{"id":614742,"date":"2026-09-28T22:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/614742\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T22:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:38:09","slug":"election-2026-opportunity-party-releases-its-five-bottom-lines-with-two-key-policies-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/614742\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: Opportunity Party releases its five bottom lines \u2013 with two key policies missing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe have said since the very beginning of this campaign that we don\u2019t expect tax reform to happen overnight,\u201d Wong told media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese bottom lines represent the things that we think are achievable and realistic in the next 3 years, and that we think that both major parties can agree to.\u201d<\/p>\n

National\u2019s \u201cnine new taxes\u201d attack on Labour and its potential coalition partners includes Opportunity\u2019s land tax as one of those.<\/p>\n

Wong denied those attacks were working.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that our supporters understand that tax reform is a long-term change and having opportunity inside parliament to further those ideas is much better than us being outside, and so us being able to commit to things we can achieve in that first term is critically important to that journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wong said she won\u2019t make demands about what ministerial portfolios she might like.<\/p>\n

But she continues to insist she won\u2019t be part of a government with Winston Peters as foreign minister.<\/p>\n

Supermarket reform is a hot button issue this election campaign.<\/p>\n

Asked <\/p>\n

Two of the Opportunity Party\u2019s key policy planks are missing from its just-released \u201cbottom lines\u201d \u2013 the ideas it says must be included in any coalition or confidence-and-supply agreement it signs after the November 7 election.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no land tax and no Universal Basic Income in the top five deal-breakers.<\/p>\n

The party, led by Quilae Wong, is polling consistently above 5% in most major polls.<\/p>\n

And it could end up with the balance of power on election night<\/a>, having repeatedly promised it would talk to the party that has the most votes first.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our policies are important to us,\u201d Wong says. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe stronger the position voters give us, the more we can negotiate for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the minimum commitments we will require from the next government in return for our support.\u201d <\/p>\n

Number one on its list is to \u201cbring prices down\u201d.<\/p>\n

It wants the Commerce Commission to be given stronger powers and greater independence to \u201ctackle excessive market power in supermarkets and other uncompetitive sectors\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealanders are paying the price for weak competition in too many of their everyday bills,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n

She also wants to regulate lobbying and cap political donations and develop a 10-year health plan alongside health professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t keep lurching from one three-year political cycle to the next.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoctors, nurses and patients need certainty. A 10-year plan would give the health system a stable direction for its workforce, infrastructure and funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get our support, the next government will have to build a plan that can survive changes of government. Any future government that needs our support will have to stick to that plan.\u201d <\/p>\n

The top five is rounded out by a promise to \u201crevive ocean health\u201d by beginning to phase out bottom trawling and restore climate credibility by recommitting to Paris Agreement obligations and protecting the independence of the Climate Change Commission.<\/p>\n

Wong says the five bottom lines are designed to deliver change that can endure beyond a single term of government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here for unity, innovation and nature, not for the next three years but for generations to come,\u201d Wong says.<\/p>\n

Katie Bradford is a Senior Correspondent at the Herald. She has been a broadcast journalist for over 20 years and was based in the press gallery for 10 years. She specialises in politics, business and Auckland issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe have said since the very beginning of this campaign that we don\u2019t expect tax reform to happen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2246,23485,5903,1342,42,302,4277,22511,6501,43,6452,4762,10269,699,40,38,41,39,1237,102],"class_list":["post-614742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-2246","tag-bottom","tag-election","tag-five","tag-headlines","tag-its","tag-key","tag-lines","tag-missing","tag-news","tag-opportunity","tag-party","tag-policies","tag-releases","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-two","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}