National 53%
Labour 3%
Act 30%
Green Party 1%
New Zealand First 3%
Te Pāti Māori 0%
Opportunity Party 2%
Unsure 8%
Party policies were rated on a 1-5 scale where 1 = “very poor” and 5 = “very good”.
Herald Mood of the Boardroom 2026 Election Survey.
What they are saying
“Every party is playing to its perceived base at the expense of a cohesive policy suite,” – Mining CEO
“Business should be able to depend on National policy to be dependable and easily understood. The supermarket and banking fiascos have raised questions as to where they stand for business,”- Don Braid, Mainfreight
NATIONAL
Christopher Luxon.
● Make KiwiSaver compulsory for workers, lifting combined employer and employee contributions to 12% by 2032. 3.99
● Ban commercial fishing in all 12 Hauraki Gulf High Protection Areas. 3.97
● Allow qualified engineers to sign off building work without a council inspection. 3.87
● Allow rooftop solar to be installed without a consent. 3.85
● Create a specialist national Building Consent Authority for large commercial buildings. 3.78
● Return to surplus in 2028/29 and reduce debt below 40% of GDP. 3.72
● Reduce core Crown expenditure towards 30% of GDP. 3.69
● Raise the interest rate for overseas-based student loan borrowers to 6.6%, with penalties for sustained default. 3.62
● Government loans for home solar. 3.57
● Raise the income cap for 5% deposit First Home Loans to
$300,000. 3.51
● Extend paid parental leave from 26 to 30 weeks by 2029 ($327.4m over four years). 3.40
● Reduce the student loan repayment rate from 12c to 10c for borrowers who stay in New Zealand. 3.33
● No new taxes if re-elected. 3.30
● Pursue breaking up Foodstuffs so New World and Four Square become one supermarket chain and Pak’nSave another. 1.83
What they are saying
“The right instincts and no nerve. A government that knows what needs doing and has spent three years not doing it. The strongest policies attack the real barriers to growth: no new taxes, fiscal discipline, faster building approvals and less regulatory nonsense,” — Education CEO.
“Their supermarket position is their “oil and gas ban” moment,” — Energy CEO.
“No new taxes? Good line for a Tūī billboard,” — Cameron Bagrie, Economist.
ACT
David Seymour. Photo / Michael Craig
● Expand the conditions pharmacists can treat, including ordering blood tests. 4.01
● Consolidate 43 government departments into 19, with 18 ministers instead of 28. 3.98
● Lift pharmaceutical spending by one percentage point of the health budget a year until parity with Australia. 3.93
● Build a $2b cancer centre with Auckland and Christchurch campuses, funded primarily by donations. 3.78
● Remove the cap on the number of pharmacies one pharmacist can own. 3.71
● Three strikes for burglary: a minimum three-year sentence with no parole on a third conviction. 3.46
● Remove the $33,000 annual cap on donation tax credits. 3.36
● Add a property rights clause to the Bill of Rights Act. 3.22
● Add parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law and equality before the law as principles in the Constitution Act. 3.15
● Remove tax on KiwiSaver earnings and end government contributions. 3.07
● Allow ministers to directly appoint public service chief executives. 3.05
● Limit the use of tikanga in court decisions to where Parliament expressly allows it. 2.99
● Replace permanent residents’ indefinite travel rights with a five-year travel facility requiring 730 days in New Zealand in any rolling five years. 2.97
● Repeal Māori employment and engagement requirements in the Public Service Act and Crown Entities Act. 2.72
● Introduce noise cameras to immediately fine cars over a decibel limit. 2.49
What they are saying
“The strongest package of any party, including the majors, and the only one trying to change and improve how this country is governed. Every other party is arguing about how to divide the money inside the same bloated system. Act is the only one asking why the system costs so much,” — Education CEO.
“I believe a number of natural National voters will vote Act this time as they see National as becoming anti-business and needs a stronger coalition partner to keep them making decisions in the long term economic interests of New Zealand, ” — Company chairperson.
NZ FIRST
Winston Peters.
● Compulsory KiwiSaver from birth, with a kick-start payment. 3.54
● Return 50% of mining royalties to the regions where mining occurs, for infrastructure. 3.25
● Cut the tax rate for small businesses from 28% to 20%. 3.15
● Disestablish Auckland Council’s Independent Māori Statutory Board. 2.79
● A $1b national survey of energy, geothermal and CO2 storage sites, with a framework to develop them. 2.74
● Hold a referendum on the Māori electorates. 2.67
● Kiwi Kids Grant: a universal $5000 a year for each of a family’s first three children. 2.48
● Break up the electricity gentailers into separate generation and retail companies. 2.35
● Leave the Paris Agreement on climate change. 2.10
● Split Foodstuffs into two national co-operatives to compete with Woolworths. 1.76
● Buy back BNZ and merge it with Kiwibank to create a Crown-owned bank (NZ First estimates $7.5b-$15b; other estimates are up to $24b). 1.42
What they are saying
“One of the best practical packages of all minor parties, with one piece of fantasy economics attached. This is a far more serious offering than anything from the Greens or Te Pāti Māori. The standouts are a 20% tax rate for small business, returning mining royalties to the regions that generate them, breaking up the electricity gentailers, and dealing with the Māori electorates and Auckland’s Independent Māori Statutory Board,” — Education boss.
