3 points to 10%.
The smaller parties are the Māori Party 3.5% (-0.2 points), NZ First on 1.6% (-1 point), New Conservatives on 1.3% (-0.3 points), Democracy NZ on 0.9% (+0.6 points), and TOP on 0.8% (-0.9 points).
Here is how these results would translate to seats in the 120-seat Parliament, assuming all electorate seats are held:
National is unchanged on last month on 46 seats while Labour is down 2 seats to 42. ACT remains constant on 16 seats while the Greens pick up 3 seats to a total of 12. The Māori Party is down 1 seat on last month to 4.
The combined projected seats for the Centre Right of 62 seats is unchanged on last month and would allow them to form a government.
Following National's decision to rule out working with the Māori Party, we are now including their seats in the Centre-Left bloc. Given that the Green gains have come at the expense of Labour and the Māori Party, the Centre Left's total is unchanged on last month at 58 seats.
Some good news for Christopher Luxon in the favourability stakes 📈🔵
Net favourability is a measure of the number people who have a favourable view of a politician minus those who have an unfavourable view. A positive score means more people have a favourable view of someone than unfavourable while a negative rating means the reverse.
Chris Hipkins drops 3 points to a net favourability of +19%. While still some way behind the Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon jumps 5 points for a net favourability rating of -2%.
David Seymour has a net favourability of -4% (+7 points) while Māori Party co-leaders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, have net favourability ratings of -26% and -27%, respectively.
Among undecided voters, it is now an effective tie in the net favourability stakes between the two candidates for Prime Minister as Chris Hipkins drops 36 points to -6% while Christopher Luxon increases 19 points to -7%. David Seymour has the highest net favourability among undecided voters of those politicians we included of +5%.
Visit our website for more information and details of how to get access to the full polling report. <[link removed]>
David Parker U-Turns Under Pressure From Taxpayers’ Union ↩️⚖️
Our Hands Off Our Homes: Stop Central Planning Committees roadshow <[link removed]> is well under way. We’re traversing the length and breadth of the country from Invercargill to Whangārei to raise awareness about the Government's latest power grab. By increasing the profile of this issue, we are putting pressure on the Government to scrap these undemocratic reforms.
And we have already made some progress.
We invited all Members of Parliament, mayors and councillors to come along and listen to voters' concerns about these reforms and give their own view about the proposals. On the very first day of our roadshow, I received an email from Minister Parker where he refused to attend one of our events as they were, apparently, "political grandstanding".
While he clearly wasn't interested in hearing what New Zealanders think, he did confirm a Government back down.
Under his original plans, these reforms would have given the new National Māori Entity the ability to monitor and issue directions to the Minister and all bodies acting under these new laws, including the Environment Court. This prompted an unprecedented intervention from the Chief Justice, Dame Helen Winkelmann, who said such an approach was "inconsistent with New Zealand's constitutional arrangements".
In his email, Minister Parker announced that the Government would remove National Māori Entity oversight of the Environment Court. This simply goes to show that our efforts are already making a difference. Everyone who signs and shares our petition <[link removed]>, or comes along to one of our roadshow events <[link removed]>, or buys a banner <[link removed]> or yard sign <[link removed]>, is applying pressure on the Government.
It is a small step in the right direction, but we will continue to ramp up our campaign. These planning reforms are so bad that they must be withdrawn and the Government must go back to the drawing board.
ACT announces plans to slash red tape ✂️🟡
Here at the Taxpayers' Union, we believe that excessive regulation is holding New Zealand back. Red tape hampers productivity and growth by putting costly and unnecessary barriers in the way of working, operating a business, or making improvements to your property.
But unlike tax and spend policies, the introduction of new regulations often receives little scrutiny. The current lack of careful analysis often leads to the implementation of unworkable rules, which in turn produce unintended consequences. In many cases, the costs associated with such regulations far outweigh any potential benefits they may bring.
Last weekend, ACT announced a policy to create a new Ministry for Regulation run by a minister responsible for subjecting proposals for new regulations to the same level of scrutiny we give to public spending. The Minister would also have the responsibility of reviewing existing regulations to see whether those that are unnecessarily burdensome can be scrapped.
We are generally cautious of proposals to create a new Ministry – there are far too many already – but we believe that this may be one of the few exceptions. Too often cost/benefit analyses can be a tick-box exercise, but having a Minister specifically charged with casting a critical eye over new and existing regulations will ensure that preventing and reducing unnecessary red tape will be given the priority it requires.
Michael Wood must resign over shares scandal 🔍❌
At the time of writing, Michael Wood remains a Minister and has only been temporarily relieved of his transport portfolio. In the unlikely event that you missed it, Michael Wood failed to declare his financial conflict of interest in Auckland Airport despite being the minister responsible for rules around aviation and the wasteful Auckland Light Rail to the airport.
While the story is news to the public, it apparently isn't to Michael Wood. Two-and-a-half years ago, he was instructed by the Cabinet Office to sell his shares to ensure that his financial interest would not influence his decision making. Despite assurances that he would do so, Minister Wood only just sold his shares this week after the story appeared on the front page of the NZ Herald.
And this wasn't just a case of the Minister being careless and forgetting to sell the shares after a single reminder. The Cabinet Office told him to sell the shares not once, not twice, but a staggering twelve times. On at least one occasion, the Minister actually told the Jacinda Ardern's office that the shares had been sold despite this being demonstrably false. In addition, we now know that Minister Wood mislead the media, in response to a question from Newsroom about the accuracy of his interests register decorations <[link removed]>.
Call us old fashioned, but we remember when Labour Ministers were sacked (or forced to quit) for lying to the media, let alone, the Prime Minister. Just ask Lianne Dalziel... <[link removed]>
We say it is simply untenable for Michael Wood to remain a Minister. Chris Hipkins should have taken swift action to remove Wood from office immediately to send a clear signal that this type of conduct is unacceptable. This demonstrates a lack of respect to New Zealanders who expect our MPs – and Ministers especially – to be transparent (and honest).
As the Prime Minister isn't taking decisive action, we have set up a petition calling on Michael Wood to do the honourable thing and resign. You can add your name here. <[link removed]>
>> Sign the petition <<< <[link removed]>
Thank you for your support.
Yours aye,
Callum Purves
Campaigns Manager
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.
<[link removed]>
Media coverage:
NZ Herald On the Tiles: Episode 54 – The challenges facing National pre-election <[link removed]> (01:51)
Stuff Where is the Green Party at for the upcoming election campaign? <[link removed]>
TVNZ Donations, voting age: Panel recommends sweeping election changes <[link removed]>
Wairarapa Times-Age Groups link up to oppose RMA plan <[link removed]>
whatsoninvers.nz Huge Response In Southland To Hands Off Homes Roadshow <[link removed]>
Otago Daily Times Mayor's comments on media funding labelled ignorant <[link removed]>
The News Addressing the people <[link removed]>
Southland Times Gore District Council chief executive breaks his silence on bullying claims <[link removed]>
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New Zealand Taxpayers' Union Inc. - 117 Lambton Quay, Level 4, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
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