NZ First
NZFNationalist party focused on New Zealand sovereignty, controlled immigration, and regional development.
Policy Positions
NZ First's Cost of Living Policy
NZ First focuses on reducing fuel taxes, limiting immigration to ease wage competition, supporting NZ-made products, and opposing policies that increase energy costs. They also support superannuation increases tied to wages and oppose any changes to NZ Super eligibility.
Simple explanation
Cut fuel taxes, limit immigration to protect wages, buy New Zealand products, and protect superannuation for older New Zealanders.
NZ First's Housing Policy
NZ First advocates for prioritising New Zealanders in social housing allocation, reducing immigration to ease housing pressure, supporting regional housing development, and investigating foreign property ownership restrictions.
Simple explanation
Make sure New Zealanders get first access to social housing, reduce immigration to ease demand, and look at stopping foreigners from buying New Zealand homes.
NZ First's Health Policy
NZ First focuses on fixing rural health access, supporting the New Zealand health workforce over overseas recruitment, addressing elder care capacity, and ensuring veterans receive priority health treatment.
Simple explanation
Fix the shortage of doctors and services in rural New Zealand, train more New Zealand health workers instead of relying on overseas staff, and ensure elderly and veterans get the care they need.
NZ First's Education Policy
NZ First supports a back-to-basics approach in primary education, trade and vocational education investment, limiting cell phone use in schools, and ensuring schools teach New Zealand history and civics. They also support rural school funding and oppose rapid curriculum changes.
Simple explanation
Focus on basics like reading and maths, invest in trades training, ban phones in classrooms, and teach New Zealand history in every school.
NZ First's Taxation Policy
NZ First opposes capital gains and wealth taxes, supports adjusting income tax thresholds to offset inflation, advocates for superannuation to be tax-free, and wants to remove GST from rates and insurance. They also support tax incentives for regional businesses.
Simple explanation
Stop new taxes on savings and investment, adjust tax brackets for inflation, make superannuation tax-free, and remove GST from rates and insurance.
NZ First's Economic Policy
NZ First focuses on economic sovereignty, supporting New Zealand-owned businesses, controlling strategic assets, limiting foreign ownership of land and businesses, and using the New Zealand Superannuation Fund as a sovereign wealth vehicle for local investment.
Simple explanation
Keep key economic assets in New Zealand hands, support local businesses over foreign multinationals, and invest superannuation savings in New Zealand.
NZ First's Immigration Policy
NZ First advocates for significantly reduced immigration levels to ease pressure on housing, infrastructure, and wages. They support prioritising New Zealand citizens for jobs, stricter visa enforcement, and a focus on migrants who genuinely contribute to regions outside of Auckland.
Simple explanation
Cut immigration significantly to ease pressure on housing and wages, put New Zealanders first for jobs, and direct more migrants to regions rather than Auckland.
NZ First's Climate Policy
NZ First supports balanced climate action that does not harm New Zealand's economy, particularly the agricultural sector. They oppose policies they view as ideologically driven, support the ETS in principle but with agricultural exemptions, and emphasise technology-led solutions.
Simple explanation
Take a cautious approach to climate policy that protects farming and jobs, exempt agriculture from carbon pricing, and focus on technological solutions rather than government mandates.
NZ First's Environment Policy
NZ First supports a balanced approach to conservation, protecting New Zealand's clean green brand for tourism and exports, controlled use of natural resources, and opposing extreme conservation measures that harm farming and regional economies.
Simple explanation
Protect NZ's environment as a brand asset for tourism and exports, manage natural resources sensibly, and avoid extreme rules that hurt farming communities.
NZ First's Crime & Justice Policy
NZ First supports tougher sentences for violent offenders, gang suppression, more police in rural areas, prioritising New Zealand citizens for corrections staff, and opposing early parole. They have historically supported three strikes and opposing name suppression for serious offenders.
Simple explanation
Tougher sentences for violent criminals, crack down on gangs, put more police in rural areas, and keep serious offenders in prison.
NZ First's Transport Policy
NZ First supports regional roading investment, rail freight (particularly for Northland), maintaining regional airports, and ensuring rural communities have adequate transport links. They oppose cuts to regional transport infrastructure and support the free public transport for SuperGold card holders.
Simple explanation
Invest in roads and rail for the regions, keep airports in regional areas, and maintain free public transport for superannuitants.
NZ First's Infrastructure Policy
NZ First strongly supports regional infrastructure investment, particularly in Northland, the East Coast, and provincial New Zealand. They have secured significant regional funding commitments through coalition agreements, including the Regional Growth Programme and specific roading projects.
Simple explanation
Invest in infrastructure for the regions that are often left behind, particularly Northland and provincial areas, through negotiated coalition deals.
NZ First's Employment Policy
NZ First supports New Zealand workers having first access to jobs, limiting immigration to protect wages, apprenticeship programmes for young New Zealanders, and maintaining strong workplace safety standards. They have historically supported the minimum wage but oppose excessive regulation.
Simple explanation
Put New Zealand workers first for jobs, limit immigration to protect wages, train more apprentices, and keep workplaces safe.
NZ First's Small Business Policy
NZ First supports local businesses over large multinational chains, buy-NZ campaigns, reducing compliance for regional businesses, and maintaining competitive power prices for manufacturing. They also support the Callaghan Innovation fund for business R&D.
Simple explanation
Buy NZ-made and support local businesses over multinationals, cut compliance costs for regional businesses, and fund business innovation.
NZ First's Agriculture Policy
NZ First is a strong defender of the farming sector, opposing agricultural emissions pricing, protecting farmland from foreign ownership, supporting the primary industries as the backbone of the economy, and opposing what they see as urban-centric environmental regulations.
Simple explanation
Protect farmers from emissions charges and excessive regulation, stop foreigners buying farmland, and recognise farming as the foundation of the New Zealand economy.
NZ First's MΔori Affairs Policy
NZ First has historically opposed separatist race-based policy, co-governance, the He Puapua framework, and MΔori wards. They support Treaty settlements on a case-by-case basis but oppose ongoing co-governance arrangements and what they see as preferential treatment based on ethnicity.
Simple explanation
Oppose race-based governance and special rights based on ethnicity, support Treaty settlements where justified, but apply one standard to all New Zealanders.
NZ First's Foreign Policy
NZ First prioritises New Zealand sovereignty in foreign policy, scepticism of multilateral institutions that erode national decision-making, maintaining the nuclear-free policy, controlling foreign investment in NZ assets, and prioritising Pacific relationships while being cautious about China.
Simple explanation
Put New Zealand first in foreign policy, maintain our nuclear-free status, be careful about Chinese investment in NZ, and build strong ties with Pacific neighbours.
NZ First's Energy Policy
NZ First supports maintaining New Zealand's energy sovereignty, opposes closing down existing gas and coal capacity before alternatives are ready, supports the offshore oil and gas sector, and is cautious about renewable targets that risk energy security or high electricity prices.
Simple explanation
Keep oil and gas as part of the energy mix for security, don't rush to renewables before alternatives are ready, and keep electricity prices affordable for households and businesses.
NZ First's Social Welfare Policy
NZ First's priority is superannuation β they strongly oppose any increase in the retirement age and have secured commitments to maintain NZ Super at 65 in coalition agreements. They also support war veterans' entitlements, the SuperGold Card, and oppose welfare for non-citizens.
Simple explanation
Protect the retirement age at 65 and defend NZ Superannuation, support veterans properly, and ensure benefits go to citizens who have contributed to New Zealand.