The parties · 4 of 7, by current seats
ACT
At a glance
- Poll average (%)
- 10
- Readiness to 2050 /100
- 58 fair
- Voter priorities /100
- 56 fair
- Confidence it happens
- Low
- Fiscal detail
- Full plan
Current settings score 58 on Readiness to 2050 and 55 on Voter priorities. Confidence is shown beside the scores, never added to them.
Grouping scores
| Grouping | Readiness to 2050 /21 | Voter priorities /15 |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of living | 12 | 9 |
| Health | 11 | 8 |
| Economy and jobs | 12 | 8 |
| Housing | 9 | 7 |
| Crime and justice | 14 | 10 |
| Climate and energy | 9 | 8 |
| Education | 11 | 7 |
| Migration | 12 | 8 |
| Tax and retirement | 17 | 10 |
| Infrastructure | 12 | 9 |
| Te Tiriti | 13 | 9 |
| Defence and trade | 11 | 7 |
| Community and culture | 12 | 9 |
| Score | Cost of living | Health | Economy and jobs | Housing | Crime and justice | Climate and energy | Education | Migration | Tax and retirement | Infrastructure | Te Tiriti | Defence and trade | Community and culture |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Readiness to 2050 /21 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 17 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 12 |
| Voter priorities /15 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 9 |
Select a grouping for the rationale and sources behind each score.
Who
A classical liberal party and junior coalition partner. Seymour is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regulation.
The pitch
"The Government doesn't have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem." Balance the books without new taxes, then cut taxes broadly.
Coalition stance and bottom lines
Wants the coalition re-elected "to go further and faster". Rules out Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori. Seymour says a deal including Opportunity "would be a good outcome", splitting from Luxon.
Five headline policies
- Lifts the NZ Super age to 67 by 2035
- Cuts back-office spending to 2017 levels per person
- Shrinks government to 19 departments and 18 ministers
- Removes tax on KiwiSaver earnings
- Repeals net zero and abolishes the Climate Change Commission; returns carbon auction money to New Zealanders as a tax refund
Who gains / Who pays
| Who gains | Who pays |
|---|---|
| KiwiSaver savers | People approaching 65 |
| Future taxpayers, through lower debt | Health and disability beneficiaries |
| Pharmacy users | Back-office public servants |
On the long game
- Builds: ageing
- Borrows: productivity, climate, infrastructure
- Global risks with a concrete plan: 3 of 5 (Climate change and ecological breakdown; Great-power conflict, including nuclear war; Erosion of trust and governance)
- Governing for the long term: Four-year term: Committed · With other parties: Silent · Institutions: Weakens · Inheritance: Acknowledges
| Pressure | Effect | Would it last? |
|---|---|---|
| Ageing and the fiscal gap | Builds | Unlikely |
| Productivity and incomes | Borrows | Unlikely |
| Climate and resilience | Borrows | Unlikely |
| The infrastructure deficit | Borrows | Unlikely |
| Risk | At home | With others |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced AI going badly | Acknowledges | Acknowledges |
| Climate change and ecological breakdown | Silent | Plans |
| Engineered pandemics | Silent | Silent |
| Great-power conflict, including nuclear war | Plans | Acknowledges |
| Erosion of trust and governance | Plans | Silent |
Governing for the long term
ACT: governing for the long term
Rating on each count, Rated, never added to the scores. Rests on a stated value: long-term plans should survive a change of government.
Rated, never added to the scores. Rests on a stated value: long-term plans should survive a change of government. ACT: Four-year term Committed, Plans with other parties Silent, Long-term institutions Weakens, Honours what it inherits Acknowledges.
Sources for these ratings
- ACT, ACT has the four year term solution (4 October 2021)
- Term of Parliament (Enabling 4-year Term) Legislation Amendment Bill (first reading 5 March 2025, 117 to 6; ACT 11 for; ACT minority view on its optional model at select committee, 25 August 2025) (25 August 2025)
- 1News, 'You poor thing': Six big moments from the Multi-Party Debate (Seymour: a referendum on 'going to a four-year term') (13 October 2026)
- ACT, ACT to scrap costly climate bureaucracy, abolish the Climate Change Commission (26 August 2026)
- ACT, Fiscal Plan 2026 (pp. 9 to 10: 'maintain the suspension of contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund') (11 October 2026)
- ACT, Scrap Net Zero, Cut the Carbon Tax (6 September 2026)
- 1News, ACT pledges to scrap country's net zero target (6 September 2026)
Watch for
The website says "cut $9.5 billion a year"; the plan's cuts peak at $3.2b a year, so the larger figure looks like a four-year total. Every cost pressure, health included, must fit in a $2b allowance. Its surplus comes a year earlier than the other plans (2027/28, excluding ACC), and debt would be $12.4b below Treasury's forecast by June 2031. It would freeze the adult minimum wage for three years. The Super age rise collides with an NZ First bottom line. On Te Tiriti, it would finish Treaty settlements and then wind up the Waitangi Tribunal.
Party order is by seats in the current Parliament. 7 parties, the same template each.