OPPORTUNITY
Qiulae Wong. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
● Expand sustainable aquaculture. 3.34
● A one-year cooling-off period before ministers and senior officials can take lobbying roles. 3.33
● Record all lobbying communications with ministers in official systems, subject to the OIA. 3.09
● Phase out bottom trawling and put cameras and observers on commercial fishing vessels. 2.95
● Low-interest electrification loans for households. 2.72
● Create a Ministry of Energy, merging regulators’ functions. 2.67
● Consolidate electricity distribution (lines) companies. 2.61
● A renewable energy capacity investment scheme, with government dividend revenue ring-fenced. 2.46
● Simplify income tax to three brackets: 28% up to $50,000, 34% up to $200,000, and 39% above. 2.45
● Cap donations at $30,000 per donor, per party, per electoral cycle. 2.35
● Replace main benefits, including NZ Super, with a $19,400 annual payment to every adult resident. 1.47
● Annual land value tax of 1.75% on urban land and 0.5% on rural land. 1.31
What they are saying
“Policy headlines only, unsure on all of the above for implications of an integrated policy system changes and implementation,” — Infrastructure boss.
“Many sensible and useful policies,” — F&B chairperson.
LABOUR
Chris Hipkins. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
● Allow small businesses to fully write off up to $10,000 of new equipment from July 1, 2027. 3.37
● Return to surplus by 2029/30 and reduce net debt to around 20% of GDP over time. 3.08
● Require retirement villages to repay departing residents within three months. 3.08
● Establish a NZ Future Fund to invest Crown assets and capital in New Zealand infrastructure and businesses. 2.97
● Guarantee a public health job for every New Zealand-trained graduate nurse ($525m over four years). 2.82
● No increase to fuel taxes or road user charges during the next Parliament. 2.64
● Require large companies to pay small business invoices under $25,000 within 15 days and publish their payment times. 2.46
● 28% capital gains tax on residential and commercial property sold after July 1, 2027, excluding the family home, farms, shares and businesses. 2.38
● Allow core Crown revenue and expenses to rise to 33% of GDP. 2.12
● Reinstate school boards’ obligation to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 2.08
● Wipe 10% of student loan balances for those who have not benefited from fees-free, live in NZ and have kept up with their repayments. 2.05
● Reinstate the Reserve Bank’s dual mandate. 1.85
● Reverse the coalition’s pay equity changes (Treasury estimated reversal at about $11b). 1.84
● Force Woolworths and Foodstuffs to split their businesses separating their supermarket chains from their wholesale arms. 1.81
● Remove Investment Boost (the 20% upfront deduction on new business assets). 1.78
● Reinstate Fair Pay Agreements (industry-wide minimum pay and conditions). 1.71
What they are saying
“Labour tends to listen more and collaborate to jointly invest. As a small country we cannot stay in the world of non-intervention. Government is required to help support businesses on the global stage to build New Zealand advantage,” — Transport CEO.
“No confidence that policy commitments can be executed without material impacts on levels of debt and not convinced surplus by 29/30 will be achievable on that basis. Essentially some commitments positive but no clear explanation as to how policy initiatives will be funded,” — Entertainment and leisure industry boss.
GREENS
Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
● Phase out bottom trawling and review the Quota Management System. 3.00
● Protect at least 30% of New Zealand’s marine area. 2.82
● Zero-interest home solar loans ($428.7m over four years). 2.65
● New national freshwater standards and stronger wastewater discharge rules. 2.53
● 5% withholding tax on profits large tech firms send offshore. 2.40
● Expand Warmer Kiwi Homes ($969.8m over four years). 2.37
● Restore the previous locally made school lunch programme and expand it to a further 400 schools ($2.2b over four years). 1.99
● Legislate a right to healthy food and create a national food strategy. 1.94
● Income tax cuts for salary and wage earners ($10.01b). 1.89
● Phase out synthetic nitrogen fertiliser and reduce stocking rates on a catchment basis. 1.76
● Reinstate the ban on interest deductions for residential landlords. 1.65
● A 2.5% “super-rich tax” on net worth above $10m, excluding the family home. 1.62
● Reverse the bright-line test changes. 1.51
● Capital acquisitions tax on assets and gifts worth more than $1m, excluding the family home. 1.51
● Establish KiwiPower, a government-owned entity providing electricity firming capacity ($980.6m over four years). 1.40
● Increase the company tax rate to 33% for the largest companies (turnover above $30m). 1.39
● Nationalise 120 Woolworths and Foodstuffs supermarkets and two distribution centres to create a government-owned competitor, KiwiMart ($2.8b). 1.15
What they are saying
“For the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, it was good to see their policies in one place … frightening,” — Greg Gent, Dairy Holdings.
TE PĀTI MĀORI
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi. Photo / Mark Mitchell
● Make the first $30,000 of income tax-free. 2.26
● Tax on profits transferred offshore. 2.01
● Ban seabed mining. 1.86
● Vacant house tax. 1.63
● Land-banking tax. 1.50
● Stamp duty on residential property sales, with first-home buyers purchasing under $1m exempt. 1.48
● Entrench Te Tiriti o Waitangi and prohibit Cabinet decisions that breach it. 1.43
● Create a Māori-led education authority. 1.46
● Targeted kai tax credit to offset GST on food. 1.44
● Establish a Te Tiriti commission as an Officer of Parliament to enforce Treaty obligations. 1.36
● Increase the company tax rate to 33%. 1.33
● Wealth tax of 1.5% on net assets above $2m, rising to 2.5% above $10m. 1.28
● Assert Māori rights and authority over fresh water. 1.27
● New top income tax rates: 39% from $90,001, 42% from $180,001 and 48% above $300,000. 1.23
What they are saying
“The party seeks to undermine the authority of the very institution they wish to be part of,” — Company director.
“The uncertainty is largely around execution,” — Infrastructure boss.